Māngere teen Selina Camillo, 18, migrated from Fiji to Māngere just a few years ago, but she’s already making academic waves as she works towards becoming a heart surgeon.
Since setting foot in Aotearoa for the first time in December 2022, Camillo has topped her class, served as head girl at Southern Cross Campus, and is now studying at the University of Auckland - the first of her family to do so.
Studying a Bachelor of Biomedical Science, she is one of only 16 students awarded a Milford Foundation Scholarship this year, which provides up to $10,000 annually. She also received a University of Auckland Top Achiever Scholarship.
The funding has helped ease the cost pressure of studying, as she didn’t want to be a financial burden for her parents, who secured permanent residency in January this year.
“I was always worried about how am I going to pay for my tuition fees,” she says.
“It really made me feel that it will bring me closer to achieving my dream of becoming a doctor.”
Her interest in the human heart stems back to a young age in Fiji and is what motivated her to specialise in cardiology.
“That was the first organ that I was taught in year 7 back home,” she says.
Camillo grew up seeing heart disease impact her family and other Pacific households, a pattern that school later confirmed was part of a global trend as one of the leading causes of death.
“So I was very interested in just being able to get into that field as a Pacifica to be able to help our people not only to treat the disease but also to help promote healthy lifestyle and bring a reduction to lives being affected by heart disease.”
Through her academic success, Camillo is proud to highlight her culture.
The scarcity of Pacific professionals in medicine empowers her, and she says visibility matters:“So far I don’t know any Rotuman doctor here nor my family, but there’s only one Tuvaluan doctor I know who’s based in Wellington,” she says.
“[Representation] is very important, especially coming from very small islands, Tuvalu and Rotuma. Most people don’t even know where Rotuma is at all.”
Still, Camillo remains undeterred, her motivation is clear. “I just want to be able to represent my island, my culture.”
Only 981 people in New Zealand identified as Rotuman and 4653 as Tuvaluan, according to the 2018 Census,
With small numbers, these groups are often lumped into the broader “Other Pacific Peoples” category in education and government data, limiting their visibility and access to targeted resources.
Most assume she is Samoan, but she has to correct them by saying she’s Rotuman or Tuvaluan - a culture many are unfamiliar with, she says.
“It helps people to know more about my people, my culture. So sometimes I feel proud of being able to put my culture somewhere that’s good for others to see and also learn something new.”
She says her cultural upbringing shaped her values and her drive.
“Tuvaluan is my first language, mother tongue,” she says.
“Growing up with my grandparents and mum in Tuvalu, I learned a lot about my culture … we were just dependent on fishing and plantation.”
Also raised in Fiji, she learned to read using a Bible.
“My first book was the Bible because we couldn’t really afford books. And by the end of Year 2, I also topped Year 2 in Fiji.”
She credits her grandparents’ values - respect, humility, and discipline - with guiding her academic journey.
“I just wanted to be a role model to my siblings as I wanted to make a change in my family to make my parents proud in performing well in school.”
Milford Foundation CEO Bryce Marsden says the scholarship is about more than financial support.
“We’ve seen fantastic results from our first two cohorts. We look forward to the 2025 group joining them as future leaders and visionaries.”
This year, the Foundation has committed nearly $460,000 across three cohorts.
Camillo says her family is her ‘why’ and hopes to inspire others.
“Do not let your circumstances make you feel doubt about yourself or limit you from reaching your goals,” she says. “Just grab every opportunity.”
Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
