Study Areas – EIT Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti

Exploring New Zealand’s wine regions on his month-long Bragato exchange scholarship, Alessandro Mangiameli has encountered a few surprises.

From Treviso in Italy’s Veneto region, the 18-year-old says winery machinery and winemaking processes are much the same in both countries but different vineyard practices reflect the local soils and climatic conditions.

Alessandro’s counterpart at EIT, this year’s New Zealand Bragato scholar Jascha Oldham-Selak, will have a like opportunity to check out similarities and differences when he travels to Italy in January.

“Cin cin” – Alessandro Mangiameli and Jascha Oldham-Selak drink to their Bragato exchange scholarship success on EIT’s campus in Hawke’s Bay.

A third-year student enrolled in the concurrent Bachelor of Wine Science and Bachelor of Viticulture, Jascha is looking forward to his first experience of old world wine making.

Ahead of his month in Italy, he will fly into Barcelona to meet up with a friend. The pair will then travel to the Canary Islands, visiting a “wine house” in Lanzarote, and drive through the Italian countryside from Rome.

On his scholarship, Jascha will be visiting wine regions in the country’s northeast and spending time at Romeo Bragato’s alma mater in Conegliano. The legendary viticulturist is celebrated for recognising New Zealand’s potential for growing grapes.

Alessandra attends the same school of viticulture and oenology, which is based in a region known for its prosecco, a sparkling white wine made from Glera grapes.

Visiting the Gisborne, Central Otago, Marlborough and Hawke’s Bay wine regions, he sampled many of the styles associated with this country including Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier, Riesling, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec as well as a number of blends.

“The New Zealand wines are different,” he says. “They have more flavour, more alcohol and more body.”

Alessandra was also interested to taste whites such as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc matured in oak.

Apart from a week-long school trip to Austria, this was his first trip abroad. It’s uncommon for young Italians to travel overseas, he says, and his classmates, whose families typically own wineries, are needed at home to help with harvest.

While Jascha has travelled to Fiji and Australia, his Bragato exchange trip will be his first venture to the northern hemisphere and he’s excited that its focus will be winemaking and viticulture.

Both students attended the Romeo Bragato Conference held in Napier from 26-28 August and they plan to catch up again when Jascha is in Italy.

Good as gold students, from left, Eleisha George, Maddie Crozier, Stephen McGowan and Tom Carpenter.

An EIT foursome have achieved a first as the only students to win gold in New Zealand’s Bragato Wine Awards.

Their medal-winning wine, a 2014 Syrah, was made from grapes donated by C J Pask and grown by company viticulturist Danny van Selm. One of 43 Syrahs entered in the awards, it was judged alongside commercial entries and was one of five golds in its class.

“We are looking at international shows now,” Tom laughs of the group’s success.

Tom and classmates Maddie Crozier, Eleisha George and Stephen McGowan harvested the grapes on Good Friday last year after rain.

“Given all the heavy rain, we had to be pretty selective as the fruit had taken a bit of a battering,” Stephen recalls. “We had to get it off skins pretty quickly, but we knew the flavours were there.”

The students picked enough from the Gimblett Gravels vineyard to fill a four-year-old French oak barrel. Wine science and viticulture lecturer Tim Creagh loaned the four a trailer, arranged for the picking bin and opened up the winery on campus – “he spent most of his day off with us,” says Eleisha.

Six months in and feeling the maturing wine was coming along nicely but in need of a little extra oak, the group added barrel staves.

Tom says there was an ongoing interchange involving the four classmates. The process was so cordial, it inspired the wine’s name, Harmony.

“We did it by the book, with blending and fining trials,” says Stephen, “setting up bench trials for everything.”

If there were differences in opinion, the group amiably negotiated an outcome.

Mike Compton says this year was a first for a non-commercial wine to have won gold during his time as awards director, since 1998.

Maddie and Eleisha are in their second year of concurrent study for Bachelor of Wine Science and Bachelor of Viticulture degrees. International students, Tom and Stephen are final-year Diploma in Grapegrowing and Winemaking students.

Formerly from Hampshire, Tom says he was looking for a practical programme when he decided to move to New Zealand to study wine and the diploma delivers on that. Stephen, originally from Somerset, feels he made the right decision in leaving a corporate job in Hong Kong to study at EIT.

Both Englishmen are planning to forge new careers in New Zealand and are working part-time at local wineries.

