Faith Sio-Namulauulu and Lottie Likati Tovia both walked away last week from the Manukau Institute of Technology Trades Academy Prize Giving with a handful of top awards between them.
Both students from Auckland Girls Grammar completed their NCEA Level 3 Building and Construction at MIT – a skillset they wish to encourage other young women to explore.
The Trades Academy allows Year 11, 12 and 13 students to study at the institute and school, getting the benefits of both worlds, easing the transition between secondary and tertiary study.
This was the second year the Trades Academy has been able to celebrate the success of their students with Prime Minister’s Vocational Excellence Awards. Faith was one of 15 recipients for the award on the night – she feels “incredibly blessed to be able to accept it”.
The 17-year-old explains how studying construction has been great – “we get to show the guys what we’re made of. It’s been great to gain the knowledge of the construction industry.”
“One of my goals is to start up a women’s trade club in a couple of years’ times.
“My message to those who are looking forward to what they might want to do next year is put your mind towards what you really want to do, as long as your mind is there and you can believe in yourself.”
From this year’s graduating cohort, 75 per cent of our students achieved NCEA Level 2 and 84 per cent of our Māori and Pasifika students had positive transitions into either further education, employment or apprenticeships.
105 students from this year’s cohort have already applied and been accepted onto full time courses with MIT, including Lottie, who has signed up for a Level 4 building apprenticeship in 2021.
“I’m really proud of myself,” explains Lottie, who won the Top Student Award for her 2020 class.
“Especially given I’m a young female, showing others girls that they can do this as well. I want to encourage other girls not to be scared.”
“I’ve always had a love of construction,” explains Lottie. “I was always too scared to get involved because I thought it was just a job for men, but once a reached out to my gateways teacher, she told me that it’s totally fine, there just aren’t that many women in the industry.”
More New Zealanders are picking up the tools, with apprentice and trainee numbers increasing by nearly 50 per cent. According to the Government, the number of female apprentices has also more than doubled.
Earlier this year, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced that the number of females who started an apprenticeship more than doubled – increasing to 1785 from 845 in the same period last year.
“It is a welcome development to see more women going into these traditionally male-dominated industries. But I acknowledge that there is still a long way to go,” said Minister Hipkins.
Trades Academy Pathways Manager Gaynor Matthews describes how this year’s cohort have “succeeded in times of adversity and have not let obstacles deter their drive to succeed.”
“These students have demonstrated that they have the motivation and determination to not only achieve the work that was presented to them but also go above and beyond.”
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