Bachelor of Science in Statistics
Tell us about your community involvement at UC.
After receiving the Emerging Leaders鈥 scholarship I got onto their exec. This year I've been re-elected as Cultural and Social Coordinator. Previously I was the Rotary associate coordinator. Rotary does a lot of amazing community engagement projects which I get to pitch to students.
What do you enjoy about that outreach?
Volunteering is something you do for the fellowship, the service and the community. Some of the people in Rotary include top lawyers and engineers, marketing people and property developers so it's a great opportunity to learn from them as well.
You鈥檙e part of听Te Waka P膩k膩k膩no too?
Yes, I've been a mentor with the Tuakana program. I've also helped with events like the Ng膩 Manu K艒rero school speech competition. It's been a good way to get engaged. I grew up with a mainly P膩keh膩 background but at Ng膩 Manu K艒rero it was awesome to see so many fluent Te Reo speakers thriving in one place. It's been interesting to understand how important the language is to the overall culture.
Sounds like a great opportunity to connect with your M膩ori heritage.
Te Waka P膩k膩k膩no听is awesome in that regard. Beyond volunteering and events, they also run workshops. They did one about biculturalism which was a great way to learn about how to approach different cultures. They taught us the concept of the "iceberg". It's the idea that it's easy to see the differences between cultures but underneath there's a huge amount we have in common.
And you went to China for the summer?
I went to Peking University on a scholarship with 12 other students; Peking University is regarded as China鈥檚 top university. I was doing a research project that looked at what success means to Chinese students. We did a few tours as well, to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. We even went to the opera!
How would you sum up your UC experience?
I've learned so much both inside and outside the classroom. I鈥檝e had the opportunity to travel and connect with the wider community. There鈥檚 also the journey I've gone on in terms of learning more about my culture. My motto is 鈥渓ifelong learning鈥 so this is a great place to be!
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