Three of our Year 13 students were selected to participate in a week-long residential programme at the University of Otago in January.

 Hands-On at Otago' gives Year 12 and 13 high school students the opportunity to experience a snippet of university life, along with exploring the different study options the university offers. Three TGHS students attended this year: Elle Ambrose, Talia Barton and Kelsey-Anne Davis.

The format of this experience was centred around our primary projects. For Elle this was ‘psychology’, for Talia it was ‘economics’ and my project was ‘law’. While we each had three other ‘taster’ projects that were selected for us in the hopes to widen our view of study options. These ranged from politics and international business to food science and physiotherapy. Along with these projects we got to explore Dunedin and utilise the facilities offered to students, such as UniPol.

Talia and I were staying at the residential college Arana, while Elle was at St Margarets. This gave us an immersive experience as to how we would be living in our first year of university.

Within my project, we predominantly focused on criminal law. Within this we visited the Central Dunedin Police Station, along with Dunedin’s High and District Court, where we observed list court. Our final activity was a mock trial that we had prepared for throughout the week. Within the trial we argued if the defendant was guilty of robbery or aggravated robbery.

We were also given the opportunity to meet and speak with members of the university’s law faculty and current fourth year students. It was an amazing project, filled with lots of amazing people!

Talia's main project was economics. In her project they discussed social conformity and human behaviour. When she first started the subject she was confused as to why the teacher was discussing these topics, as she thought they were more related to psychology, but she learnt that business tactics often pinpoint back to social conformity in day to day life. This was interesting because it was a side of economics Talia hadn't thought about before.

Her Economics class was quite small so it didn't take long for everyone to bond, by the end of the week they were taking trips into town and getting lunch together. Overall her experience at Otago Hands On was very positive and she highly recommends people apply for this year, and the years to come.

Elle really enjoyed her week down in Dunedin. She found it eye-opening to experience what it would be like living in a hall of residence, and getting a taste of the course she’s interested in was a fantastic affirmation of her goals. She also liked getting to try other courses, since it put an additional variety of options on her radar. She found the food fantastic and the welcoming energy of the staff made it easier for her to settle in. Elle made a ton of fantastic friends, some of which she’s still in contact with online. She’s now really looking forward to attending Otago University once she graduates from TGHS, and the Hands-On project encouraged her to make those kinds of plans.

Each day, Elle and the psychology project covered one of the many facets of psychology. From touring the neuroscience lab to participating in social experiments. They learned about past studies that have shaped today’s understanding of learning and behaviour. Then, on the final day, they were given a rundown of the papers that would be available to them if they decided to pursue psychology at the university.

The three of us have found this opportunity extremely rich in eye-opening experiences and amazing people. We encourage any current year eleven and twelve students to keep an eye out on the school’s career central website for when this program is recruiting for the coming year and to feel free to come up to us and ask any questions they might have about this experience.