Cultivate Your Career 2017
STUDENTS CULTIVATE CAREERS IN HORTICULTURE
250 Bay of Plenty Secondary school students have descended on Te Puke and Paengaroa this Wednesday, 29 March. In a bid to give students an insight into a career in horticulture and apiculture, they have been taken on a ‘Journey of Discovery’ around six innovative businesses in the area.
“This is a chance for students to see the different opportunities that are available to them in the horticulture industry first-hand”, says Kate Longman, Chair of Bay of Plenty Young Fruit Grower Upskilling Inc. “The skill-base is so broad, the opportunities are endless and we want to illustrate that to our future leaders. This collaboration allows students to participate in activities that excite them about career options in horticulture, rather than simply to inform students about which jobs are available”.
Students rotate around six businesses in the region including Comvita, EastPack, Eurofins Bay of Plenty, Trevelyan’s, Plant Food & Research and BayGold. The one day interactive and collaborative event promotes the $7 billion dollar horticulture industry to secondary school students. The tour debunks preconceived ideas of the industries by showing that horticulture and apiculture offer high-level careers in a range of scientific, technical and commercial areas.
Students are bussed in from schools in Tauranga, Te Puke, Whakatane, Edgecumbe, and Rotorua. Each tour bus has two industry representatives on board who act as tour guides. Students spend over an hour at each business undertaking practical activities in the themes of information analysis, problem solving, communication and imagination, collaboration and critical thinking, entrepreneurship and adaptability.
Thank you to everyone who took part in this years Cultivate Your Career 'Journey of Discovery' event.
Be sure to check back here later in the year for details on next years event!
