Sisters Bring Support
July, 2017
Starting a programme of study can be simultaneously exciting and daunting for most. But for four students at Training For You, the first-day fears were eased by a special blend of sisterhood.
Sisters Julia and Maria Raaymakers, and Hannah and Holly Evans are all students at the Training For You tertiary education campus on Ingestre Street. By chance or by choice, the sisters decided to enrol at the same time earlier this year and have shared their tertiary learning journeys over the past semester.
Hannah and Holly are both completing the 13-week Training For You Healthcare programme, undertaking the New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing (Level 2). Hannah (aged 22) and Holly (aged 19) are two of five girls in the Evans family. Born in Whanganui, they were raised on a farm in Greatford, Bulls. Hannah is third in the sibling order, and Holly is one of the babies of the family – one of a set of twins. Holly suffers from anxiety, so Hannah signed up for the Healthcare programme to support her sister.
Before commencing the Healthcare programme, Hannah had previously completed the Working With Children programme, so she was familiar with Training For You. “I told Holly that Training For You was a really good place to go, so she decided to look for something here, and she asked me if I would do it with her.” Pleasingly for Hannah, what started as a favour to her sister has now become an appealing career pursuit, “Once I started the course, I found out I was quite interested in it.” Hannah has recently been accepted on to UCOL’s three-year Bachelor of Nursing degree programme. Following her graduation from Training For You, she will head straight into a Semester 2 start at UCOL.
“I have a natural inclination for caring – that’s why I initially took up the Early Childhood Education learning. Apparently (she laughs) I’m a really caring person”.
For Holly, having her older sister around made a real difference, “It has been really good having her here. The first day is always the worst day – you come in, you don’t know anybody…but (with your sister) you go into the classroom together, do the introductions together.” Her initial first-day nerves have eased now, and she also sings the praises of the Healthcare Tutor, Vanessa Seconi who has taught her throughout the programme. “I love Vanessa, she’s amazing.”
Maria and Julia are both 19 and come from an even larger family – they are two of a set of triplets, in a family of 12 children. As the 8th child in the family line, Maria is the eldest triplet. A sister in between is number 9, and then Julia is the youngest triplet at number 10.
Maria and Julia are of Dutch heritage but were born in Auckland, and moved to Whanganui when they were nearly three years old. They were home-schooled with three other siblings, and looked to Training For You as a tertiary option. Maria joined Training For You primarily with a view to gaining employment – she is studying on the Business Administration and Computing, Level 2 programme. She is now considering taking tertiary study further. has gained confidence during her time at Training For You, and her skill set in communication has increased, “It’s a lot easier now to talk to people. In the first week, I was pretty quiet in the classroom – I didn’t really talk to anyone, so it was good to have Julia around. At lunchtime I would go and find her, and sit with her. But now I’m doing Powerpoint presentations in our class, and a speech!”
Julia loves taking care of young children (“We have lots of nieces and nephews.”) so she joined the Working With Children programme this year, after discovering that an older sister was a graduate of the programme with Training For You some years earlier. She is now on her way to completing the National Certificate in Early Childhood Education and Care, Level 3. “Surprisingly on my first day, I wasn’t feeling shy at all, which is weird, because I usually am shy. I just felt comfortable here”. She has found that having her sibling on campus has been an advantage. “Sometimes we have days where my sister and I hang out together at lunchtime, and sometimes we have days where we go our own way, but sometimes I just see her and it just makes me feel more comfortable.”
Off campus, the girls all have quite diverse pastimes. Maria is a fan of Korean and Japanese cinema, and the Korean and Japanese music genres known as ‘Kpop’ and Jpop’. She also enjoys art, drawing and gaming and is planning to travel to Korea and Japan in the future.
Julia’s passion is writing, and her dream job is to publish novels. Travel is also in her life plan, with India being her favoured destination, “The culture fascinates me.”
Hannah and Holly have a shared interest in collecting Hot Wheels cars. With over 150 cars between them, each one is catalogued and identified in a journal, with unique character names inspired by TV shows and films. For the small-but-perfectly-formed campus, the novelty of family members studying together seems to be a common occurance. Training For You has had sisters studying simultaneously before, and across various programmes is currently host to two sets of mother-and-daughter, and a husband and wife. These students along with the sisters, are testament to the organisation’s homely environment and welcoming family culture.
