Brynlea Stocks
"I discovered I could do things I didn’t think I was capable of.”
School camps had a profound influence on Brynlea Stocks. “I went on many camps as a student and student leader,” the 23-year-old says. “They brought me out of my shell and gave me confidence. I loved being in the outdoors and started taking jobs that kept me out there.”
During a gap year after high school, Brynlea researched outdoor education degrees around the country, including Ara’s Bachelor of Sustainability and Outdoor Education.
“I was tossing up between outdoor education and environmental science at university. The Ara degree blended both outdoor education and sustainability, and I knew it would cover all the topics I was interested in. I liked the idea of doing both practical and academic work and the course description listed a huge range of papers that sparked my interest.”
Once she’d made her decision to study at Ara, Brynlea never looked back.
“I got to do things I never would’ve thought of doing - like multi-pitch rock climbing, nine-day tramps and writing 50-page dissertations – and I discovered I could do things I didn’t think I was capable of. Also, the papers were built on from year to year, so you got a basic understanding which you could develop later if you were interested. The degree had a great balance of practical and academic work, and you could tailor it with the electives you were interested in.”
Trips to beautiful parts of Canterbury while learning about local flora, fauna and history were a highlight for Brynlea.
“The nine-day tramp from the east coast to the west coast was a stand-out for me. Our class was really small so we all became friends. I loved the conversations we had among ourselves and with our tutors about the state of our planet and what the climate crisis will bring for us. It helped me understand the complexities and gave me an appreciation of what we can do as everyday individuals.”
Brynlea is now a consents planner at Environment Canterbury where she audits and assesses potential adverse effects on the environment of proposed consent applications. She says her Ara degree prepared for her well for the role.
“I came out of the degree knowing I wanted to work in a job that was about protecting the environment. Environment Canterbury seemed like the obvious choice and I was lucky enough to get a job here. I do a lot of report writing so the skills around structure and proof reading that I learned through my assignments have come in very handy. I also really value the discussions we had in class which taught me to critically evaluate situations and to take other people’s perspectives on board.”
Next up for this ambitious young environmentalist is a run for the Canterbury Regional Council’s Central/Ohoko constituency in the 2022 local body elections.