Bachelor of Forestry Science with First Class Honours
Graduate Forester, Rayonier NZ Ltd, Auckland
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"Studying the Bachelor of Forestry Science at UC has helped me learn a huge amount, grow as a person, and has helped me start a great career," Acacia says.
Beginning a career was one of Acacia's strongest motivations while choosing university study, and UC's unique Forestry Science degree was the perfect fit for her.
"I wanted to do a degree that would prepare me well for a good career and one in which there were many career and job opportunities available to me. The Bachelor of Forestry Science has a high employment rate and included a lot of my interests."
Acacia has contributed to the degree's reputation for high employability, as she has earned a role straight after graduating with Rayonier NZ Ltd.
"I have been involved with data analysis, plotting, and project work so far. My job involves a lot of coordination and communication with people within my office, in regional offices, and with outside contractors."
The practical element of her study was good preparation for work in the industry. As part of her degree Acacia completed two summer internships, with Rayonier and Pan Pac Forest Products, and took part in a number of field trips.
"I really enjoyed the field trips and the closeness of the degree," she says. "We were given the opportunity to learn about how things work in the field so it wasn't solely theoretical. I learnt a lot from field trips."
She certainly put her experiences to good use, earning a number of scholarships while at UC. Along with a UC Entrance Scholarship and UC Emerging Leaders Scholarship for support in her first year, Acacia went on to gain an Energy Education Trust NZ Scholarship, a UC Senior Scholar's Scholarship and two School of Forestry scholarships for her grades.
Her fondest memory from studying at UC, however, was the people there.
"The community of UC was a massive highlight of my degree but more specifically the Forestry community within it. As a class we are close and as a faculty we are part of a large family. The class sizes were small so there were more opportunities for open discussion and the staff were available to help all of us. It was great that students from all of the forestry year groups knew each other and that the staff knew the students."
