Having gone from high-school dropout to medical-school graduate working towards better mental health outcomes for Māori, Stella Lisle said graduating from the University of Otago felt "unreal".
Ms Lisle (Te Rarawa) graduated with a bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery on Saturday and marched in the graduation parade with her partner Jackson Carter-Smith, daughter Mila Ferigo (3) and dogs Ranger and Toby.
Hundreds of wellwishers thronged the streets of central Dunedin as the procession made its way from First Church to the Dunedin Town Hall on Saturday morning.
The road to graduation had been seven years long, Ms Lisle said.
Raised in Australia, she dropped out of high school, then came home to New Zealand.
Aotearoa was where she belonged as she traced her whakapapa back to Kaitaia in the North Island, Ms Lisle said.
She had had a child on her own and at times had needed to take a break from her studies.
The journey was not over yet and she was already working at Christchurch Hospital, with the aim of becoming a psychiatrist to help alleviate inequalities faced by Māori in the mental health sphere.
It was a career path she felt really passionate about, and she was glowing about the university experience.
"Go to uni — it’s freaking awesome," Ms Lisle said.
For those, like her, for whom high school had not worked out, university was a completely different experience, she said.
As she had come from a different country, she completed a foundation year, which set her up nicely.
There were no hard rules and her advice was to try something else if one particular path did not work out.
She herself had originally started studying law before she realised it was not for her.
"I’m one of those crazy stories, which is why I’m walking with my whole family — it’s been a huge journey to get here, they all helped and also [there] were extra things to think about while I was studying," Ms Lisle said.
Grace Mohi (Ngāti Kahungunu) graduated with bachelor’s of law and applied science.
It had taken her five years, but she was pleased to have finally make it happen, Ms Mohi said.
She was already working in a Wellington law firm doing environmental law, which had been her motivation for starting her double degree.
"I’m loving what I’m doing," Ms Mohi said.
