Year 12 Karamu High School student Maggie Boyes enjoying a massage workshop

Would-be tertiary students have responded in record numbers to the opportunity for a free taste of life at EIT.

For Year 11-13 school students and teenagers who have already left school, this week’s taste @ EIT is an opportunity to find out more about EIT’s programmes, firm up study plans, meet staff and explore the campus grounds and amenities.

EIT has been holding taster days for the last four years, but this most recent series of workshops, running from Monday to Wednesday (July 15-17), is by far the biggest yet.

More than 170 booked their places from as far away as Porirua, Dannevirke, Gisborne, Paeroa and Taupo, and some for more than one workshop.   Students who are home schooled are mixing with students from the Correspondence School as well as those from secondary schools throughout Hawke’s Bay.

 Demand has been so great that design technology (CAD), beauty and body and massage workshops were fully-booked and extra were organised for animal care, computing and nursing.   

Mainly held as morning sessions, the workshops also cover early childhood education, hairdressing, agriculture, recreation and sport, social services, primary teaching, electrical, tourism and travel, carpentry and business.  A three-day junior chef course is also being held in EIT’s training kitchen.   

Liaison manager Emma Passey says EIT aims to make the workshops relevant, interesting and hands-on.

“The feedback from those who have taken part in past taster days has been really positive – we have been told that they provide an insight into what EIT has to offer.”

Pointing out that the number of school-leavers coming directly to EIT continues to grow, Emma says,   “they now comprise about 50 percent of our cohort compared to around 30 percent when I started here 10 years ago.”