Mālō e lelei, Tālofa lava and greetings to you all. Earlier this year I had the privilege of attending the Hands on at Otago programme for 2023. I spent a week at the University of Otago from the 15-20 January learning about the amazing things the university has to offer.

I was accommodated to St Margaret’s college along with a large number of other students from across New Zealand. I was allocated to a project which was Psychology where I learnt about the human behaviour and the differences between the four psychology labs we visited on campus. We also had the chance to have a look at other projects for three days which were called tasters.

The hands-on at Otago programme was truly an amazing experience to get a full insight of what uni looks like, I highly recommend this programme to anyone and everyone. I definitely gained more knowledge on what I could study after high school. This experience was a memorable one and I am so grateful to have been apart of it.

My two older sisters attended Hands on at Otago in 2017 and 2021. Listening to their experiences felt very inspiring, therefore I then felt more motivated to push further out of my comfort zone and try new things. So big shout out to my older siblings for supporting me in taking on this opportunity.

I would also like to acknowledge Mrs Scott and Mrs Bloomfield for taking the time to help me prepare and apply for this programme."

Malo ‘Aupito,

Kalatiola Piukala