Future Trades taster day a success with high school students

NorthTec hosted a taster day at its Future Trades campus on Dyer Street in Whangarei recently with great success. 

Year 12 and 13 students, and their teachers, from 10 different high schools throughout the region, attended the day which allowed them to experience various trades hands-on by participating in different workshops during the day. The workshops offered included Architecture, Automotive, Boatbuilding, Electrical, Mechanical Engineering and Construction.

Schools from as far afield as Warkworth in the South, Dargaville in the West, and Moerewa in the North, attended the event. Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Taumarere in Moerewa sent seven students to the day, who were still buzzing three days later according to Careers Advisor, Simone Ngawati. “The Future Trades day was absolutely fantastic” she said. “For us it is really important to open our kids’ eyes to opportunities, so just for them to see that there are lots of options for them to be thinking about, and the opportunity for them to be able to participate, is huge.”

Julian Blank, Youth Marketing Manager for NorthTec, was thrilled with the outcome of the day. “It was great to have a number of schools throughout Northland come together for the day and see students really interested and engaged in a new learning experience,” he said.

NorthTec plans to host more of these types of events for Northland High School students in the future.

Picture: NorthTec’s Julian Blank, with Pompallier Catholic College teacher Gary Thurlby and Pompallier students during the “Electrical Programming” workshop.