At the start of the Gateway Programme I was looking forward to all the skills and experience I would gain which would be necessary as I am out of school at the end of the year. At the same time, I was nervous as I didn’t know where exactly I would be placed.

I am interested in design and have also looked into retail jobs. My Gateway placement for this term is at the Timaru District Library on a Wednesday from 9am to 12pm. Some of the tasks I do are putting books, DVDs, and magazines back on shelves, rearranging shelves, cleaning shelves, writing down names of people who have put books on hold, putting labeling stickers on the back of new puzzles then packaging them up, covering and stamping new books, packaging wool and knitting needles for craft projects.

In Gateway we do unit standard theory work in class and some are done in the workplace, the credits go towards NCEA. Next year I plan to go to Ara or Otago Polytechnic. My advice for future Gateway students is to choose something you enjoy and try your best.