With more than ten years nursing background behind her Jo decided it was never too late for a change. "When I heard about the degree being offered at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic I was thrilled. The main appeal was that it was offered locally which made studying so convenient and much more affordable and achievable."
After Jo graduated she gained an enviable role as a Planner with Environment Bay of Plenty; a job heavily focused on working with regional plans, particularly the Regional Policy Statement. This important document identifies the significant resource management issues of the Bay of Plenty region and provides policies and methods to achieve integrated management and co-ordination of these resources.
An average week day for Jo can involve a range of tasks including policy and report writing, meetings with public, community groups and stakeholders, project management, plan changes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), presentations and working with consents and land management staff.
"The degree gave me a good understanding of the RMA and New Zealand ecology and the bigger environmental issues within NZ. It was quite diverse and gave me a good grounding in conducting scientific research."
Jo thoroughly enjoyed being back in study mode after a long break and can’t say enough about the various support networks in place at the polytechnic. "I found the whole experience amazing. The polytechnic offers great support services, in particular Kahurangi Learning Worx [Kahurangi Student Services], the library and the IT support were fantastic. The staff overall were really supportive."
