Kirsten Bird knew she wanted to come to Otago – she was in search of the lifestyle.
She started studying Human Nutrition, added in a bit of Physiology, discovered that the majority of her classmates were studying Physical Education and it sounded more like her . So from her second year on Kirsten settled into PE, majoring in Sport and Leisure Studies.
“I think the name of the major is a bit misleading… the types of papers we completed were sports policy and sports management. The very best thing I did was an internship as part of my sports practicum over the summer break with the NZ Masters Games. It was incredibly valuable, taught me lots of skills I use in my current job, and I made really useful contacts for actually GETTING my current job.”
Kirsten believes that the breadth of the PE degree can make it a bit challenging for graduates to find a career path, and she recommends getting voluntary experience to supplement the degree, demonstrating commitment to a particular field of work.
“My job is the operational organisation of the annual Oxfam Trailwalker, Oxfam's largest fundraising event. This involves teams of four walking or running 100km in under 36 hours. I am responsible for confirming the course, ensuring we meet our Health and safety obligations, organising logistics, sponsorships, suppliers, volunteers and so on. We hold 50km training weekends eight weeks out from the event so that people can gauge their fitness, and still have time to crank up for the 100km trail.
When I first started in the job I developed beginner, intermediate and advanced training programmes that are still available from the website. . I drew heavily on the things I'd learned at Phys Ed for those“
“Otago is beyond cold, beyond living on a shoestring… The laughs, the friends, the experience – you need to think really carefully and pick a uni that delivers the whole package– the actual degree is only half the experience and there's nowhere like Otago!”