Business, Engineering, Architecture & Planning, Medical & Health Science. (B.E.A.M.S) – Bravely Embrace ALL … Mediocrity Sucks

It was 8.30am – NOT island time – start to our day, Monday 30th November, venturing into the city to attend the Auckland University B.E.A.M.S day.

This is an annual event hosted by the University of Auckland spread over several days, with interactive workshops throughout the day, covering Business, Engineering, Architecture & Planning, Medical & Health Sciences and Science (BEAMS).

So with open minds, and eyes on the prize – a FREE lunch – 7 Maori/Pasifika, Year 10 students (myself, Brooke Tapuosi 10PL, Chelise Tomai 10HP, Dostella Amerika 10KI, Levi Levi 10PL, Tamia Gascoigne 10PL and Tinirau Hohepa 10PL) set out, with our teacher, driver & bodyguard Mr Talamaivao, to learn about attaining degrees in B.E.A.M.S, life after high school and areas of tertiary education I hadn’t yet considered, even thought I’d be interested in, or even capable of.  I had no idea of what to expect – you don’t know what you don’t know!

So Rutherford along with students from many other high schools (eg. Kelston Girls, Onehunga High, Mangere College, St Peters, McAuley Girls, to name a few) were welcomed and divided into groups, by different coloured wristbands.  I was in the RED team.  One of our activities was to build the tallest structure, made only out of paper and tape and we won and received a tee shirt each.

We listened to current students talk about each B.E.A.M.S topic, what subjects we can choose at school now to build towards those degrees, the pathways the degrees can lead to and showing us some of their work.  It was reassuring to learn that when you start University there are Tuakana to guide you while you transition into a new learning environment, level and format of study. There is a lot of support for Maori, Pasifika and ALL students.

So what I learned today is that we can cast our nets wider, dream bigger, have options and it’s okay to give new things a go OR even change direction along the way! Today’s trip reinforced all of that and I wish for our Pasifika/Maori students to add more flavour to B.E.A.M.S degrees in the future.

Thanks Mr Talamaivao for taking us.