From the lunch room to the classroom

The journey to a Bachelor of Science in human nutrition and sports science was a long one for Kyla Moore, but yesterday the 31-year-old graduated. 

Ms Moore’s dreams of education and career went out the window after the then 17-year-old became pregnant at the start of seventh form at Rutherford High School in West Auckland.

With family support Ms Moore completed a hospitality course then tried working as a chef, but found the long hours very hard to reconcile with solo parenting. Still searching for the right career, she returned to the classroom via the lunch room at her son’s primary school where she worked as ‘the lunch lady’ for four years.

“I realised how much I liked working with children and I that I wanted to teach,” Ms Moore says.

Ten years after leaving school, she realised her school certificate qualifications would not equip her to tackle Massey’s Bachelor of Science degree. So in her late 20s Ms Moore returned to Rutherford High School to study sixth-form chemistry and biology, before enrolling at the Auckland campus.

“In the first semester I found it all so hard I didn’t think I could do it, but then I settled into it and with the support of peers, staff and my family, I made it.”

Ms Moore is now training to become a secondary school teacher.