From Hamilton, Eleisha was persuaded by her father, working in the wine industry, to study wine science and viticulture.

“He’s pretty proud now, telling all his reps about our success.”

Maddie didn’t know where to head herself when she left Hastings Girls’ High School. However, a teacher who knew she really loved science suggested she study wine.

“I really didn’t like wine when I started at EIT. I love it now, I really do,” she says, with a nod to the progressive tastings of the gold medal wine as it matured in barrel.

Jascha Oldham-Selak samples his
medal-winning Syrah.

This year’s Bragato exchange scholarship winner Jascha Oldham-Selak is upholding a family tradition in pursuing a passion for wine.

The 25-year-old was also awarded Constellation Brands New Zealand Ltd wine industry scholarship for a student enrolled in a viticulture degree at EIT.

The $5,000 scholarship is helping fund Jascha’s Bachelor of Viticulture and Bachelor of Wine Science concurrent degree studies and will enable the second-year student to work in the company’s vineyards, meeting degree requirements for handson industry experience.

Marino Selak, who founded the New Zealand company of the same name, was Jascha’s second cousin on his mother’s side. His great grandfather helped invest in the land where Marino established the wine business. Fittingly enough, Constellation Brands now owns the Selak’s brand.

Born and raised in West Auckland, Jascha has long been interested in wine. “We always had wine at family occasions and were encouraged to appreciate it, to look into the glass rather than just drink alcohol.”

“I wanted to know the whole science of it since about the age of 20 and asked more questions about our family’s involvement.”

Jascha won bronze at last year’s Romeo Bragato Awards and in the Hawke’s Bay A&P Bayley’s Wine Awards student class as well as silver in EIT’s Student Wine Awards with a 2014 Syrah made from Gimblett Gravels fruit.

“It’s going by too fast. I’m finding there is so much more to know than I ever thought and with the support of knowledgeable lecturers and access to great facilities I can further my understanding of the wine and viticulture sciences.”

Jascha Oldham-Selak samples his medal-winning Syrah.

Top apprentices Joseph Morris

Top apprentice Lee Holloway.

Two EIT-trained apprentices have achieved national titles this year.

Joseph Morris was named Electrical Apprentice of the Year after winning the domestic/commercial division and two of the individual categories in the Electrical Contractors Challenge held in Hamilton.

Working for Russell Electrical in Waipukurau and living in Dannevirke, 24-year-old Joseph travelled up from Central Hawke’s Bay to attend block courses at EIT on the campus in Taradale.

Representing Hawke’s Bay, Lee Holloway won the Certified Builders Association’s Apprentice of the Year.

It is the second time an EIT carpentry apprentice has taken out the national title, with Paul McDowall claiming top spot in 2011.

From Hastings, Lee completed the Level 3 Certificate in Carpentry and then progressed onto EIT’s National Certificate in Carpentry (Level 4) and his apprenticeship with Simkin Construction.

Packing tools for Vanuatu, from left, trades
students Cory Atkenson, Jarrod Rogers- Hughes,
Jacob Renall and Rayne Hungahunga.

Seven hand-picked Māori and Pasifika students enrolled in EIT trades programmes are helping rebuild medical centres in Vanuatu after its lashing by Cyclone Pam.

The students are from a Manakura group, an EIT initiative supporting Māori and Pacific Island achievement.

Led by head of school for trades and technology Todd Rogers and EIT tutors, the plumbing, electrical, carpentry and automotive students will re-roof and re-clad a health centre in the remote village of Paunagnisu and upgrade a medical centre in Erakor in the south of the island group.

“It is such a good opportunity for these young people.” Todd says of the trip to Vanuatu.

One of the group, Jarrod Rogers-Hughes from Ruatoria is an electrical student at EIT in Hawke’s Bay. Jarrod’s accommodation costs are being covered by Te Runanga o Ngati Porou and his study fees by a Māori and Pasifika Trades Training scholarship.

Major sponsors are The Skills Organisation, MITO (the industry training organisation for the motor industry), the Certified Builders Association of New Zealand, ITM and the EIT Students’ Association.

Dr Patrick Lander collects data for the study.

EIT’s School of Health and Sport Science is using new technology to capture the performance of swimmers in an open water pacing study.

Senior lecturer Dr Patrick Lander says the study is novel, not only in its use of the latest GPS enabled portable fitness devices but also because participants were asked after an open water swimming event how they felt it went for them.

