Grayson Hughes

Grayson’s decision to study a Bachelor of Engineering seemed a natural choice but his School of Engineering and Computer Science journey has not been easy.

Degree: Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) majoring in Electronic and Computer Systems Engineering

Ethnicity: Samoa (Mota’a), Māori (Ngāti Maniapoto)

For Grayson Hughes, the decision to study a Bachelor of Engineering seemed like a natural choice. He has always had a keen interest in technology, figuring out how things work and using this knowledge to design things.

However, his journey through Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Engineering and Computer Science has not been easy.

In his second year, Grayson says he didn’t realise how hard he would have to work to get through the course. After failing the majority of his papers, he re-evaluated his approach to learning and returned to university determined to succeed.

In his third year, Grayson’s new approach to learning paid off and his good grades earned him a spot on the Science faculty’s Dean’s List of top students.

“Making the Dean’s List was a huge surprise, I didn’t see it coming. Achieving it made me feel encouraged to work harder than ever. Failing as much as I did drove home that success is temporary and you have to keep working hard.”

Grayson is an NZAID scholarship student who moved from Samoa to study in Wellington. He says the choice to move was not a difficult one.

“Wellington is an awesome city and I enjoy studying at the University. I wanted to be able to make robots, and that’s what I get to do as part of my degree.”

Grayson’s advice for niu students is to work hard. He also says that constantly asking questions helped with his learning.

“Make use of the lecturers—you will learn a lot.”

Grayson aspires to work on renewable energy projects in Samoa and to use what he has learnt to benefit his people.