Gordon Chesterman Scholarship recipient announced
Wintec Centre for Business, Information Technology and Enterprise student, Helen Hansen, has been awarded $5000 as recipient of this year's Gordon Chesterman Scholarship.
The scholarship was offered for the third time this year in recognition of the significant contribution made by former Wintec chair, Gordon Chesterman. It is awarded on the basis of academic merit, personal character and community involvement.
Helen, from Hamilton, was chosen ahead of 11 scholarship applicants enrolled in either Wintec's School of Media Arts or Centre for Business, Information Technology and Enterprise.
She is currently studying the Diploma in Information and Communications Technology (Level 5) Systems Support and Administration.
Gordon Chesterman, who formally presented the scholarship to Helen at a special awards ceremony this week, said it was a pleasure to award Helen the scholarship.
"Helen is an adult student, a mother of three children, and does this while juggling study. Feedback from her tutors is that she's a hard worker, is engaged, and often helps others in her classes."
"She is committed to her studies so that she can enter the IT industry, which will complement the many years' of business administration roles she has previously held."
Helen says she is excited to have won the scholarship which she describes as "a really big deal."
"Winning this scholarship is an amazing opportunity for me. It not only relieves some of the financial pressure around studying, it also means I can continue with my studies longer than I first planned and gain a more solid qualification. It gives me another level of motivation to succeed and a reward for achieving."
"I first became interested in IT while working in a business environment, I was always trying to find solutions to streamline business processes and make the job more efficient, easier and effective. I somehow managed to become the IT 'go to' person in the office and started training people to use different software programs. I decided getting a qualification and make IT my career."
"My goal is to get into project management and then maybe go onto business analysis. I started studying for the first time last year and I'm so pleased with what I have achieved so far."
Outside of Wintec, Helen runs an online Waikato food allergy support group with a friend. Helen, who has Coeliac' s Disease – a severe intolerance to gluten, said the group was set up to help support, educate and share information with others living with food allergies.
"One focus of the group is sharing our experiences eating out and finding 'safe' places to eat. This has led to trying to educate cafes and restaurants about cross contamination and the importance of having allergy friendly options".
