Year 11 student Rynan Emery-Dittmer receives instruction from Piri Jessup, Project Manager at Topline at Discovery Day.

Hundreds of senior secondary school students (Year 11-13) attended a successful Discovery Day at EIT’s Hawke’s Bay Campus in Taradale this week.

Discovery Day is designed to enable the students and public to engage with employers, industry, and educators to discover the vast range of career options available locally and beyond.

EIT held the event on Thursday, 25 August, in conjunction with the Napier City Council, Hastings District Council and the Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce.

Hastings Boys’ High School Year 11 students Thomas Plows and Tangaroa Tuahine enjoyed seeing the displays at Discovery Day.

More than 50 industries, organisations and companies participated in the event representing the Food Production, Horticulture,  Viticulture, Environmental, Animal Welfare, Infrastructure, Engineering, Automotive, Construction, Business, Computing, Tourism, Hospitality, Creative, Health, Social Service, Education, Beauty, Sport and Recreation sectors.  The event featured displays by industries, companies and EIT programmes

High Schools brought more than 600 students to EIT’s Hawke’s Bay campus in regular time slots from 9.30am to 3pm. The evening session ran from 5pm – 7pm, with presentations and was targeted at whānau and the wider community.

Paul Hursthouse, EIT’s Director – Business Relationships and Transitions (right) with Meriama Taufale, Team Leader – Engagement and Transitions were on hand to help students at Discovery Day.

Paul Hursthouse, EIT’s Director – Business Relationships and Transitions, says EIT was privileged to partner with industry to showcase career options that are available for students to pursue.

“Hopefully it will stimulate and create a little bit of interest for them in a pathway that they may not have previously considered.”

“This is not just about EIT, but also showcasing all career opportunities across our industries.”

Paul says EIT works closely with Hawke’s Bay industries to provide programmes that make EIT graduates job-ready, and the aim was for students to get a taste of some of these programmes at the event.

Hastings Girls’ High School students Olivia Gray and Soo-Jung Kim enjoyed gathering information about career opportunities.

Year 13 Hastings Girls’ High student, Soo-jung Kim, 17, says she found the day very informative.

“I enjoyed seeing the business stand and I have handed in my EIT enrolment forms because I want to study the Bachelor of Business Studies next year.”