Some research projects collect numbers on performance while others collect perceptions on how an activity went. In this project, the researchers both tried to understand all the aspects that go into an individual’s participation in an open water swimming event.

The project team also includes local academic Dr Dallas Knight, a graduate of the University of Otago, and recent EIT Recreation and Sport valedictorian Philip Shambrook, who is now studying for a PhD through La Trobe University in Bendigo, Australia.

“In fact the concept for the project came from Philip’s investigations as part of his EIT Master of Health Science thesis,” Patrick says.

“We used the Napier Port Ocean Swim in March as a data collection tool, so it is important to thank the participants in the race for helping us with this data collection and also the race organiser, Trevor Adsett from Napier Aquahawks Swim Club.”

Patrick says the research team is looking forward to creating academic articles from the study data and returning to next year’s race to see what else can be learnt about open water swimming.

National award winner
Kathy Kupenga.

EIT nursing student Kathy Kupenga has been awarded a prestigious Te Apa Mareikura scholarship, one of only two made nationwide by the Ministry of Health.

“I never expected it, but it is humbling to be a recipient,” Kathy says. “I feel so honoured.”

The student awards, each worth $10,000, are chosen from 11 health categories. Established under the ministry’s Hauora Māori programme, they recognise the recipients’ involvement in community health, proven leadership and effective community networks as well as academic excellence.

Kathy’s wide-ranging experiences have put her at the coal face with Māori. The second-year Bachelor of Nursing student has served as a medic in the New Zealand Army, a paramedic in the Wellington Free and St John Ambulance services, a Māori advisor in smoking cessation for The Quit Group in Wellington and a health promoter and asthma educator for Turanga Health in Gisborne.

In 2011, she took up a regional role with the Ministry of Justice, developing a specialist service aimed at minimising the impact of the judicial process on victims of sexual violence.

“For as long as I can remember,” she says, “I have always been at the forefront, helping people and trying to make a difference.”

In May, she won an exemplar competition at a national hui for Māori nursing students, drawing on her practicum experience working in mental health.

Kathy represents EIT as a student union delegate on the New Zealand Nurses Organisation and the national chair for Te Rῡnanga Tauira, the ‘Treaty’ arm to the National Student Unit. She also serves as secretary for Te Roopu Whaioranga, a Māori Bachelor of Nursing student-led support group.

Rachel Newland reconnects with ‘Lady Gaga’

Working for an international company, EIT business graduate Rachel Newland regularly meets Lady Gaga in her job.

That’s not the American singer, songwriter and actress mind, but a nine-metre long digital printing machine housed in EIT’s reprographics department – the first in Hawke’s Bay to produce bound booklets.

Naming the department’s equipment after celebrities, the reprographics team have worked with Elvis, Freddie Mercury, Beyonce, Madonna and other superstars.

Customer services delivery manager for Fuji Xerox New Zealand Ltd, Rachel says her company’s photocopiers are often given pet names – one of many aspects she likes about her customer-facing job.

Based in Auckland at Fuji Xerox’s New Zealand head office, Rachel averages three days of travel a week, ranging throughout New Zealand. That brings her onto campus every quarter to ensure EIT’s photocopying and printing equipment needs are being met.

Born and raised in Wairoa, Rachel joined Fuji Xerox after graduating with a Bachelor of Business Studies in 2011. Since then she has been promoted twice.

As a Wairoa College school leaver, she was attracted by EIT’s Year 13 degree scholarship and as “a home person” she was also keen to stay in Hawke’s Bay.

“I really struggled at the start with what I wanted to study,” the 27-year-old says of EIT’s range of degrees, but business studies quickly proved a good fit and she went on to major in marketing and management.

Rachel found the comparatively small class sizes, knowing her fellow students and the accessibility of lecturers all supported her learning and she feels her studies prepared her well for her first role at Fuji Xerox as assistant bids and tenders manager.

“A degree,” she says, “shows stickability, that you can follow something through and know how to write a report.”

What she most likes most about her career path is that it combines her two passions, people and technology.

“I love the team I work with, they make a huge difference in what I am doing. And of course our generation is all about technology.”

Flatting in Ponsonby and just a two-minute drive away from the buzz of head office, Rachel also enjoys getting out into provincial New Zealand.

Rather than hanker after OE, she prefers to travel overseas on holiday. Having been to Australia, she is now looking forward to a trip to Bali. Coupling that with two homes – the family home in Wairoa and her Auckland base – and a great job, Rachel agrees her life is very good indeed.

