Profiles
- Focus on employment
- Eve Rimmer Games winners
- Oppenheim Trust recipients
- 101st birthday celebrations
- Mervyn Cox, landscaper
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Focus on employment
The Rosemary Middleton Scholarship is awarded each year to two polytechnic students. The students must be overcoming adversity in their lives, be motivated to succeed and demonstrate good academic results. A recent winner is Vaughan Mikkelson. Vaughan began studying a Diploma in Communications (Public Relations) at Manukau Institute of Technology in 2002. Despite being vision-impaired since he was a child, his average grades each semester were As and Bs.
Vaughan went on to a Bachelor of Applied Communication last year and in October he was delighted to be awarded $2,500 from the scholarship fund for his course fees. Many of his lecturers and fellow students came to the ceremony where the cheque and certificate were presented. "People at MIT have been really supportive," Vaughan says.
The fund is managed by the Association of Polytechnics NZ and applications close each September. Vaughan, now 29, is interested in finding work in the state sector, possibly in a city or regional council.
Vocational employment advisors: Auckland, Eleanor Pooley, 09 355 6879; Hamilton, Bob Wicks, 07 838 7516; Wellington, Shirley Hampton, 04 380 2149; Christchurch, Stephanie Lange, 03 375 4319; Dunedin, Paula Waby, 03 466 4250.
Eve Rimmer Games winners
The Eve Rimmer Games, organised by Paralympics NZ, were held in Whakatane mid-March. Vision-impaired Foundation members from Hamilton went as a team.
Kayecee Tuahine won gold in the 25m freestyle event, a win that gave her the confidence to think about having a go at the shot put and discus next time. Robbie had never taken part in any field events since leaving school, and was delighted at winning two gold medals and a silver in javelin, shot put and discus.
He raised the money himself for his travel and accommodation at a local backpackers' hostel. Te Huia Wikaire won a gold medal in the 25m backstroke. "I'm on top of the world," she says. "Before going to the games, and being involved with the Foundation I was in my shell, blaming the world. Now I follow what my heart and head want to do." All three winners are keen to participate in the next Eve Rimmer Games in 2006.
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Oppenheim Trust recipients
Stephanie Green:
Stephanie Green has been vision-impaired since she was a child and is the only second-year student to be given an Oppenheim Trust grant. The grants, she says, make an enormous difference to her life as she is managing to complete a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Auckland without a student loan.
Stephanie has been fascinated by Egyptian history and language all her life. As part of her degree she is studying middle Egyptian hieroglyphs, and learning to read the language of the Pharaohs.
Stephanie hasn't been to Egypt yet, but her passion is to become an archaeologist and travel the world working on archaeological digs after doing a PhD at Oxford.
She is a member of the New Zealand Archaeologists Association and gained valuable experience during her Easter holidays on a dig in Pokeno, unearthing artifacts at Queen's Redoubt, the site of a colonial military fortification.
Stephanie described the dig as extremely exciting and was thrilled to recover intricately patterned pottery, squashed bullet casings and a musket ball from the excavation.
Now at the half way point of her degree, Stephanie is more than happy to have a future built upon an ancient past.
Rose Rowan:
Rose Rowan had a stressful year last year when a rare immune system disease began attacking the back of her eyes. She couldn't read or paint and, for a while, nobody knew what it was.
Having been diagnosed with AMMPE (acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy), only the third person in the country to suffer the condition, Rose was hospitalised for treatment and missed out on sitting her bursary exams.
She passed bursary on an assessment and has been able to start a Bachelor of Visual Arts degree at Manukau Institute of Technology this year.
Her eyesight may not fully recover, and she still tires easily but Rose is taking it one step at a time and is "quite stoked" about being awarded an Oppenheim Trust grant.
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"It doesn't happen every day," she says.
Rose has started experimenting with wedding photography as a possible career choice, using a camera she was given for her birthday last year.
101st birthday celebrations
Recently, Daisy Smith, a long-time Christchurch member celebrated her 101st birthday.
In recognition of this special milestone, Daisy was presented with a chocolate gateau by Andy Anderson, deputy chair of the Christchurch Community Committee. Daisy still goes for a walk everyday, listens to the sharemarket report and enjoys the occasional McDonalds (trademark) hamburger.
Mervyn Cox, landscaper
Mervyn Cox - landscaper extraordinaire - runs his own landscaping business and also happens to be deafblind.
He transforms gardens with the help of his wife Cheryl, and some specialist tools.
"When we first go in, Cheryl describes in detail what I can't see. Then I use my technical expertise to draw up the plans and we create the garden together."
With the Foundation's help, Mervyn sourced talking tape measures, a dumpy laser level that gives off a continuous sound when it's level, and a CCTV to magnify printed documents.
Mervyn's low vision and hearing has not stopped him from being successfully self-employed or transforming more than just landscapes. His current challenge is to help at-risk youth, who everyone else has given up on, by setting up a programme among Wellington's landscapers to offer those kids a chance to learn hands-on skills.
All that's holding up his dream is getting the funding for it, but he is determined to succeed.
June 27 is Helen Keller Communication Day, which commemorates Miss Keller's belief that having a dual sensory impairment is no barrier to living a full, independent life. Mervyn will feature on the poster to raise national awareness about deafblindness.