Konini Primary School in Wainuiomata, Lower Hutt held their first Inspiring the Future event last week – a successful trial for how events could be held with COVID-19 alert Level 2 restrictions in place.
Assistant Principal, Matt Pegg, organised the event, and was amazed at the engagement and fun the students had in trying to identify the occupations of the different role models.
Throughout the event, learners were not only questioning the role models but also their own perceptions of who and what occupations they can do as adults.
Fostering students' passions is a key theme at Konini Primary, so it was great for the students to hear the role models talk about their passions and how they are part of their everyday lives, but also how their passions are constantly evolving.
Here’s how Konini adapted Inspiring the Future for alert Level 2:
- a total of 100 learners were split between four classrooms
- there were 50 learners in each two-classroom space with three role models each
- for the discussion groups, groups of learners stayed in one place and the three role models moved between the well-spaced groups.
A bonus of splitting the students into two groups was that they were each able to ask more questions and, after a short period of time, students on the shy side felt comfortable asking questions.
The role models
- Mandy, a tiler
- Beverley, a visual designer/computer programmer
- Sam, an architect
- Dr Sally, a marine geologist with NIWA
- Lucy, a game developer who owns her own game production studio
- Alex, a TV and video producer
Everyone was buzzing after the session, and they are now keen to get their friends and colleagues on board.
The role models were very articulate and passionate (all are in their dream jobs) and had the students captivated with their stories. What was really great was that they all talked about how failing had taught them great things on their journeys.
Alex had worked with the BBC working alongside Mr. Bean, Johnny Depp and James Corden. Alex talked about how it was important he made sure all of the people on a production were happy and that after a while, meeting famous people is just like dealing with any other person.
Lucy talked about how she originally studied languages and was wanting to be a diplomat but then decided to follow her heart and go and learn how to make computer games. She owns and manages her own computer game company. She favours games that can help with people’s mental health - where people learn to care for things and feel good after playing.
Dr Sally had the kids amazed at all the rocks she had found and worked with (her favourite was basalt - a type of volcanic rock, and she spent a lot of time studying mud), and how she did her job from research boats and had got to travel to sub-Antarctic islands studying the marine geology of these remote places.
What the students had to say
"Today’s highlight was that I got to learn about rocks and their names from the marine geologist. I also learned about how long it takes to make video games - one to two years, I thought it only took a couple weeks."
"Mandy was the first women tiler. People told her she can't do that job because you need to be a specific gender. But she does that job because it is her passion."
A hot tip
When the 20 questions started going a little too far off target, or got too repetitive, the students were asked to chat to the person next to them for a minute or so to come up with some new questions. The 20 questions prompts also helped with this!
You can be a role model for young people by sharing information about your job and how you got there at an event. If they don’t hear stories like yours, they might never know how many possibilities are available.
Sign up to volunteer as a role model
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