Bridget Barnett, student speaker at Wintec’s first graduation for 2024 used the end of Covid lockdown as a launchpad to follow her dream and make her mark on the art world. The Monday morning ceremony celebrated students graduating from the Centres for Education and Foundation Pathways, Languages and Media Arts with the student guest speaker Bridget Barnett who graduated with a Bachelor of Contemporary Art.
Maria Contreras Huerta, 22, has always been intrigued by plumbing. Figuring out how water gets from one place to another and what systems are needed to make that happen fuelled her desire to get into the trade as an adult. Maria is currently completing her apprenticeship at Morrinsville Plumbing and Gas Services (MPG). She wraps that up in August and from there will be set to graduate from Wintec next year. Along the way she has picked up several accolades and become a speaker for women in trades.
Wintec communication ākonga are developing industry experience through a student led agency connecting with real world clients. This year the team are running the agency under the name fortyone.
Wintec graduates from across all disciplines were encouraged to push boundaries, be authentic, better themselves, learn from failure and grab their dreams at the 2024 Wintec Graduation ceremonies. More than 2000 students graduated from Wintec for the year of 2023, with around 880 students crossing the stage in four ceremonies across two days at Claudelands Globox Arena.
On Thursday last week the Centre for Languages hosted a wonderful Eid al-Fitr celebration with our Muslim Community here at Wintec. There was a great turnout of Muslim kaimahi, ākonga and even some of the children from kidz@wintec.
A high-level delegation from Thailand consisting of former ministers and high-ranking government officials visited Wintec last week to discuss future avenues of collaboration between Wintec and Thailand.
Craig McClure's new exhibition Thought Crimes, which opens at Ramp Gallery on 2 May, examines his personal story and experiences growing up in a brethren church and later leaving his faith in his late twenties through sculpture and painting with a rich yet restrained palette.
Annika van Driel is the Communications and Events Coordinator at Seed Waikato and believes that businesses and communities can benefit from good quality storytelling. A skill she honed at Wintec.
Making connections around the world was on the agenda for the Design Factory team members from Singapore Institute of Technology [SIT]. Drawn to Design Factory New Zealand's [DFNZ] focus on student-centred learning, their team from Singapore came together to connect and tour innovation hubs within the Waikato. Their first visit was with world-leading animal management and security company, Gallagher.
This week marks an exciting milestone for the Ōtorohanga and King Country communities as Wintec delivers its New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing qualification for the first time at its regional hub in Ōtorohanga. Mayor of Ōtorohanga, Max Baxter, who will be addressing the first cohort of ākonga (students) on their opening day of the course said, “it is fantastic that Wintec has chosen Ōtorohanga as a campus to provide the opportunity for people in our district to study for a New Zealand Certificate in Health and Wellbeing.”
2023 was a piping hot year for Māori and Pacific plumbing kaimahi (staff) and ākonga (students) at Wintec | Te Pūkenga, with a surge of accolades highlighting the calibre of Wintec’s plumbing whānau both on the teaching staff and in the classroom.
Multi-disciplinary artist Emiko Sheehan has developed a community-based art collective for young mothers called Wāwāhi Tahā based around tikanga Māori. She is taking part in the summer residency at Ramp Gallery holding workshops and gatherings for the community.