Elle McEwan
With the intention of getting a degree, Elle McEwan went to university straight after high school. But like many others before her, she discovered it wasn’t for her.
“I dropped out after a year,” she says. “Study just wasn’t right for me at that point in life.”
Instead, Elle worked for five years, mostly in retail and hospitality, before deciding to have another go at getting a degree. This time she chose to study social work.
“Social work has always been very visible to me. Many members of my whānau work in health or social services and my whānau were long-term foster carers. It appealed to me as a career as it provided the opportunity to have a positive impact on the people and places around me.”
After speaking to acquaintances who’d studied social work at Ara and others who’d studied it at university, Elle chose to get her degree at Ara.
“I was drawn to the more involved and collaborative atmosphere at Ara,” she says. “Also, I was aware of the reputation Ara’s graduates had around being more practically prepared for the realities of the workplace and the sector.”
A self-proclaimed introvert, Elle liked Ara’s small class sizes. She also enjoyed the collaborative style of the programme and the breadth of content covered over the four years. “It felt like a well-rounded preparation for working in social work.”
Elle is now a social worker/whānau worker at Pillars Ka Pou Whakahou, providing wraparound support for whānau and tamariki that have a parent in prison. Every day she’s using the skills Ara equipped her with to engage, support and empower whānau with complex needs.
Elle says she intends to continue to develop her skills and find new aspects of social work to build her competency in. “Eventually I’d like to return to tertiary study to further my knowledge and skills for working with Māori and indigenous peoples.”