Film maker Nigel Roberts, in his office at EIT.

A short film by EIT ideaschool lecturer Nigel Roberts has screened in an international experimental film and video festival in Spain.

Programme coordinator for the Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design, Nigel is “very happy” to have had his film selected for the Bideodromo 2015 festival, which featured experimental films, including documentary, narrative, animation, video art and other genres, screening at three venues in Bilbao.

The four-minute work, entitled T.O.T. for Tip of the Tongue, includes sound effects but no storyline or dialogue.

“The viewer might ask, where have the words gone?” says Nigel, who believes the role of the experimental filmmaker is to cross boundaries, challenging notions of what video is and isn’t and what it could be.

“I like the ambiguity of what I do. I’m not interested in a clear, easily comprehensible narrative; I like to step outside normal expectations and, in playing with the edge of reason or explanation, to leave my audience slightly bamboozled.”

Nigel has always found film a fascinating medium. He was in his mid-teens when he made his first film with a friend, using a camera given to her by her grandfather.

“We were inspired by early American efforts, such as those featuring Charlie Chaplin, to make a stop motion film. Our setting was the Taradale shopping centre.”

Later, living in a tower block in East London, Nigel was “a jack of all trades” on film sets, helping young experimental artists who were seriously into film. Back in New Zealand he became involved with music events, played around with slide projectors and early digital film mixing and worked on visuals for bands and dance parties.

These days, he says, lap tops and digital cameras have made it easier to pursue video as an art form and for artists to put their visual thoughts into the ether.

Unlike mainstream cinema, experimental films attract their own artistic fringe. Nonetheless, there are hundreds of thousands “doing it out there”.

Nigel considers it important for art teachers to demonstrate that they are working on their own art practices.

The learning for ideaschool’s screen production students is industry-focused, he points out, while visual arts and design students create their films from an artistic point of view.

“That doesn’t necessarily rely on any convention. It’s about taking the tools you have and exploring what you can do with them. There are no rules.”

T.O.T. is the first in what Nigel intends to be a triptych of related experimental films. The other two films in the series, while still to be made, have been titled Deja Vu and Premonition.

Rebecca Stone and Liam Treadwell mobilise for EIT ideaschool’s graduate exhibition

The first students to enrol in New Zealand’s first project-based-learning arts and design degree are fine-tuning work for ideaschool’s graduate exhibition A Feast for the Senses.

The cohort of 34 students, the largest graduating class in EIT’s three-year Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design, are working on paintings, sculptures, limited edition prints, films and other works for the idea showcase Graduate Exhibition to be held at CAN (Community Arts Napier) from November 21-25.

Rebecca Stone and Liam Treadwell believe they and their classmates will have an edge over graduates from other art and design schools as they look for jobs in the creative industries.

As would-be students, they found the excitement of ideaschool lecturers around the newly-establishing degree was infectious. They were also attracted to EIT by the Year 13 degree scholarship.

“Now other art and design schools in New Zealand are introducing the project-based learning approach,” says Rebecca, a 21-year-old from Wairoa. “I feel we have a head start with employers.”

Over the course of their degree, ideaschool’s visual arts and students undertake a series of real-life projects designed to develop their practical skills, techniques and theoretical knowledge while equipping them with the know-how required for working in and developing and managing their own practices.

In a lecturer-facilitated environment, they work collaboratively and at times independently on projects that become progressively more challenging.

The students are encouraged to polish their problem-solving, research and decision-making skills while learning how to market themselves, write proposals, deal with commissions, budget, interact with clients, work with other creative specialists and pace their processes to meet deadlines.

“The degree offers an academic element,” says Rebecca, “while allowing students to experiment with a range of disciplines.”

Liam believes it suits students who, like him, come from school and still have to find out who they are as artists.

“You can try different things in the first year, narrow that down in the second and by the third year you feel you know what you are doing down the road,” says the 20-year-old from Taradale.

Liam is currently basing his practice around illustration – “somewhere between design and fine art” – while for Rebecca the work predominantly focuses on a drawing practice, currently portraiture.

“I came here thinking I was just a visual artist but now I realise how much I enjoy design as well,” she says.

Returning to her fine art roots, she has submitted a work depicting an uncle, rendered in coloured pencil and a touch of paint, for the upcoming exhibition.

Rebecca feels there is still more to explore before she considers entering the industry.

