Jessie Bachelor of Youth Development Jessie works at Vibe, a youth health service in the Hutt Valley. She coordinates youth programmes, runs workshops with the community and provides one-on-one support for young people. “We have all these different wellbeing services in the one place so if a person has a need, they can come in and access multiple services in the same building. “I’ve been here for seven years so I was already developing some practical skills, but going to WelTec gave me all the theories and tools I needed as well. Now I know why I’m doing what I’m doing, and I’m incorporating it into everything I deliver.” Youth worker Jessie uses the skills she learned at WelTec every day. She was part of the first group of students to graduate with the Bachelor of Youth Development in 2015, building on the skills she was gaining from working in the field. “When the degree came up, I’m pretty sure I was the first person to put my name down for it. Then to be one of the first through the programme made it feel like you were making a difference and you were a part of something important, which was really exciting.”
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Doing the WelTec course was an amazing experience. It made me even more passionate about youth development.
Jessie had the support of a youth worker at Vibe when she was a teenager so knows the value of a skilled practitioner. “During that age, it’s a really hard time for young people and being someone who can support them and they know they can come to for support, it just makes you feel great, it makes you feel like you’re doing something worthwhile.” Going back to study wasn’t the easiest thing for Jessie, but she says it was definitely worthwhile. “I came in quite an unconfident student, I didn’t go far in school and so I didn’t think I could do further study. But the tutors are absolutely amazing – all are gurus in their fields – and when I came in, they helped me get up to scratch and helped me get to where I needed to go.”
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