Letter from Emma Wolfe to Sue Stanford at Waikato Hospital

Dear Sue,
I know it has been many, many years since you sent this email out to all of us - being gateway students from back in 2009. I was from Hamilton Girls High School                       and worked in the Paediatric ward of the hospital. I have just found this email at the end of my inbox as I am clearing it out and wanted to let you know                                    that I have completed a Biomedical Degree in Genetics, Reproduction and Development and I am now enrolled in Medical School. 

I am thankful and think back to my time on the wards most days especially at the moment being new in medical school. I can honestly say that I do not                                   believe that I would be where I am today without the incredible opportunity that I was given through much coordination and some amazing people, and amazing                      parents and patients who were happy to have some young high school student involved in their child's care. I am not sure if this programme is still going, but it                        made an incredible difference in my life and so grateful for the opportunity I was given. 

I hope that you do receive this and even if not for any other reason than to receive my thanks and for you to understand how grateful I am.
One day in the future I may be back at Waikato and seeing it from the other side.
Emma Wolff

Ariana Gedge at Smith & Mackenzie

This year I went to the Gateway programme looking for work experience as a Chef. I expected to be placed in a café or maybe a small restaurant, but I wasn’t. I got placed in one of the best restaurants in Hamilton, Smith and McKenzie.

I’ve had the great opportunity to work with Scott and his team once a week. I did not expect the staff to be nearly as friendly as what they are, I personally thought they would just think I was a silly High School student; but they were so welcoming.

I’ve learnt lots of great new skills that I will have for a life time. I have two lots of people to thank for that, the staff at Gateway and the staff at Smith & McKenzie. They have all been a great help with my future in cooking. Gateway is an amazing thing to do. I encourage everyone to give it a go. 

Shivani Rao at Military Prep Course

Over the past 3 months, myself and 4 other girls have been involved in a Gateway course at Military Prep course. Going every Monday joined by about 20 other students from different schools.
 
From day 1 we were told that this was not school. It was a strict environment, where dress and attitude were set to a high standard. A place where even the rudeness and inefficiency of 1 person was punished by CT’s (Correctional Training) that was done by the whole squad in our break time with 1CT being equivalent to 1 push up. On the first day alone we earned 300 CT’s. Although it felt like hell it built teamwork and respect. Through drill we learnt self-discipline and with ABL’s (Adventure based learning games) we developed trust in one another.
 
The physical training (PT) afternoons were beyond extremely challenging. We were pushed to our limits. Running, crawling, heaving tires until we were both physically and mentally exhausted, to the point where moving the next day felt impossible. If there’s anything I’ve learnt over this course, I’ve learnt that we are capable of so much more than we can imagine and it is all in our attitude and mindset. Our instructors were tough, but inspiring, teaching us “excuses don’t get results”. Pushing us to come week after week, where soon dread of PT turned into pride and self confidence in our abilities.
 
To me this course was more than an experience to see if we were cut out for a military lifestyle but an opportunity to define and develop our character and become respectable young adults. An experience I would advise everyone to have a got at.