University of Canterbury

On Tuesday 13th April a group of 50 year 12's went to the University of Canterbury for their discovery day. This is where we got an introduction to what it's like to be a University student, we spent the day going to lectures of our choice and learning more about topics we might study when we leave school. We also learnt more about the subjects we need to study at high school and the entry requirements needed. My personal favourite part of the day was the "Can nutrition help mental illnesses" lecture because I got to discover more about what you need to study, psychology and that unhealthy or healthy diets can affect people and their mental illnesses. We would also like to give a huge thanks to Ms Jo Ager and Ms Abbe Milne for taking us on the trip and allowing it to happen.

Annabelle Rushton-Pearce

Southern Wood work experience day

Five of Ms Swift’s Landscape Gardening students were recently given the opportunity to have a days’ work experience at Southern Woods Nursery. We were looked after by Devon and members of the team.

The day began with a health and safety briefing. We learnt how to take cuttings and how to prep them for planting to grow into new plants, this included how to take care of the cuttings to get the best results. Next, we learnt about seeds, which involved learning how to harvest seeds and get them out of their pods, some of the seeds were gathered from all over Canterbury. We learnt how to repot different types of seeds, by hand and by machinery which was fun seeing how fast the machines could go.

We then had a display challenge in the retail department. We had to pick a theme and make a display based on this. We were then able to choose plants from around the nursery to build our display. We chose to do a formal display, involving a colour scheme of white, pale pinks and purples.

During our time there Sam Broughton, the Selwyn Mayor, came to visit us and see what we were learning, but could not stay to join us for lunch.

At the end of the day, Indigo and myself were interviewed about our day which we found was really interesting and opened our eyes to what happens behind the scenes at a nursery.

Written By Emelia Newman

Model United Nations

As Region Representatives for the Youth United Nations, we were introduced to the opportunity of representing the college at the 2021 Model United Nations that was held on the 27th and 28th of March. Being keen aspiring politicians we of course jumped on this opportunity with great excitement. It was the first Model United Nations since 2019 since COVID-19 stood in the way of running in 2020 and was a huge success. We and the 70 other students that attended were assigned countries to represent in a week's advance to the event along with a handbook of topics to research in relation to our countries in preparation for the debates. We then got to speak and vote from our countries perspectives on topics ranging from Climate Change, to military interventionism, to debt relief. Overall It was a great experience that taught us both a lot about issues facing the world at large, and helped expand our knowledge beyond issues that just affect New Zealand, and gave us much greater insight into how we, as a nation, interact with other countries further abroad.

Alex Prendergast & Kaylee Hill 

University of Canterbury

x14 year 12 students spent the afternoon at UC hearing all about Law and Criminal Justice degrees. They heard from a range of lecturers and students and even took part in a mock trial!

Ara

Ara came into school to offer an information evening for whanau and learners to hear more about their course options, applications, funding and scholarships. Around 120 people came along which was a fantastic turn out. If you missed it then these sessions are on offer at their Madras Street campus if you check out their website.

Road Metals

3 Learners were given the opportunity to spend a week with Road Metals learning about the quarry and transport industry:

We started with a walk around the Quarry and Plant, being shown how everything works. We had the opportunity to drive and operate machinery like loaders, diggers and the dump truck. I especially enjoyed using the bulldozer. On Wednesday we went to Rolleston Quarry, the some other learners went into the engineering workshop and made guards for the moveable plant that was going to Yaldhurst. I went into the mechanics workshop and worked on servicing a kiwi concrete truck changing rollers and greasing everything. Thursday we spent time with a driver from Kiwi Concrete and they taught us how it works and how concrete is made. I then spent the rest of the day on the weigh bridge. On Friday we had to shuffle dirt and stones from the plant! This was a little 'surprise' for us. It was to remind us of the not-so glamorous side of the industry. In the afternoon we had a bbq lunch as a thank you with all the Road Metals team. We finished the day in the mechanics and engineering workshops.

Written by Riley Harrington

Selwyn Awards

The bi-annual prestigious Selwyn Awards event is back.

Applications are now open and close on the 11th June - https://www.selwynawards.co.nz/the-awards

The awards showcase all that is great about the Selwyn District, they recognise the outstanding work and achievements of businesses, not-for-profit organisations and individuals who live or work within our district.

We are excited to inform you that the 2021 awards will be presented on Saturday 31 July at the Lincoln Event Centre.

We have made some changes that will encourage greater participation from our community. The experience will be enhanced for all involved as we continue to build the prestige of the awards.

Improvements include:

• Self-nomination - entrants can nominate themselves, you no longer need to be nominated by someone else.
• Awards will now be won based on the number of points obtained in each category. This means we can reward on merit and have multiple gold, silver and bronze winners, with the highest points achiever winning the category overall.

There is a Young Achiever Award that some of your students may be interested in and please share this email with those within your networks who may be interested.

Please contact moreinfo@selwynawards.co.nz or visit www.selwynawards.co.nz for further information on the award categories.