Category: EIT

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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.”

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Celebrations as cohort graduates from EIT | Te Pūkenga Tairāwhiti Campus | EIT Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti

Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti

2 mins ago

Graduates from EIT | Te Pūkenga Tairāwhiti on parade at the graduation ceremony in Gisborne today.

A cohort of ākonga (students) from EIT | Te Pūkenga Tairāwhiti Campus were celebrated in front of kaimahi (staff), whānau and friends as they graduated today.

After delays to the ceremony, first due to COVID-19 early last year, and again because of Cyclone Gabrielle, the Tairāwhiti Graduation Ceremony was held today (Friday August 4) at the War Memorial Theatre.

Of the 68 ākonga to graduate, 58 attended.

Kieran Hewitson, Te Pūkenga Tumu Whenua ā-Rohe 2 | Executive Director, Region 2, was the keynote speaker. Also in attendance was Te Pūkenga Chief Digital Officer Teresa Pollard and Huia Haeata, Tumu Whenua ā-Rohe 2 | Executive Director, Region 2.

Bachelor of Computing Systems graduates Joshua Vincent Reedy and Niamh Carroll Athy were recognised with special awards.

Joshua won the Cyclone Computer Company Ltd Award for Academic Excellence in the Bachelor of Computing Systems, and Niamh won the Spark Digital Award for Academic Excellence in the Bachelor of Computing Systems.

Ashleigh Marie Harding won the PricewaterhouseCoopers Award for Academic Excellence in the Bachelor of Business Studies Accounting Major.

Tracey Tangihaere, Executive Director of the EIT | Te Pūkenga Tairāwhiti Campus, says the ceremony was recognition of the talent coming through EIT | Te Pūkenga Tairāwhiti.

“We wish to congratulate all ākonga for this achievement during some difficult times. They have done the mahi and now it is time for them to reap the rewards.”

“We are proud of the programmes we offer at Tairāwhiti which offers locals a wide range of career pathways to excel in.”

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Valedictorian says studying Māori Visual Arts at EIT Te Pūkenga has been a beautiful journey | EIT Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti

Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti

4 hours ago

Bridy Rihari-Lundon (Ngāpuhi, Waikato Tainui is this year’s Valedictorian for the Tairāwhiti Campus of EIT Te Pūkenga.

Bridy Rihari-Lundon (Ngāpuhi, Waikato Tainui), who is this year’s Valedictorian for the Tairāwhiti Campus of EIT|Te Pūkenga, says that studying Māori Visual Arts at has been a beautiful journey.

Bridy, who is currently doing her Masters of Māori Visual Arts at Toihoukura, , is graduating today (Friday 4 August) with her Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts degree. The Tairāwhiti Graduation Ceremony will be held at the War Memorial Theatre.

Bridy says that at first she did not realise the significance of being named as Valedictorian, but she now is pleased that she is.

“So now that I understand, I am actually quite honoured to stand to speak and to represent not only just EIT and Toihoukura, but my friends and the whole campus.”

Brady says she has recently completed her Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts and is now on her Masters. She is doing this long distance from Waikato, where she is working fulltime at the kura Tōku Māpihi Maurea.

She has loved her time at EIT|Te Pūkenga and has grown as an artist.

“I’d say it’s been the most beautiful journey and probably one of the best decisions I’ve made, and I’m so glad that I went there. I wasn’t sure that was the right place for me, but after a year I knew that I was meant to be there, so it really helped me a lot.

This year’s EIT Te Pūkenga Tairāwhiti
Valedictorian Bridy Rihari-Lundon with some of her work.

“One thing that taught me about myself, I think despite the long distance, living away from home, I had to find the beauty in this town, in Gisborne, and one was connecting to the land and sea, and second was allowing myself to open up and feel the warmth of the people.”

“I’m a painter, so I mostly just paint. I do draw sometimes, but this year I’m trying to actually interpret and incorporate a couple of other elements. I’m trying to spread out and dive into other mediums and become a quite diverse, multi-medium artist.”

“I’m looking at going into a bit of bone and stone carving in the future and doing ta moko.”

Last year Bridy received the Ruanuku Award, which is awarded each year to the top all round student at Toihoukura. The Ruanuku is a final year undergraduate art student who performs at a high level across a range of requirements. As part of award, two pieces of Bridy’s work have been selected by the Tairāwhiti Museum and purchased, through the support of Professor Jack Richards, for the Tairāwhiti Museum permanent Māori arts collection.