“I have been exploring my creative side and want more world experiences before coming back and finding something locally.”

Liam would love to work in a design firm and build his reputation before going into business for himself.

“I hope to freelance and then create my own style from there,” he says. “To have a career you enjoy and make art – that’s what makes you tick.”

Dr Ruth Crawford recently completed her PhD through the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), which involved 280 hours of observation in the children’s ward of a New Zealand regional hospital. Her research examined communication involving emotions between nurses and parents of a child in hospital, with a particular focus on the cultural context of the child’s care.

In the field of inpatient child health nursing, the nurse relates to both the child who is a patient and the child’s parents or caregivers. The relationship the nurse develops with parents is vital in the management of the child’s care because most parents continue to parent their child and work alongside the nurse. There is also an expectation that the parent or primary caregiver will remain involved in a child’s hospital care and work collaboratively with nurses.

Using focused ethnography as her research method, Ruth shadowed nurses as they went about their daily practice, informally talking with them and with the parents of their paediatric patients. All the while she amassed copious field notes which she followed with 20 formal interviews with both nurses and parents. To help her manage the volume and complexity of these data, all were uploaded into a qualitative data management software program which enabled their classification and order.

Ruth is now in the process of writing papers from her thesis. She is focussing on the ways that hospital ward and nursing culture influence and shape nurses’ behaviour with regard to emotional communication. Parents of children in hospital want to communicate emotionally with nurses but generally nurses choose not to acknowledge or respond to parents’ emotional cues. Both parents and nurses experienced difficulty with emotional communication, leaving parents feeling vulnerable and isolated and nurses inadequate and stressed. Nurses tend to protect themselves against parents’ emotional needs and the potential impact of emotional connections. The current system requires nurses to focus on the physical aspects of caring for the child.

Ruth’s findings highlight the difficulties faced by nurses practising in hospitals as they bridge the unease between organisational demands, the needs of people they encounter daily and their own personal vulnerabilities. Her conclusions include the recommendation that appropriate nursing models need to be further enmeshed in practice, such as the Family Partnership model which focuses on interaction with families and increasing skills of staff to work with them.

Ruth Crawford PhD
Principal Lecturer, School of Nursing
rcrawford@eit.ac.nz

For Dr Emily Nelson, an interest in student voice means bringing the world view and perspectives of children into the classroom, involving them in educational debate, design and decision-making and elevating their status and influence alongside educators. Her key interest is what student voice means for teachers and how it can be used to bring teachers and students together.

There are many reasons to consider student voice in education but Emily’s main motivation concerns social justice. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child includes the child’s right to be heard, positioning respect for children’s views as a legal obligation within education. She recognises that, despite 30 plus years of research and pedagogical practice addressing student voice, the change it evokes in student status remains problematic and challenging.

For her PhD thesis at The University of Waikato, entitled, ‘Is this student voice?’ Students and teachers renegotiate power through governance partnerships in the classroom, Emily engaged a three-cycle action research model and worked with three teachers and their year 7 and 8 students within a New Zealand intermediate school. The teachers each identified one pedagogical area that their classroom students saw as relevant to their learning but needing redesigning for effective teaching. The teachers met regularly to plan and reflect on collaborations with their students and to ensure that aspects of teacher voice were addressed in the process of enacting student voice. A research group of 12 students drawn from the three participating classes also provided ongoing insight into classroom power dynamics.

As an outcome of the research, teachers and students worked together in the ‘governance zone’ where decision-making, usually the sole domain of teachers, was shared with students. Teachers gained valuable insight into their students as learners as well as the efficacy of their teaching from their students’ perspectives. Emily’s research suggests that student voice in the classroom is a joint student/teacher practice that requires building student capacity for decision-making. However, without parallel consideration of the conditions that impact on teachers’ autonomy to build student influence, student voice will remain more rhetoric than reality. Teachers and students were constrained by school expectations and accountability demands.

Emily is now considering student voice in ‘modern learning environments’, including digital technologies. She is collaborating with US academics on a literature review to establish the research direction for the American Educational Research Association Middle Level Education Special Interest Group regarding digital technologies.

Emily Nelson PhD
Senior Lecturer
School of Education
enelson@eit.ac.nz

An EIT team of students and staff is making good progress in Vanuatu where they are helping islanders rebuild village medical clinics devastated by cyclone earlier this year.

