Student Profile

Connie Tipene - Apiculture

“After a background in admin, I recently found beekeeping and it’s so fascinating that I’ll probably be learning about bees for the rest of my life.”

Connie was introduced to bees when her husband started working at a honey extraction plant. “It seemed interesting so I joined him at the plant, then without knowing what we were doing we bought 12 hives. Because I was keen to learn more, I enrolled for the apiculture course in Whangarei, loved it and realized how much there was to learn.”

Soon after she graduated from the level 3 course Connie got a phone call from NorthTec which she assumed was to encourage her to up-level her study to level 4. “Instead I was massively surprised to hear they wanted me to teach the level 3 course part time. I said yes and most of my first course time was working one-on-one with a 19 year old student with ADHD who previously had struggled to find meaningful work. He got really hooked on bees, spent heaps of time working in our NorthTec hives, and now runs his own pollination business.”

Connie’s Pathway Manager, James Smith, says that she showed a great deal of empathy for her student and was determined to see him realize the first step of his dream. “Connie’s approach is positive and encouraging, and we offered an innovative and supportive option to deliver training that traditionally would not have been possible. Connie’s passion for bee-keeping inspires others and was a key reason she was offered the teaching position. We have a small but very experienced apiculture team so I know the technical support is there if required.” 

Connie now has a class of 15 students, is studying for her Certificate in Adult and Tertiary Teaching, and is keen to keep improving her own beekeeping skills and knowledge. “NorthTec have been so supportive giving me a chance to grow into what is now a career and a calling. My life has completely changed in the last four years.”
 

Katherine Wright - Horticulture

“I used to live in Wellington, working a nine to five job. My husband was home with the kids, and it was exhausting. I was tired. We decided that we wanted to be more sustainable. I wanted to be home more, so we dug up half our lawn and grew heaps of veggies.”

“Eventually we decided to move home. My husband's from Kaitaia so we brought a piece of land and I decided to do the horticulture course to grow food for my family and make some money while staying home more and spending time with my family.”

“I chose NorthTec because it's local and only a 15-minute drive. NorthTec gets you out there doing it. I get the student allowance so we can pay the bills. And I get to come here and learn and then I'll get to make money with what I've learned. It’s great.”

“We’ve got a really good instructor who will give you seeds. He will give you anything you need, and you can take a lot of things home and improve in your own time. He’ll answer any question. If I ask ‘What's this tree? What's it for?’ John will come over and show me how to take a cutting or grab the seeds, and I'll take them home, and then I can propagate it at home.”

“I have loved learning from scratch how to create an orchard. From waist high kikuyu grass, to planting trees, and by the end of the course hopefully I will learn how to harvest tamarillos and sell them to the public.”
 

Lee Deeprose - Agriculture

“This course has made me want to go out and start my own small business fencing and properly get out there and help others. I decided to do the agriculture course because it was something new, something a bit more physical than just paperwork. NorthTec Dargaville was local, and it was easy to get to. But I found I really liked getting out there and doing it.”

“Starting next year, I'm going to be trying to start a business fencing and painting. Ultimately, I'd be working to build a bigger business for the future. It’s very needed at the moment because no one wants to be stuck out in a paddock, in the middle of summer and working as much as they can to put up a fence. But it needs to be done. I like the hands-on work.”

“I've found that the entire system with NorthTec to be very helpful. The people around you actually want you to succeed. It makes it really easy to learn.”

“I’ve loved meeting new people and the tutors were really supportive. They encouraged you to give it a go and push you more than what other teachers would do at school. If you want to study at NorthTec then give it a go. They’ll help you through it.”
 

Whiti Noa - Apiculture

“I decided to do the Apiculture course because it was stepping out of my box. My family are all teachers, and I became a teacher myself. However, I love being outdoors. And being with bees was probably the best option for me.”

“For me, one of the best things was being close to the bees. Another thing was being able to see different types of bees and familiarise myself with how bees work. That was one of the best things to learn from being a queen to a worker to a drone. It opened my mind up to a lot of how bees work in the natural environment. It’s much more complex than you realise.”

“At first what I found tricky was handling things like the bees, the hive tools, frames, and things like that. That was a challenge at the start. But our tutor kept going and teaching us and each week I just got more confident.”
“I ended up building the confidence to go in for adverts and to find a job and I ended up with a job in the industry at a place called King Honey.”

“Long term, I really want to go back to teaching, and teaching our kids how to bee keep specifically. That's my main goal, to be able to teach and pass on that knowledge to our younger generations.”

“I recommend people go with NorthTec because of the supportive crew, I'm sure a lot of other people in other courses will say the same. Everyone helps each other to get through everything, and the tutors are really helpful. I really do advocate for NorthTec.”
 

Michael Latimer - Apiculture

“I was spending 11.5 hours a day in a job I didn’t like - I realised it was time to change and work with something I was passionate about. My girlfriend served as a great role model because she had just landed a job on a cruise ship after studying at NorthTec, so I started researching. My father had some bee keeping experience and I was keen to learn more, so apiculture was my choice.”

“The more you learn about bees, the more you realise there is to learn about them, and I love that our learning is so practical. We get to feed and monitor the bees with our really knowledgeable tutors and we have two hive sites, one in Opononi and one in Kaikohe East. Our course splits into two teams to care for them, and each team rotates the jobs so we all get a go at everything. On wet days we focus on theory.”

“As well as apiculture, we learn about running a small business so that we’ll be able to manage our own hives and by-products if we want to. This was more of a challenge for me, especially the stuff around business plans, business structure and taking care of stakeholders, but it’s given to us in a way we can understand – and it gets our brains working.”

“I’ve been really surprised at how much I’ve learnt about myself through the personal development part of the small business programme, and amazed to think we’d learn that in an apiculture course. It’s so much broader than I imagined and I’m confident now in my abilities. There’s heaps of motivation here from the tutors and from the other students to keep upskilling and I’m loving it. We split up to study small business or apiculture, then swap over, but we’re like one big family and we go on field trips together to some of the apiculture operations run by big companies.”

“We get given a hive when we complete the course and I’m hoping to use the resources from here to eventually build up a small family-orientated business, but first I want to get employment at one of the big companies to gain more experience. The bee industry has some challenges at the moment but education is part of the solution.”

“Now that I’ve found what I love, I’d encourage other young people to find something you’re passionate about. Learn as much as you can, don’t limit your challenges but challenge your limits, put yourself at the top of your field and lift others up when you get there. Consistent hard work leads to success and greatness will follow.”

Solomon Eagles - Agriculture

“I grew up on a sheep and beef farm so I’ve always been around farming but I wanted to step up a level in my knowledge and broaden my experience. I saw an advertisement for this course on Facebook when I was working casually on a Landcorp block, and now that I’m on board I really enjoy learning new experiences on different farms.”

“We get to see a different side of farming including dairying which is all new to me. It’s more interesting than I thought and fairly high tech. We get to work as a team, as an individual or in pairs, so we all learn off each other and get to know our weak and strong points.”

“When I finish I’ll look for a job and longer term I’d like to be a heavy operator digger driver or a shepherd.”