Recent graduate Holly Clemett has been awarded her Bachelor of Therapeutic and Sports Massage, evidence of three years of hard work, but a three years in which she has enjoyed her study experience.
At 24 years old, Holly wasn’t sure what she wanted to pursue in terms of a career when she left Mount Hutt College in 2011. On leaving school she worked in a restaurant and bar as a pizza chef, bartender and waitress, before then having a stint at the local supermarket. Still unsure what she wanted to do with her life, Holly decided to move out of small town Methven in mid Canterbury and have a go at living in Queenstown.
Thinking about studying travel and tourism as she has always wanted to travel, Holly was looking at studying adventure tourism in Queenstown but ended up working different odd jobs for a few months until a Massage Certificate course at Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) caught her eye. Unfortunately, the dates for the course she had seen at the Queenstown campus didn’t work so she did a bit more research and discovered there was one starting in Invercargill that suited much better. Packing her bags, she moved to Invercargill and the rest is history!
Throughout the three years of study, Holly has had multiple opportunities to practice her practical massage skills and gain valuable work experience.
“We would massage at sporting events and go on placements. Throughout Year One I was lucky enough to work with the Under 17 Southland Netball team, travelling with them on tournaments in Invercargill, Gore, Christchurch and Mount Maunganui.”
In Holly’s second year she massaged at the Mototapu event in Arrowtown and half way through the year had the opportunity to rent a room at the YMCA which she ran as a massage clinic.
Holly’s feedback on the massage degree course is neatly contained within a word, “fantastic”.
Expanding on this she explains, “I really enjoyed my course. The tutors are very knowledgeable and having a small group of students was useful as there is more student-tutor time. I love the sporting and clinical side of massage and really enjoyed learning different techniques and gaining more knowledge about anatomy.”
Holly completed a work placement at Methven Sports Massage in her home town and the contacts she made there during her placement proved useful when she was contacted after one of their therapists had an accident, and was offered a job.
With her long terms goals including her love of travel, Holly would love to one-day travel the world utilising her massage career. She would also like to experience working with a sports team but admits that she is now more interested in the clinical side of massage.
With her qualification under her belt and a job lined up, Holly’s future is looking bright and we wish her all the best for her move home and into a full-time massage therapist position!