Over the last two weeks there have been some wonderful highlights celebrating our people and showcasing our campuses! The aroha and manaakitanga (generosity of spirit) really shone at these special events that brought so many of us together, providing an opportunity to connect and share.
Showing their support for the Father’s Day lunch – David Kenkel – Social Practice Lecturer, Liya Antony, Sandra Hosking – Social Practice Community Relationship Co-ordinator and Anne Walsh – Social Practice Student Support
In the last week of August we celebrated the official opening of Pacific Success’ new home in Te Puna, which included some beautiful home cooking! It was a big event from a small and very welcoming team!
We also had the Volunteers Expo (see the pics on Yammer) at Te Puna featuring 17 different volunteer organisations, engaging with our students and staff, exploring how they can get involved. This is a great way for our students to get work experience on their CV and for us all to see how we can ‘give back’ to the community. Congratulations to the Student Success Career Development team for pulling together a great event with a wonderful vibe.
Peter Matthewson provided the entertainment for the Father’s Day lunch at Waitakere campus
This was followed on the weekend with our annual Open Day which was a huge success! More than 1,000 visitors came to Unitec to explore our programmes and experience our campuses first hand, which included displays, activities, exhibitions tours and trail lectures. Congratulations to Marketing who were responsible for putting together this event and all our volunteers on the day.
Then last week there was a very special Father’s Day ‘recognition’ lunch at Waitakere campus for students and staff, designed to acknowledge all our student dads, and mums. Our very talented Social Practice Lecturer, Peter Matthewson, provided the entertainment, supported by John Stansfield and David Kenkel who were responsible for supporting the event and lunch put on by the Community Development kai crew.
Some of the Tongan Lanuage Day team at Mt Albert campus – Students Heilala Ngaluafe, Jacinta Uepa, Ailine Faukafa and Paul Faukafa
We also celebrated Tongan Language Week at both campuses with a special screening of the short film, The Legend of Kava. On arrival, guests were greeted by staff in colourful traditional Tongan attire and served a delicious cup of Otai (a mango and apple drink) and a very yummy Kek ‘isite (a type of doughnut cake), before a prayer and some Tongan language coaching. Conveniently the film was sub-titled!
Celebrating our people, connecting and the generosity of others has really shone through over the last two weeks. It’s been appreciated by everyone involved and is an important way to keep our spirits high. Thank you to everyone involved in making these events happen, they have been truly appreciated by many.
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This week we’re celebrating Te wiki o te reo Māori – Māori Language Week, so make sure you get along to at least one of the events and help strengthen your Māori language knowledge and to enjoy connecting with colleagues across campus.