MAS Here for Good scholarship - Kiefer Hunt

Speaker: Kiefer Hunt, Bachelor of Veterinary Science, Massey University

Kiefer Hunt: Most of my volunteer work has been done with Inside Out, which is a non-profit organisation who work to make rainbow young people feel safe and have a sense of belonging in their schools and communities. My specific role in the organisation has been a few things. I started off as a volunteer and what that would involve was working with the regional schools coordinators. So for most of my time, it's been in Wellington where I'm from and I'd go along to schools and I'd help with professional development for teachers and I'd also visit QSA's Queer Straight Alliances and help support those and see what resources they needed. I've also done some work in the office of just some admin stuff and helping send out orders. And then when I moved to Palmerston North, I kept doing school coordinator stuff, I also helped out with a few workshops and I was part of Shift Hui, which is a hui held in Porirua on marae for rainbow young people, Takatāpui et cetera to come together and hang out and learn things and we always have great speakers. So I act as a tuakana at the Shift to the teina, which are the young people who come. And I'm also now a part of the Board and I have been for a couple of years. I was a bit unsure actually about joining the Board, but I sort of got motivated to do it and I really enjoyed it. I feel like I'm really making a difference to the organisation and helping, especially since I became the Treasurer a few months ago. So I'm now the Treasurer of the Board which is a big responsibility but exciting and I've also learnt a lot about finance stuff, about sort of the ins and outs of the organisation which has been really interesting. While I'm on the Board though I've still been keeping up with my volunteer work. So I've done mostly distant stuff now but some school stuff in the Manawatu but mostly things like, subtitling the videos that they have on their YouTube channel, I've done some of that and my partner and I are also co-producing a podcast episode or 2 podcast episodes for Speak Out, which is Inside Out's podcast. And we are looking into being a rainbow student specifically in tertiary education because that's something that really interests me, being a rainbow student in tertiary education.

Kiefer Hunt: The veterinary degree is quite expensive. So the Here for Good scholarship is going to help me in that regard, but also in 5th year, which is next year for me, it's primarily a clinic year. We're primarily in clinics, we're on placement, we go to externships, et cetera, which is really exciting. But some of those placements, we have to organise ourselves and even the ones we don't, if it's outside of the Manawatu then we have to pay to travel to those locations. So the Here for Good scholarship, I'm going to use to really round out my placement experience. There are a few different places I want to go. Regions and clinics around Aotearoa that I haven't been and I really want to get a feel for those regions to see if I can see myself living and working there. This is really important, especially as a rainbow student because I want to live in a region where I feel safe and supported and want to get an idea of what that looks like because I've only lived in Wellington and Palmerston North. And while you can hear about different regions, it's so much more beneficial to actually go to those regions and see what it's like and see what the people are like and what the farmers are like and what the vets are like because I've heard some clinics who are in regions where you might feel like they are more perhaps inclined to homophobia and transphobia have actually been super welcoming and supportive of their staff. So I really want to see how different clinics support their rainbow vets and support their vets in general and see where I can see myself living. Especially because I would like to live in a rural community. I think, I think it's always beneficial to have more rainbow people in rural communities especially because I feel very confident in myself and my identity. That wasn't the case a few years ago, but it definitely is now. So being able to figure out where I fit in the world and where I want to go in the future will be a really beneficial use of this scholarship for me. Also monetary support means that I can continue to volunteer and be less stressed about that sort of stuff, which is awesome because I love Inside Out. I love the work that they do. I love the work that I do there. And most likely no matter which region I end up, I will probably continue to volunteer and I'm definitely sticking around on the Board for a while.

Kiefer Hunt: I think what makes MAS different from other providers is their presence. We have a MAS Adviser on our campus at Massey who does some stuff with us. Her name is Debbie and she's fantastic. I've known her since camp at Vets Star. She was my leader there. So it's awesome that she was able to come along to that. And I've never once felt like she was trying to sell me anything. I always have felt really supported by her. She was really good when she taught our class about some budgeting and financials, which is useful. I think it's really awesome to have a company that is specifically for professionals like me, like lots of medical professionals are insured by them. I think it's awesome to have your peers there. I think it's also really good because you have an insurance company who is more likely to understand your needs and your issues because they work with a lot of other people who work in similar fields, at similar clinics in similar regions, et cetera. Also the lack of a commission is really good because again, like once I said, I have always felt supported by Debbie and I'm glad that she's paid an actual wage and just gets to support us and promote MAS and doesn't have to worry about trying to get any of us to sign up or anything. I think it's a really cool thing to have for students and to know who we can go to if we have questions about that sort of stuff in the future because I think insurance is not really talked about in the degree, which makes sense. So it's really cool that they've outsourced that to somebody who is very accessible and can answer all of our insurance needs. Because especially if you want to become like a private practitioner with your own practice, that's something really important that you need to know about. And also they sponsored our green overalls, which are really cool. The green overalls ceremony is really fun. So getting our overalls for the first time was awesome and we really appreciate that they sponsor those because overalls can be expensive.