Trying to study full time with the financial pressures of raising a family of four was a stressful time for Julia Grigg and receiving a Nelson Soroptimist Education Trust award eased both the financial and emotional pressures.
The trust offers up to 20 awards annually of about $1,500 each to women and girls who are enrolled in full time or part-time tertiary study or apprenticeship.
For Julia, study was a long haul. She studied psychology part-time for seven years, on and off, with young children, and she describes it as “really horrible” due to the pressures it imposed on the family.
Julia and her husband Garrett had decided to get married after three children, so all the children could be in the photo. Then number four came along, adding morning sickness, postnatal depression and a sick baby into the challenges for studying, so study plans were put on hold.
In 2015 she decided to take the plunge and study full time at NMIT, which meant Garrett working long hours to support the family on one income for the next three years. It was tough, she says.
In her third year she applied for the trust’s Janice Neame Scholarship and the money relieved that pressure. It meant she could get car repairs that were needed to get a warrant of fitness and it paid for some of the essential childcare so she could study.
“It helped me with financial stress which gave me time to sit down and focus on how to get my car warranted and cart my kids around and be able to study to give them a better life.”
The award provided more than just the financial assistance though, she says. It relieved the emotional stress that went hand-in-hand with financial stress and it gave her a boost in confidence.
“It was acknowledgement I was on the right path and had support behind me. I was part of a community. It gave me that feel-good feeling. That was the biggest thing.”
Julia graduated at the end of 2018 with a Paetahi Tumu Korero Bachelor of Counselling and today she has her own business, Julia Grigg Counselling.
“My passion is working with women who have experienced domestic violence and sexual assault.”
She says the Soroptimist award helped her reach her goal.
Soroptimist International Nelson member Barbara Dicker says the awards provides funding for financial hardship to applicants from a variety of backgrounds. Many of the applicants are solo parents, but it is also aimed at school leavers who miss out on other scholarships and will struggle financially through their studies.
She says applicants often find it hard to write about their financial hardship on the application form and why they need the money, but anyone applying has similar challenges.
“They can find it embarrassing, but we have to work out their hardship. That’s why a good referee is important.”
Applications for the awards close on January 31.
Soroptimist International is a global volunteer movement working to transform the lives of women and girls.
In Nelson, it gathers much of its funding from hiring out the gowns, hoods and regalia for graduation ceremonies throughout the region. Last year it also raised $20,000 from the sale of peony tubers to give to sister Soroptimist clubs in Eastern Europe supporting women and children fleeing Ukraine.
By Anne Hardie
