This Wednesday, 8 March is International Women’s Day and this year’s theme is #EmbraceEquity. We’re celebrating each day this week with a profile of a Wintec | Te Pūkenga kaimahi or ākonga. First up we have our Team Manager for Plumbing and Industrial Measurement Controls at our Centre for Trades, Amy Opperman.
Through the work of Tōia Mai, Wintec|Te Pūkenga is on an exciting journey to improve outcomes for ākonga by launching a new cultural competency and capability framework, Whakatupu Kaiako, Whakatupu Tāngata. With a focus on the cultural growth and development of kaiako and kaimahi the Whakatupu Kaiako, Whakatupu Tāngata framework aims to guide staff at Wintec I Te Pūkenga through a cycle of ongoing professional growth and development.
Marian Conder is in her mid-40s and has had a 20-year career as a primary school teacher, but at the end of 2021 she decided she wanted a change. Marian has now completed her Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management at Wintec and landed a job in the industry. We recently caught up with her to learn about her experience as a mature student and what it was like to make such a big change.
With the devastation following Cyclone Gabrielle, Wintec | Te Pūkenga Centre for Trades wanted to do something to help their Te Pūkenga network colleagues at Eastern Institute of Technology, who have been severely impacted by the floods. The team cooked up an idea to raise funds while also giving the students a real-life catering experience, creating an Indian banquet to sell to the staff and students at the Rotokauri Campus.
The first weeks of life on campus are all about getting to know people, building new relationships and growing a sense of whānau with your peers while you study. These are all important steps to creating the right environment for learning and setting up a clear pathway to success. Here at Wintec | Te Pūkenga we call this, whakawhanaungatanga and we do this through the Whakawhanaungatanga suite of activities.
After four years of postponements, interruptions and delays, the home of New Zealand Rugby will become the home of haka for what will be the largest festival celebrating te ao Māori, Te Matatini Herenga Waka 2023. More than 2500 competitors, from 45 kapahaka will perform over four days to represent their iwi, hapū and whānau. Amongst them, two kaimahi from Wintec | Te Pūkenga are preparing to take the stage.
Hohepa Mangu was inspired by Iron Man to study IT here at Wintec | Te Pūkenga. He is now a kaiako (tutor) in our Centre for Information Technology (IT). Hohepa is the third Māori IT tutor we have at Wintec, he speaks fluent te reo, he’s fifth generation Canadian and he had an epic self-discovery journey during the lockdown of 2020. Read on to be inspired!
Wintec | Te Pukenga International Student Services team held a fun and interactive event to welcome international ākonga (students) on campus, with 27 countries represented at the orientation session. Many international ākonga are new to not just Wintec, but also New Zealand, so the orientation session was social and engaging, using creative ways to help ākonga understand how things work at Wintec and connect them with all the support they may need.
Wintec | Te Pūkenga has been awarded 15 Prime Minister Scholarships for Latin America to students in the Te Pūkenga network throughout Aotearoa, including some Wintec students. The 15 students are heading off to complete a four-week Summer Programme in 2024 at the University of Santo Tomas, Chile.
Wintec | Te Pūkenga has awarded 10 Prime Minister Scholarships for Asia, to students in the Te Pūkenga network throughout Aotearoa, including some Wintec students. The 10 students are heading off to complete a six-week internship programme in Tokyo, Japan in 2024, with placements in accounting, human resource management, operations and production, supply chain and logistics, sales and marketing and strategic management.
Oldfield says that undertaking a Master of Arts at Wintec Te Pūkenga was about addressing unfinished business. Having completed her design degree at Wintec a year earlier she was ready to deep dive into developing the tools for designing her own garments.
Wintec’s prestigious Dr Hare Puke Māori Leadership Scholarship was awarded to two deserving recipients late last year. Nika Wallace (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Ruanui, Taranaki) and Cameron Nepe (Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Porou, Waikato-Tainui) were jointly awarded the scholarship, with strong applications that highlighted their desires to continue to learn and grow Māori voice and equality.
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