Love, Briar

Dear UniCrew,

Happy (almost) 10th birthday!

We formally first met in 2015 when I applied for the 2016 team and my only regret is that we didn’t meet sooner. I guess that is sort of the point of university though – to try new things until you find ‘the one’. That was you for me. 

When we met, I was completing a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in politics – but you never held that against me. You welcomed my creativity and passion for people (something that wasn’t being fulfilled by my studies). In fact, you not only welcomed these skills, but you invested in them – and in me. You showed me that incredible things can come from “just an idea” and a group of people who believe in it as much as you. You taught me that I can juggle a whole lot of competing interests if I am passionate about what I am working on. And you gave me wonderful friendships with people that I otherwise would not have likely met.  

Since we parted ways at the end of 2016 I’ve graduated, moved to Auckland, brought my first house and began and ended my legal career – yep, the career I thought I would have for years wasn’t my calling. I started working in the area of criminal defence and employment law, and then became a prosecutor for the New Zealand police but it just wasn’t filling my cup. I quit my role in August 2021 without a new job to go to and began what was an unintentional five-month employment hiatus (cheers surprise lockdown!), but I knew it would all work out – because my time with you had shown me that whilst sometimes things do not work out as planned, there is always a lesson to learn and it is more important to stay true to who I am. Now I work in the refugee status determination space and while it uses various skills from my degrees, mostly it utilises my people and organisational skills, which is what I got from our time together. I am still not sure what my working future looks like, but I hope to continue in roles that call on these skills to excel. 

When my year left, Sze-En gifted us Willy Wonka golden ticket pins – she told us that finding us was like finding a golden ticket. I continue to believe that it was you that was the golden ticket for each of us lucky enough to be a part of UniCrew. I guess all of this is to say that if I could it all over again, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Despite only being together for a year, my university experience would not have been the same without you. And I am not sure my career, both the journey so far and the journey ahead, would be either. 

It’s been five years since our breakup (cheers to circumstances, not falling out of love) but I still think of you often and send love your way each time you cross my mind or I stalk you on Instagram (which is more often than I should admit to a past love). I hope my new role brings me south soon so we can catch up. I look forward to hearing more of your love stories since ours. 

May the next 10 years be as wonderful as the last.

Love,

Briar