Kaimahi go above and beyond in 2023

It’s not unusual to hear of kaimahi going above and beyond for their ākonga, colleagues and communities. This year we saw kaimahi achieve new qualifications, exhibit their work, appear on television and win awards. We know just as many kaimahi fly under the radar with their achievements and involvement in the community and industry.

Five years of blood, sweat and tears is over for WITT Te Pūkenga accounting kaiako Dr Walaa Ghazy as she’s submitted her PhD. What makes this achievement even more remarkable is that it is PhD number two for Walaa, and it has been completed in English, which is not Walaa’s native language.

Her thesis explored how cost behaves in innovative firms when managers face a change in demand conditions, and the effect of this behaviour on the informativeness of the financial reports to the stock market participants. Read more.

Congratulations to nursing kaiako Tara Malone and Laura Durville who have completed their master's degrees this year. Their achievements were celebrated alongside 10 of their Nursing, Health and Wellness colleagues who have also added new qualifications to their kete of knowledge. 

Art and Design kaiako at WITT Te Pūkenga were delighted to be invited by colleagues from Whitireia and WelTec in Wellington to contribute to a kaimahi exhibition at Te Auaha Gallery showing their collaboration as creatives. The exhibition was part of a wider initiative called E/Merge which is an annual showcase of Wellington ākonga creative and performing arts. Read more.

It's not every day that our kaiako and ākonga have a film crew in their training salon, but when Fair Go came calling and wanted to know the ins and outs of hair colouring, Kaiako Kirsty Ryan shared her knowledge and her ākonga showed just how hands-on their learning is.  Read more

Ka pai to kaiako Daniel Waterson and Georgina Ngametua whose pest ops and conservation work was highly commended in the Environmental Action in Education category at the Taranaki Regional Council Environmental Awards for our pest operations and conservation mahi. Read more.