Rangitikei students inspired by Aspire

Rangitikei students inspired by Aspire

When thinking about her future, Gillian Bowler, a movie-loving year 13 student from Marton, could see a career in broadcasting and film on the horizon. How to go about shaping her broad idea of a career path into concrete reality is now a whole lot clearer, thanks to her involvement in an innovative new pilot programme, Aspire, being run by Rangitikei College.

The brainchild of the College’s senior management team and driven by Deputy Principal Jeff King, Aspire aims to, “give our kids an opportunity to experience work environments they don’t have access to in this region.” Says King, “We look for those who have a passion for something, who are often our school’s leaders and communicators, and then work with them to help explore how that passion can turn into a career.”

Helping translate ‘passions into careers’ involves getting the small group of 10 students who make up this year’s trial programme, out of their comfort zones and dipping them in the daily realities of the working world.

For Gillian and her fellow Aspire-ees, this means regular Friday trips to Wellington where they spend a day shadowing a mentor in their field of interest. Their work placements are across a range of head offices and blue-chip industries based in the Capital and are designed to showcase aspects of the workplace that their school and teachers cannot hope to.

Gillian spends her days at the New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME) offices with sound engineer James Irwin, listening in on radio broadcasts and assisting with voiceover recordings for ads. She’ll also get the chance to experience aspects of film and print media in later sessions.

She admits to being quite apprehensive on her first visit to NZME. “I just soaked it all up. It’s quite surreal. Here’s little old me from Marton down there in Wellington doing something I wouldn’t normally get a shot at doing.”

Showing students that ‘where you come from has no bearing on your dreams’ is a key part of Aspire’s mission. Says King, “I’ve seen our kids who participate in the Young Enterprise programme doubt themselves in the local comps and then when they get to regional comps and experience success, realise they’re just as good as anyone from the larger, urban schools.”

“Aspire helps them see themselves in another setting and discover that there’s a whole lot more out there that we teachers don’t know about. It broadens their horizons, giving them contacts and networks they can start to use as they move into their career training.”

“It’s very hands-on, with real people – the experience is great!” says Gillian, “I feel pretty lucky to be a part of it.”

With the workplace an ever-evolving space, the Aspire team hope that in time, their pilot project will be highly scalable and transferable to other schools that are looking to give students with aspirations similar real-world opportunities.

ENDS

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