My whānau decided the only way forward was through education. All my siblings—Grant, Darren, Nicola, and I—went to boarding schools or trade training hostels. Both my parents became adult tertiary learners. Mum went from being a cleaner at Pātea Primary School to being the principal, and my dad, after he was made redundant at the freezing works, went to teachers college, becoming head of faculty Māori for Pātea high school. 