Head of School, Trades, Todd Rogers says the team is working extremely hard, starting at 4:30am each day continuing to 11am, then resuming from 3pm and finishing at sundown.

Although there have been a few delays with the materials, Todd expects that with a few late nights they will achieve their deadline.

For trades students, most of whom have never been overseas life in Vanuatu has been a real eye-opener however they are rising to the challenge to complete the mission and fine their tune their skills.

EIT will launch two postgraduate programmes in creative practice next year and they will be unique as New Zealand’s only applied honours and master degrees steeped in a kaupapa Māori philosophy. Both programmes are to be jointly delivered by Hawke’s Bay’s ideaschool and Tairāwhiti’s Toihoukura, providing students with increased access to two schools of lecturers and artists.

Blended learning incorporating wānanga (seminars) and video conference sessions will allow those enrolling to be based in a location of their choice.

While the programmes are designed for both Pākehā and Māori, they will be particularly attractive to Māori because their delivery will be
within a Māori learning context.

Students are expected to come from a wide range of creative fields. These might include painting, design, weaving, tā moko, carving, sculpture, ceramics, multi-media, web design, screen production, music, service design and fashion.

Currently graduates of the Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design, Te Toi o Ngā Rangi and similar degrees have to leave the regions to engage in postgraduate study in the arts. As a result, their knowledge and talents are lost to Hawke’s Bay and Te Tairāwhiti.

EIT’s Te Hono ki Toi (Poutiri-ā-rangi) – Bachelor of Creative Practice (Honours) and Te Hono ki Toi (Poutiriao) – Master of Professional Practice (Creative Practice) will address that issue, providing new pathways for their creative journeys.

The honours degree requires a full-time year of study or 2-3 years part-time. The master’s degree encompasses 1½ years of full-time study or 3-4 years part-time.

The strengths of both will be the flexible and individualised programmes offered by schools that have high recognition in New Zealand and overseas.

Both programmes are subject to approval and accreditation.

The foundation for a successful construction industry is good design – a point appreciated by EIT in offering the New Zealand Diploma in
Architectural Technology.

The Level 6 qualification is suited to those wanting to work as architectural technicians. Equally, it will provide recognition of knowledge and skills for those who already work in that role.

The two-year full-time programme (or equivalent part-time) is being delivered on-campus at EIT Hawke’s Bay from February next year.
Based on practical learning, it will equip graduates to undertake the complete process involved in producing architectural drawings, from establishing a client’s requirements through to the submission of final detailed design plans.

The first year focuses on small building projects and will cover feasibility studies, communicating concepts, preparing documentation, evaluating materials and finishes and producing working drawings using manual and digital technologies. The second year of study will expand on this, covering larger projects. Graduates will understand the roles, documentation and administrative requirements of the construction industry and be able to apply this knowledge and assist senior personnel through the tender process.

Fledgling designer Tessa Paaymans chose garments created while studying at EIT in showcasing her work at the recent New York Fashion Week.

Discovered by international catwalk show producers Oxford Fashion Studio, the creative 21-year-old from Hastings was stunned and thrilled to be invited to take part in one of the world’s foremost fashion events.

Oxford Fashion Studio has worked with some of the industry’s greats, including Tessa’s fashion hero Alexander McQueen, and she views the opportunity to be seen at New York Fashion Week as a major jump start for her career.

Aiming to launch her own label, Tessa believes it will have helped getting her name out there in the
competitive world of fashion and networking with buyers and media at the show. EIT helped finance the trip, covering the cost of sending her garments to the Big Apple.

Tessa presented six outfits in the Conceptual Design category at New York Fashion Week and four of them were created at EIT where she studied for the two-year Certificate in Fashion Apparel.
Two of the looks she chose to feature were from her final-year EIT collection, The Day After the
Future, inspired by Aeon Flux, a sci-fi film starring Charlize Theron. Attracted by futuristic trends, she incorporated creative materials and techniques, making garments using PVC, fibreglass, sequins and silks to win the supreme award in her class.

One of the outfits chosen for New York teamed silver-sequinned hot pants with a fitted and zipped
electric blue jacket. Theatrical details included a chunky quilted collar and a pleated cape-like effect
over the single sleeve.

Another of her EIT looks, Just Shoot Me, won the Silver section at the Hokonui Fashion Show in 2013.

Tessa’s outstanding success underlines the value of EIT’s fashion apparel programmes as a pathway into the fashion industry, says programme coordinator Cheryl Downie.

