Rai Valley Dux destined for career in dentistry
Rai Valley Area School dux Olivia Partridge wants to help people in need, and she’s hoping dentistry will help her achieve it.
Partridge was inspired by her experience at a medical careers fair, where dentistry ‘‘just clicked’’.
‘‘I’ve always been interested in health ... dentistry was just so practical, I just thought yeah, this is it,’’ she said.
Her year has been packed with eight subjects, with a mixture of level two and three chemistry, biology and physics. Her academic plate was full, but Partridge’s balanced approach helped her work through it.
‘‘You have to have a balance of social life and your education,’’ she said.
Despite that balance, Partridge worked towards her dream job with almost single-minded dedication.
‘‘I love sport, like hockey, as well, but dentistry is just the number one,’’ she said.
Partridge is heading down to the University of Otago next year to take on the first year health sciences. University will be a big change in scale; in year 13 at Rai Valley this year, there were only three students.
But the small-town girl is excited to be heading out into the world.
Partridge already has her eye on her dream location for setting up as a dentist. ‘‘I want to travel as a dentist. ‘‘That would be my dream: be a full time dentist who can travel, and help people as well.’’