Kimberley Dewhurst
Kimberley completed her junior years at Morrinsville College before transferring to Matamata College for years 11-13. While studying here Kimberley gained Levels 1, 2 and 3 NCEA and University Entrance.
Kimberley has a ‘bent’ for the Arts and her involvement at school and in the community was mainly in the cultural field. She played in the school band in 2008, was involved with two orchestras in Hamilton, was part of the National Secondary Schools Orchestra in 2006 and the Lion’s Foundation Orchestral Summer School in 2007. She was also involved in a St Peter’s School Production and the Hamilton production of CATS in 2007.
From school Kimberley headed to Massey University in Palmerston North where she graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work with 1st Class Honours.
In her short working life Kimberley has worked for the Palmerston North City Council in the Community Services Sector. This involved developing community centre programmes for the local area. She currently works on a scholarship at Massey University while she completes her Masters in Social Work. She is involved with the New Zealand Pathways to Resilience research, which is a longitudinal research project exploring how young people who face significant risks, transition into adulthood. Information on this project can be found on www.youthsay.co.nz.
Kimberley has been recognised as a high achieving student. During her 4th and final year of her degree she won the Merv Hancock Student of the Year Award. This award recognises outstanding performance in all aspects of the degree – academic, peer support, and positive promotion of Social Work in the community. It was a huge honour as it required her peers and lecturers to nominate her for the award.
She also graduated as a Massey Scholar. This means she was in the top 10% of graduates for Massey University in 2012. This scholarship gives her financial assistance to help cover fees for her postgraduate study. At the moment Kimberley is working towards a Masters of Social Work and is working at the University. I’m sure this is a young lady going places!