Bridy is enjoying her life as a teacher. The aim is to eventually study for her teaching degree.

“I suppose because my purpose for now and probably for my future is to give back, and that’s what I’m trying to do. So it really makes me happy knowing that I can share my skills and my knowledge and pass it down so it carries on the art form and the teachings.”

For now Bridy is preparing for the Graduation Ceremony which will be held on Friday (5 August) at the War Memorial Theatre in Gisborne.

“I’m acknowledging the people, the campus, EIT, and Toihoukura, the staff and managers, administrators, all of that. And then I’m doing a little bit of reflection on my three years at Toihoukura, what it was like for me. I will highlight a lot of the opportunities that were offered to us and a few words of wisdom and congratulating my friends, of course, my peers.”

Tracey Tangihaere, the Executive Director of the Tairāwhiti Campus of EIT|Te Pūkenga and Acting Head of Toihoukura, says: “Bridy is a great role model for young Māori Wahine, she exemplifies the value of Matauranga Māori and Toi Māori.”

“Toihoukura tutors are very proud of all their graduates today and comment that  Bridy has been a great ambassador across the country and in Canada creative sectors, I am sure she will be successful in her chosen career. We expect to her as a rising star in the Toi Māori skyline.” 

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Computing systems student set to become first in his family to graduate | EIT Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti

Source: Eastern Institute of Technology – Tairāwhiti

35 seconds ago

Izaya (Izzy) Jahnke will graduate with a Bachelor of Computing Systems from the Tairāwhiti Campus of EIT | Te Pūkenga tomorrow (Friday 4 August).

Izaya (Izzy) Jahnke is looking forward to graduating with a Bachelor of Computing Systems from the Tairāwhiti Campus of EIT | Te Pūkenga tomorrow (Friday 4 August) as he will become the first in his family to do so.

It has been a long journey for Izzy, who went to school at Gisborne Boys’ High. Upon leaving school he received numerous scholarships to study engineering in Auckland. He spent a year and a half there, but returned to Gisborne after finding the going too tough.

Izzy says looking back the leap from school to university in Auckland had been too big.

“I guess I just had no experience at all. I felt like we jumped straight into the deep end at uni and I knew nothing at all, which was very high level coding and software development. So I kind of needed to come to EIT where they could have more one-on-ones and teach the fundamentals, the basics. I decided to pick up where I left at from uni and finished at EIT.”

Enrolling in EIT | Te Pūkenga in 2019 is a move he does not regret as he now prepares to graduate, which he describes as “quite an honour”.

“It feels like a dream has come true.”

Izzy’s father is German-Samoan and his mother is Māori (Ngati Porou), which makes his achievement more special for him.

“I guess I just wanted to show that as a Māori/Islander, you can get a high qualification such as degree, even if you are living in tough situations with financial issues. There’s always ways to increase and improve your growth.”

He says that what he enjoyed about the EIT | Te Pūkenga degree was the friends and colleagues he made.

“It helped me seeing everyone going through the same struggles and seeing them overcome them as well.”

Izzy says he found the three years fun and the lecturers and tutors supportive.

He finished his degree early last year, but has had to wait to graduate because COVID-19 delayed the ceremony.

While he was studying he had worked part-time in an orchard and has moved to fulltime while he waits to graduate.

The plan is to now begin looking for an IT job.

“I really love cybersecurity, however, at this time I’ve been doing my own hobby, which is fixing things and laptops, replacing screens and all. So I guess I will look at something along those lines, repairing hardware.”

As for studying further, it is something he is keen to do.

“It’s in my mind to either further the degree and do a Masters or return to engineering eventually. And then to specialise in either computing engineering or software engineering.”

EIT | Te Pūkenga Senior IT Lecturer Tina Blumenthal says: “It was our pleasure to have Izzy in the BCS programme. Not only did he achieve well throughout his study journey, but he also brought a positive, enquiring energy into our learning spaces, engaging others, and often coming up with innovative solutions to problems.”

“Izzy’s positive attitude, coupled with his professional smarts were evident at the outset.  He received the Spirit of GovHack Award, when a group of Tairāwhiti BCS students travelled to Hawke’s Bay to participate in the annual event. We wish Izzy all the best for the future.”