Conference win for three students

Three WITT ākonga have won a trip to Auckland in this month (March) to attend BuildUP24, a New Zealand Institute of Building conference, thanks to the NZ Institute of Building’s Charitable Education Trust and the eagle eye of their tutor Ethan Johnson.

 “The competition caught my eye at a national moderations event in Wellington as the conference is something I’d love to attend myself if I was a student so I brought the info back to WITT and encouraged my students to enter!” says Ethan.

Construction ākonga Natasha Sellar, Jerin Reji and Francis Orendain are keen to learn from industry experts and hear real-world examples and success stories to help bring their classroom learning alive.

“I think the conference will provide a great perspective on what we’re learning and open our eyes to the range of careers possible when we graduate,” says Natasha.

All three ākonga are completing two-year qualifications in construction - Natasha is an Architectural Technology student and Jerin and Francis are focusing on Quantity Surveying.

“Both fields are in-demand careers and the conference will allow the students to get a feel for the range of jobs available to them,” says Ethan.

Valued at $1090 per ticket, there were 12 spots available to people across the motu. To enter they just had to say how they stay productive.

Jerin took the challenge very literally and came up with two time saving initiatives for work on building sites while Natasha talked about how she uses technology to help her productivity and how she reinforces her learning outside the classroom.

The next events on Ethan’s radar for his ākonga are the ArchEngBuild Challenge, which is an intensive three-day competition for NZ tertiary students studying architecture, engineering or construction management, and the Next Gen Award.

“With  thousands of dollars of prize money up for grabs and great experience for their CVs I am encouraging all my ākonga to take part in these competitions,” says Ethan.

Visit https://www.branz.co.nz/investing-research/archengbuild-challenge/ and https://nziob.org.nz/ to find out more.