Grace’s story
Hi, my name is Grace and I was in year 12 when I first started seriously thinking about what I wanted to do when I left school. This is pretty normal as you have to start thinking about picking your year 13 subjects, some of which may be prerequisites for certain university courses.
For my whole life I had wanted to be a vet, as I had a huge love for animals. I was pretty happy that I kind of knew what I was going to do. A lot of my friends had no idea!
But I kept doubting my decision, Is this the right thing for me really? And even though it embarrasses me now, a lot of my doubt was because most of my friends were all going to Victoria and I’d be going to Massey University, without knowing anyone.
To try and firm up my decision, I talked to my friends, mainly about my passions. I also talked to the school careers counsellor. We mainly talked about the subjects I was doing to get into the right university course and how to apply for university. That was ok but I probably could have done that on my own. The main help I needed was to decide what I wanted to do, and she didn’t really help me with that.
What really helped was talking to Mum. She got me thinking about what it would be like to be a vet, day to day. I realised then that focussing on saving the lives of cute, fluffy animals might be slightly idealised! And while that’s part of it, the reality of being a vet involves lots of other things I wouldn't enjoy, and I hadn’t really thought about those enough.
Mum also helped me reflect on my passion for conservation and how I could integrate that into a job. That got me thinking about Marine Biology as another option, as it incorporates my love for animals and nature and my passion for conservation. I also love the ocean - like when I’ve been on a boat and there’s been a pod of dolphins, I could follow them around all day and I honestly don’t think I’d ever get bored. And you are helping to save the marine environment and its animals. So many things fitted into place.
So, I went to Victoria to do Marine Biology and Psychology, but it wasn’t quite what I expected so I’ve moved to AUT and now I absolutely love it. So, after a few false starts I feel like I’m heading in a great direction for me. I went on an amazing field trip to the Solomon Islands last year and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.
If I could go back in time and give advice to my 17 year old self I’d tell her:
Disregard what your friends are doing. Be brave and do what’s most important to you.
Not everyone has a mum with a background in HR with as much knowledge and experience in helping people, so if I didn’t have her, I’d get help from a professional career guidance service.
Spend time to think about what you like and don’t like and what areas you thrive in. Talk to your friends about those things because they can see that in you, even if you can’t.
Lastly and most importantly, don’t angst about not knowing what you want to do. This idea that you have to know is kind of forced on you but you don’t have to take it on board. You’re only 17!
Grace is amp’d co-founder, Sharon Spence’s eldest daughter. Sharon’s experience supporting Grace was the catalyst to start amp’d careers.
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