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Celebrations as EIT | Te Pūkenga Hawke’s Bay students graduate | EIT Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti

Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti

3 mins ago

Students (ākonga) from EIT | Te Pūkenga Hawke’s Bay graduated at two ceremonies held at Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre in Hastings on Friday (18 August).

There were celebrations as EIT | Te Pūkenga Hawke’s Bay students (ākonga), who faced COVID-19 disruptions, graduated on Friday.

Two hundred and forty graduates received their qualifications at two graduation ceremonies held at Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre in Hastings on Friday (18 August).

In the first ceremony, held in the morning, 157 graduates from the Centre for Veterinary Nursing, IDEAschool, Te Uranga Waka, Schools of Education and Social Sciences, Primary Industries, Tourism and Hospitality, Trades and Technology, and Viticulture and Wine Science all graduated.

The afternoon saw 83 graduates from the Schools of Business, Computing, Health and Sport Science, and Nursing cross the stage.

Attending both ceremonies were Te Pūkenga Pourangi Hua Tiriti | Deputy Chief Executive Tiriti Outcomes Paora Ammunson; as well as Tumu Whenua a-Rohe 2 | Executive Directors Region 2, Kieran Hewitson and Huia Haeata. Napier City Councillor Keith Price, representing the city’s Mayor Kirsten Wise attended both ceremonies, while Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst and Hinewai Ormsby, the Chair of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, attended the morning ceremony. Delegates from Chinese partnership university, Zhejiang Yuexiu University of Foreign Languages (ZYU), were also guests at the ceremonies.

Glen Harkness, EIT | Te Pūkenga Executive Director, congratulated all those who graduated..

“We know that COVID-19 brought multiple challenges over the years that these ākonga were at EIT | Te Pūkenga, but they can take pride in how they overcame that to achieve their diplomas, degrees and post graduate qualifications. Thanks to the kaimahi involved for all their hard work as well.”

“Once again EIT | Te Pūkenga is seeing a talented cohort graduating, which is a testament to the high quality programmes that we offer across the board. We have no doubt that these graduates will go on to make a mark in their chosen careers.”

Graduation ceremonies for the Tairāwhiti and Auckland campuses of EIT | Te Pūkenga were held earlier this year.

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Student’s wife enrolled him in EIT Te Pūkenga and now he is graduating with diploma | EIT Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti

Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti

14 hours ago

CJ Pineaha-Burns (Ngāti Kahungunu) is graduating from EIT | Te Pūkenga with a Diploma in Te Reo Māori.

CJ Pineaha-Burns (Ngāti Kahungunu) delayed completing the final half of his Diploma in Te Reo Māori, so his wife enrolled him – now he is graduating from EIT | Te Pūkenga tomorrow (Friday 18 August).

CJ says he began his te reo journey as far back as 2013, completing the NZ Certificate in Te Reo me Ngā Tikanga [Level 4] and half of the Diploma in Te Reo Māori (Immersion) [Level 5]  before he and his wife moved to Australia. When they returned in 2019, his wife Savannah decided to study for her Bachelor in Māori Studies at EIT | Te Pūkenga.

The 28-year-old says it was important that he continued his studies.

“Te reo Māori was becoming so much more prominent in our house. All of our four kids go to Te Ara Hou, which is a full immersion Māori school. And so they were learning te reo Māori, my wife was in level six of her te reo Māori journey, and I was the only one in the house not on that journey.”

“And so, I got a phone call from EIT saying, ‘It looks like you want to enrol back into the diploma’. I didn’t know anything about it. It was actually my wife and my twin brother that rung them and told them that I wanted to be a part of it. And that’s how I got back in there. So I didn’t want to, I was pushed, and definitely grateful for that now.”

Te ao Māori (the Māori world) was a big reason for moving back home from Australia.

“It was a big part of what was missing when we were in Australia.”

His wife and twin brother Ethan will watch him graduate on Friday, and then next graduation, it will be their turn to walk the stage as they are due to both complete their Bachelor in Māori Studies at EIT | Te Pūkenga.

CJ says Te Ūranga Waka (Māori Studies) at EIT | Te Pūkenga has been so accommodating and supportive to him during his studies.

“Because I’ve got kids, they’ve helped me through that. And I ended up actually quitting my job recently so that I could go back to full-time study, because I did my diploma during night classes once a week. But when you’re learning te reo Māori, and you’re only doing it at night-times, it’s not enough. And because my kids were already in a Māori school, I needed to progress twice as fast, and I needed it daily. So now I’m full-time, and the whole dynamic of it has changed. It feels like I’m immersed in it all day now, which is perfect for my progression.”

“We’re all on the same page, and I can help them on their learning journey, and they can help me. We feed off each other now.”

