Alumni competition winner ‘absolutely floored’ by travel prize

Jacqui Ryan, a Catholic sister who graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor of Theology, took home $5000 worth of travel vouchers after nabbing first place in the competition.

“It’s a very exciting prize,” says Jacqui, “I was absolutely floored by it.”

Jacqui says she is planning on putting the travel vouchers towards a trip to Ireland to visit friends and family living there. She is also eyeing up a stopover in the United States on the way home, to drop by the United Nations.

“In 2011 I was a volunteer for an NGO working at the UN, so I'd like to go back and catch up with a few of those people that I lived with and worked with,” she says.

The prize also came at a perfect time for Jacqui, who retired from her role as a chaplain at Harbour Hospice, on Auckland’s North Shore, last year.

As well as the first prize of $5000, the Back In Your Day competition also offered a further $5000 worth of travel vouchers to four other winners.

Second prize winner Joshua Thurston banked $2000 in vouchers and is now dreaming of a possible trip to Samoa.

The remaining three winners, who each took home $1000 worth of travel vouchers, were Kuini Daniels, Yvonne Oldfield and Darien Finnerty.

Kuini has her sights set on exploring the South Island, while Yvonne, who is currently doing a PhD in Wellington, says she’ll use the prize to help fund some travel around Europe when she heads there later this year to attend some conferences. Darien is planning on visiting her recently engaged daughter in Germany, and meeting the family of her daughter’s fiancé.

Although the Back In Your Day competition has now ended, you can still take a trip back down memory lane and see a raft of nostalgic photos and video from the 1970s right through to the 2010s by visiting the Back In Your Day website.