“Over the two years, students learn about apparel production, machinist skills, pattern drafting, fashion illustration, production skills, garment production and managing small businesses.

“We feel Tessa is on the verge of something big and ideaschool Fashion is very proud to have helped
her future.”

After graduating from EIT, Tessa moved to Wellington where she is studying for a diploma in costume construction at New Zealand’s drama school, Toi Whakaari.

Enjoying bringing a character to life, Tessa says, “I’m a bit crazy and I want to have fun.”

An EIT foursome have achieved a first as the only students to win gold in New Zealand’s Bragato Wine Awards.

Their medal-winning wine, a 2014 Syrah, was made from grapes donated by C J Pask and grown
by company viticulturist Danny van Selm. One of 43 Syrahs entered in the awards, it was judged
alongside commercial entries and was one of five golds in its class.

“We are looking at international shows now,” Tom Carpenter laughs of the group’s success.
Tom and classmates Maddie Crozier, Eleisha George and Stephen McGowan harvested the grapes on Good Friday last year after rain.

Six months in and feeling the maturing wine was coming along nicely but in need of a little extra oak, the group added barrel staves.

Tom says there was an ongoing interchange involving the four classmates. The process was so cordial, it inspired the wine’s name, Harmony.

“We did it by the book, with blending and fining trials,” says Stephen, “setting up bench trials for everything.”

If there were differences in opinion, the group amiably negotiated an outcome.

Mike Compton says this year was a first for a noncommercial wine to have won gold during his time as awards director, since 1998.

Maddie and Eleisha are in their second year of study for Bachelor of Wine Science and Bachelor of Viticulture concurrent degrees. International students, Tom and Stephen are final-year Diploma in Grapegrowing and Winemaking students.

Both Englishmen are planning to forge new careers in New Zealand and are working part-time at local wineries.

From Hamilton, Eleisha was persuaded by her father, working in the wine industry, to study wine science and viticulture.

“He’s pretty proud now, telling all his reps about our success.”

Maddie didn’t know where to head herself when she left Hastings Girls’ High School. However, a teacher who knew she really loved science suggested she study wine.

“I really didn’t like wine when I started at EIT. I love it now, I really do,” she says, with a nod to the progressive tastings of the gold medal wine as it matured in barrel.

EIT wine and viticulture graduates and students shined during the Bragato conference, with New Zealand’s inaugural Young Winemaker of the Year also being announced. Lauren Swift who received the prestigious national title, graduated with EIT’s Bachelor of Wine Science and Diploma of Wine Marketing, and is now Winemaker at Hawke’s Bay’s Ash Ridge Winery. Abigail Maxwell of Babich Wines earned second place and is also an EIT Bachelor of Wine Science graduate.

October 29 will see the celebration of 21 years of Te Ara o Tāwhaki marae on the Hawke’s Bay campus.

The late Tuahine Northover, along with Joseph Te
Rito, Mana Cracknell, Ihāia Hūtana, Pauline Tangiora
and many others were the dynamism behind the
wharepuni being built and opened in 1994.

The vision for the marae was to provide and support
students with their learning in a vibrant, kaupapa Māori environment. Over the years, as cultural awareness grew across the campus, it was pertinent that EIT house its noho marae (live in) and hui (meeting) at Te Ara o Tāwhaki to give full expression to kaupapa Māori and Mātauranga Māori.

More recent developments have been the opening of two spectacular buildings alongside Te Ara o
Tāwhaki – Ko Ngā Ara Tūmanako in 2004 and Te Ūranga Waka in 2012.

In 2011 the Tairāwhiti Polytechnic and EIT Hawke’s Bay merged – kia aha? Kia kotahi te hoe! – Why?

To align the educational needs of the people of Te Tairāwhiti and Ngāti Kahungunu.
We are excited about this celebration and will take the opportunity to acknowledge all of the stalwarts who dreamed a dream, a dream which is now a reality in many people’s lives today.

The architectural concept for Te Ūranga Waka (meaning the landing place of canoes) was that of a whare waka, with the waka as a representation of the learning journey. The building’s form and east-facing orientation echo that of Te Ara o Tāwhaki – the symbolic heart of Te Ūranga Waka.

Serving as a symbolic gateway and cultural focal point for
the campus, the 300m2 building has administration offices, meeting areas, research space, and an expansive reception area and exhibition space for Māori art and crafts.