While he may be graduating on Friday, his studying will still continue as he is enrolled in the Bachelor of Māori Studies.

While he has had other jobs in the past, including as a chef, CJ says he has finally found something he is comfortable in, and enjoying.

“It’s been an awesome journey. When they say ‘find something you enjoy doing’, I’m finally in that space. So I’ve just been offered a job as Kaiawhina (assistant) just going into level two classes and helping the tutors there. And that just helps me with my te reo Māori journey too, because I’m helping teach it.”

He joins his wife, brother and sister Desma Culshaw-Kaisa, who are all tutors at EIT | Te Pūkenga.

Pareputiputi Nuku, Pouarataki, Te Uranga Waka, says: “The Kahungunu whakataukī ‘Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini’ describes how achievements are not due to the efforts of one but of many as in the case of CJ and his talented whānau.”

“It isn’t uncommon to have students from the same whānau studying with us but so many and all at the same time, is quite rare. It is also very powerful. CJ is a great role model for his tamariki and our students.”

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EIT | Te Pūkenga Valedictorian credits studying for putting his life back on track after rugby career in France | EIT Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti

Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti

2 mins ago

Ausage Fomai will graduate with a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science from EIT | Te Pūkenga on Friday. He is also Valedictorian at one of the ceremonies in Hawke’s Bay on Friday.

When Ausage Fomai returned home from playing rugby in France he was struggling with a number of issues, but now not only is he graduating from EIT | Te Pūkenga, he is also Valedictorian at one of the Hawke’s Bay ceremonies on Friday (18 August).

Ausage, 34, will graduate with a Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science from EIT | Te Pūkenga at the graduation ceremony at Toitoi – Hawke’s Bay Arts & Events Centre, in Hastings on Friday afternoon.

He was born in Auckland, but grew up in Hawke’s Bay, attending Hastings Boys’ High. A promising rugby player, Ausage went overseas to first play American Gridiron in Australia and then over to France, where he played for US Meyzieu Rugby Club near Lyon.

“When I came back from France, I actually had nothing to my name, no legacy. I was struggling with quite a few things.”

“My first thought was that my older brother Tivaini had gone through EIT and I saw that he was a teacher, and then I just thought that I’ll try, ‘maybe I could be a teacher one day’.”

“My first pursuit was to become a teacher like him and then, along that journey I found myself leaning towards more of the community side of things.”

“I had pretty much nothing and I just wanted to change the direction for my family and my three children.”

It has worked out well for Ausage as he has found his calling in life – working to uplift the Pasifika community.

“Last year in my final year of study, my full-year project was to use exercise to strengthen a relationship between parent and child for the Pasifika people. So, I did that study, and now I’m doing that full-time this year with a business we started up while I was studying called WOWbeing. Now I’m a director in the business.”

The WOW in WOWbeing stands for Wellbeing of Whānau.

“I set the company up with my older brother Tivaini, who did the degree in sport and rec, and then went on to do a teaching post grad. We also linked up with another set of brothers, Davis and Tyson Ataera. We used my project from my degree as our first programme of four in what we call the Journey to Prosperity.”

“I was proactive when I was studying so even though it was busy, I still just made the right connections with people. And our heart is for our Pasifika people.”

For now, Ausage is focused on graduating and his Valedictorian speech. He describes being selected as Valedictorian as surprise and an honour.

He plans to use his Valedictorian speech to encourage his fellow graduands to pursue their dreams.

“I stepped out of my comfort zone to create something that wasn’t there, so I will tell them to ‘Just dream big and nothing’s impossible’.”

Ausage says his family is looking forward to supporting him at the graduation, but unfortunately his brother Neria will not be able to attend as he is flying out to France on the same day to represent Manu Samoa at the Rugby World Cup.

Neria started the studying journey with Ausage and ended up completing his NZ Certificate in Exercise.

“Unfortunately he won’t be here. He plays for the Magpies in Hawke’s Bay, but he has been selected to go to the World Cup with the Manu Samoa team. So, that’s him now,” says Ausage.

Dr Helen Ryan-Stewart, Head of School Health and Sport Science at EIT | Te Pūkenga, says: “We are so proud of all our 2023 graduates. They have successfully studied and balanced life commitments faced with the added challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. They have shown incredible resilience, determination, and adaptability in the face of unprecedented circumstances.”

“We are moved by the passion and work of Ausage and his team in Pacific communities. They have and are working to continue to make a difference in the lives of their people by tackling some of the biggest challenges around health disparities. The skills that Ausage has developed during his studies are now allowing him to create positive change. Ausage was an obvious choice as Valedictorian to represent his peers; his journey is inspiring and we are honoured to see him graduate from EIT | Te Pūkenga.”