Graduate Profile: Kiana Tracey Sua
Bachelor of Health Graduate Kiana Tracey Sua was a stand-out speaker at the graduation ceremony in May, where the majority of the first cohort of Bachelor of Health students graduated. She tells us about her experience as one of the first to do this exciting new degree.
What did you major in and why?
Health promotion. I love working with people, and I also love how health promotion has progressed over the years away from fear-based approaches to strength-based approaches that empower people. I’m still learning about what area I want to specialise in while in my current role, but I definitely like working with communities, and because I’m Samoan I know I would like my future work to involve helping Pasifika communities too.
Why did you study at Victoria University of Wellington?
I worked full-time for two years after high school because I didn’t know what I wanted to study, but I soon became bored and wasn’t feeling challenged enough. I started looking at my options again, knowing I had always been interested in health, but didn’t want to study medicine. Luckily this new Bachelor of Health degree was just beginning and aligned with what I was interested in. My friends who had gone to Victoria University of Wellington loved it.
I also wanted to stay in Wellington – I love this city.
What was the best part of your time studying?
Being part of a close-knit community with your peers because it was a small degree. This made the experience feel safe and enjoyable; having familiar faces around me in class and in tutorials really gave me a sense of ease. That connection was really important too when COVID-19 hit, and we went into lockdown – being able to still connect, share your stresses, and help each other out.
What was the most surprising or favourite part of your degree?
I always thought university would be a lot different to high school – I had always heard that it would have to be a very independent style of learning, that you had to figure out things on your own and shouldn’t expect help. I was surprised by how nice and helpful the Faculty of Health staff were, with learning, assignments, and preparing for the future after university - whether that was a job or post-graduate study. They were so encouraging and enthusiastic about our learning – I could just tell they genuinely wanted us all to succeed after our studies. While you still work independently, I felt I was supported the whole time and knew where I could go to get help. You’re not just left on your own.
Where are you working now and what does your role involve?
I’ve been working as an advisor in the child and youth wellbeing team at Te Hiringa Hauora / Health Promotion Agency since last November [2020].
I felt really lucky to get a job so quickly – one of the lecturers had put us in touch with the Chief Executive of Te Hiringa Hauora during our course, and I kept that relationship going – connections like that are so helpful when jobs come up.
I’m currently assisting my team with work related to young people and the first 1000 days for wāhine hapū, and working on a project focused on organisations with youth in governance positions.
We want to find out how we can sustainably enable youth to be in these governance groups, because we’d like to develop a Māori and Pasifika governance group – it’s in the very early stages but we know we need more Māori and Pasifika voices.
Which skills or knowledge areas from your degree have proven useful in your new role?
Gaining comprehensive knowledge about equity has been so beneficial – this was threaded right throughout the entire degree. Before I did the degree, I didn’t fully understand what equity meant – I just thought it was similar to equality.
The health promotion papers were also really helpful and taught specific approaches to use around equity in the health promotion space, such as community capacity building, strength-based, and Kaupapa approaches. These have all come up in my role and are aligned with what I’m working on now.
What would you tell anyone thinking about studying health at Victoria University of Wellington?
I definitely recommend doing the Bachelor of Health if health is something you’re passionate about.
There are so many job opportunities – many of my peers have been able to get a job with this degree in the health space and in other areas too.
This degree is very progressive, moving away from using solely a biomedical approach and looking at prevention with a holistic focus too. I believe that’s the direction New Zealand healthcare is aiming to achieve now so I think having more progressive knowledge about health will be beneficial in the future.