'At primary school, I was adviced to do vwo at secondary school, but I was afraid it would be too difficult for me, so I chose to do havo-vwo instead. However, after only three weeks, my grades there were so high that my mother was invited to have a conversation with my teachers to talk about me and my grades. Their advice was to transfer me to vwo as soon as possible.'
Deveney Petrus (22): 'I found that transition to vwo difficult, because I was already so nervous about going to secondary school and then, after just three weeks, I had to fit in with a new group of people. I did meet my best friends there, by the way.
At secondary school, I was a good student and I excelled in Dutch. I loved languages anyway and chose an E+S profile with French and German. Looking back, I think I would have been better off choosing a broader profile. Economics and Society somewhat limits you when choosing your university course. The fact that I went to university was not really a conscious choice. But at vwo everything is geared towards you going to university afterwards. My parents did not study. My mother has an office job and my father lives in Curacao. I have little contact with him.
At school, there were information markets, and since everyone is focusing on going to university after, it was natural for me to do the same. There was a subject at school called Management and Organisation, which made me more interested in economics and law. I then did a walk-in day and visited several universities and eventually my choice fell on tax law. I chose the Eur because the Rotterdam mentality really appealed to me. Rolling up your sleeves and getting on with it, I like that. And I love the fact that people from so many different nationalities and backgrounds study here. Erasmus University attracts a different kind of people than Leiden University, for example.
For my mother, it was new for me to study. For my whole family for that matter. No one else had studied. They were all very proud, but they don't always understand exactly what I do. I study tax law, but they remember law. And so they often think I'm going to be a lawyer. Although it is becoming more and more clear that I am studying something to do with taxes. My grandparents now call me when they get a letter from the tax authorities. I also help them fill in their tax returns. My grandparents are very proud of me, but they are anyway, no matter what I do.
The fact that I am the first to go to college has not gone unnoticed. I have two nephews aged seven and eight, and my aunt and uncle are already talking about the possibility of them studying later on.
From whom do I get my ability to learn easily? I think from my mother. I have never actually talked to her about it, but I think I will ask her sometime what she would have wanted to study if she had been given the chance. I live at home with my mother and my stepfather. We live in Ridderkerk, so that's close by, and if I get to choose between borrowing extra or travelling a few times a year, I'll choose the latter.
I am now in my fourth year of my Bachelor's degree and combine it with a student assistantship. In 2020, I will complete my Master's degree. Apart from tax law, I am doing a minor in civil law, so I keep the option of becoming a lawyer open. But my heart lies with tax law. If I could choose my dream job, it would be Minister of Finance. That's where the political meets the fiscal. And I like to aim high.'
Text and photo: Manon Sikkel Daelmans