OPAIC helped Nikolai Kalininskii discover what he wanted to achieve in life.

He gave the student address on behalf of OPAIC graduates at our Graduation last week.

Nikolai arrived at OPAIC in October 2019 from Russia and has just graduated with a Bachelor of Construction (Quantity Surveying).

Nikolai is now working for Emmitt Consultants, the company with which he completed his student internship.

During his speech, he told graduates he wasn’t exactly sure what he really wanted to achieve in life and what his goals were when he first came to OPAIC.

“But I had many different individuals who actually guided me through this and supported me all the way through.”

He had previously studied in another field before realising it wasn’t what he really wanted to do in life and that he needed to start from scratch. He now has no regrets about changing his path because he’s happy with what he’s doing.

He thanked academic staff for being open, kind, patient, and sharing their knowledge.

“The knowledge that we have received from Otago Polytechnic will help us to define our lives,” he said.

Nikolai was also grateful to support staff. He said all students had questions at various times during their study journey.

“We all came to the understanding that we could come to the first floor of the AIC building and all our questions would be resolved. Thank you for that.”

He thanked his fellow students for being cooperative, friendly, and motivating and inspiring each other.

“We’ve all made new friends who have supported us to become a better version of ourselves.”