Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti
44 seconds ago
A Bachelor of Business Studies at EIT has set former student Georgia Paterson up for her chosen career.
A Bachelor of Business Studies at EIT has set former student Georgia Paterson up for a job with renowned scientist Dr Michelle Dickinson at her Auckland company Nanogirl.
Georgia, 21, will be graduating at the Napier Municipal Theatre on Friday, where she will also be awarded the Fletcher Challenge Trust Award for Academic Excellence in the Bachelor of Business Studies majoring in Management.
She says that she realised in year nine at Havelock North High School that she wanted to study at EIT.
“I knew that I didn’t want to go to university. I don’t know why. I think just the debt that you can get up, moving away from home, I didn’t have a set decision what I wanted to study. So university for me was always out of the picture. And then in year 10, you can take a business subject at Havelock High. So I took that and I really enjoyed it.”
“The teacher was really awesome, and you can’t take it in year 11, but you can take it in year 12 and 13. So I took that as one of my subjects all the way through, and it was just a subject that I really enjoyed and I excelled at as well. So when I kind of got to the end of high school, I was tossing up whether I wanted to work, just go in and work full time or study at EIT.
“Obviously, 2019 was peak COVID for all of us and because of that and the risk of jobs and redundancy and things like that, I just kind of decided, I looked at EIT, the programme has everything you need. It was affordable. I could live at home, I could still work part-time, and I was doing something that I actually wanted to do. And I feel like the business degree is quite versatile, like it’s really broad and it doesn’t dial you down into one specific thing.”
Not only did Georgia have to deal with COVID-19, but also the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, which caused devastation to EIT’s Hawke’s Bay campus. However, she is now glad that she has finished her degree and set to graduate on Friday.
“Even with the award and everything, it was all quite a shock and very exciting. So it’d be cool to just finally actually officially graduate.”
“The letter came through and I was at work, and it was such a nice surprise.”
Her parents will be at the ceremony as well as her Auckland boss, Dr Michelle Dickinson, who is also her cousin.
She says that when she was offered an internship at Nanogirl, she jumped at it. When her internship finished at the end of last year, she was offered a maternity position as operations manager.
“It’s always busy, always learning new things, and even just being in the city, it’s totally different to Hawke’s Bay. So it’s been a real eye-opener with what goes on in a fast-paced area.”
“Currently, I’m the operations manager. So part of the business, is we do lots of live events. So we run over a hundred birthday parties and assembly school shows. I organise the staffing and the rotation and everything to do with that to make sure it all runs smoothly and that the customer gets what they’ve ordered.”
As for the future, Georgia says she is still figuring that out.
“I’m still kind of figuring that out, but I think just because of my strengths and what I’m good at. I think I will look into event management or project management further down the line.”
Russell Booth, Senior Lecturer and Programme Co-ordinator – Business at EIT, said: “Georgia has always been a focused and organised young woman and it is no surprise to any of the staff within the School of Business that she is now the Operations Manager at Nanogirl.”
“Georgia obviously made a big impression whilst completing her final semester internship. Her strengths have always been about being organised and organising others coupled with a real drive to succeed and it will be fascinating to see where Georgia’s career path takes her as she gains more confidence and experience.”
