Third-year dental student Josiah Metekingi has been named the 2025 recipient of the John M Stewart Scholarship.
With two young daughters and a son due in December, the timing couldn’t have been better for third-year dental student Josiah Metekingi to receive the John M Stewart Scholarship.
A mature student at 27, Josiah (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Toarangatira and Kāi Tahu) will use the scholarship to cover his tuition fees for the final three years of his Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS).
Originally from Porirua and the youngest of 10 children, he is the first from his family to attend university.
Keen to give back to the community, he has encouraged many of his nieces and nephews to consider university study.
Josiah says his father told him it would be ‘a waste of time to go to university’. So, his father was shocked when his youngest son won the scholarship now easing the family’s financial burden.
Both Josiah’s parents are elders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He says his father was offered church work in Utah, when Josiah was a child, and the family moved there.
One day, while living in Utah, Josiah, then nine, was jumping between benches and cracked two of his front teeth. So began a lifelong experience of dental care.
“So, I have been in and out of the dentist for almost my entire life.
“Once we came back to New Zealand we couldn't claim ACC and every dentist said it’s too expensive and you won’t be able to afford it (treatment).
“There’s only one Māori dentist that I saw during my procedures, that told me how much it would cost and that I would have to wait until I was 21 before I could have an implant (as his teeth would be fully-grown).”
Josiah finished high school in Porirua in 2015, without completing NCEA Level 3, and moved to Christchurch, where he worked in construction for two years.
He then went to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to fulfil his desire to complete missionary work for his church.
While doing missionary service, he says he noticed that many of the people who were happier in life, had received a university education, which seemed to give them more options in life.
He met his then girlfriend, now wife, Carrie, in Utah. Carrie is from Hawaii and liked the idea of moving to New Zealand.
Visiting family in Hawaii recently are Josiah, right, with his wife Carrie and children Kalena (4) and Liliana-Grace (11 months).
After moving here and having their first daughter, Kalena, Josiah worked full-time as a carer with at-risk children, spending up to a month at a time away from home. After six or seven months of this Carrie made it clear that something had to change.
In 2021 Josiah decided to do one more year of this work and pay off all the family's debt.
In 2022 Josiah did the Foundation Studies Certificate at the University of Otago, then first year Health Science and now he’s into his third year of dental studies and in just over two years he should be fully qualified.
“It has its challenges, but I don’t think I could do it without the kids motivating me.
“I also give a lot of credit to Carrie for being there and supporting me while I have been playing dentist for a few years now.
When he told Carrie in April that he had received the John M Stewart Scholarship, she went into shock and kept saying “So what does this mean?”
“I need to make sure it (the scholarship) doesn't change my drive to keep on excelling at my studies. I feel I have a bigger responsibility to give back to current students, future students and motivating more students to go to university.
“So that’s where we are now and am very excited for the future.”
Alumni of the University of Otago in America (AUOA) Secretary and John M Stewart Scholarship selection panel member Jacinta Calverley says that Josiah stood out to all panel members.
“It was a tough decision. There were some great candidates, as always.
“I think Josiah is a wonderful example of somebody that understands the bigger picture around how his education can serve and benefit the community. Particularly in dental health where there are lots of pressures, some of them cultural some of them economic, and he's really thought about that.”
Dr Stewart graduated MB ChB from Otago in 1966. After completing internships in Thames and Christchurch hospitals and residencies in Tauranga and Auckland, his first position was at the PW Verco Practice in Adelaide, Australia.
He then moved with his family to the United States (US), accepting a dual position at the Medical College of Wisconsin and at the Milwaukee County General Hospital. Two years later, he moved his family to Caribou, Maine, accepting a position at Cary Medical Center.
Dr Stewart worked in Caribou for 35 years, experiencing many radiological changes in technology and equipment, which prompted him to attend additional training and education in CT scanning, MRI, and advanced ultrasound throughout the country. His daughters Alison and Hermione say this dedication to education was indicative of the devotion he felt toward his work.
Following a cancer diagnosis in 2004, Dr Stewart was no longer able to work full time and later fully retired in Palm Beach, Florida. During his time of illness, he participated in several cancer research trials. Alison and Hermione, who live in New Zealand, say their father always had a dream of doing his part, with the hope of seeing a cure for cancer one day.
The John M Stewart Scholarship supports undergraduate Health Science students who show academic aptitude, may be “first in family” attending university and face financial challenges to complete their studies.
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