Lorraine's Story - 2005 Doreen Smart Scholarship Winner

When I accepted the 2005 Doreen Smart Scholarship, I had no idea of what an unexpected, rewarding and exciting journey I was about to undertake.

I was an employee of the College Christchurch College of Education, where I had worked for 23 years. However they had embarked on a massive programme of restructuring and redundancies.  After much reflection and soul searching, I made the tough decision to take early retirement on medical grounds and try to get my health under control. Concurrently, instead of undertaking two papers towards the Diploma of Adult Teaching and Learning (DipATL) as I had originally planned, I became a full time student and enrolled for the remaining nine courses.

I reset my goal of completing the Diploma by January 2006. This then enabled me to simultaneously complete the (DipATL), meet the criteria of the Doreen Smart Scholarship and also achieve AAPNZ Certification. Without the assistance of the Doreen Smart Scholarship I would not have had the impetus to achieve such an ambitious goal in such a short period of time.

Lorraine McKeown DipATL, Cert. CAT, Cert OA, AAPNZ (Certificated, Associate)
AAPNZ Southern Regional Leader