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Navigating Pathways Gateway Conference: June 2008

For two days at the end of June sixty-two delegates attended the Gateway Conference held at the Mana Cruising Club in Mana.

The Steering Committee was Mary Norris (Kapiti College), Sue Roberts and Anne Taylor (Aotea College), Alison O?Connor (Mana College) and Fran Nicolle (Bishop Viard College).

The aim of the conference was to profile different industries and the future trends within them, in terms of careers in the future. The industries were Tourism, Retail, New Zealand Police, Civil Contracting and Infrastructure. All of these are experiencing growth and offering ongoing challenges and issues for career educators.

The Conference started with a wonderful presentation from Kapiti College?s Kapa Haka Group. This lead on to our first speaker Neville Foreman from the Maori Tourism Board, outlining what it is like working and promoting Maori Tourism. Cath Thompson (Chair of the Wellington/Waiarapa Region) updated delegates on CATE. There was a presentation from Teri McClellan from Southland Institute Technology who spoke about distance learning.

After lunch we had a field trip to the New Zealand Police College in Papakowhai whereby there was a presentation from two constables on their life in the police force as well as presentation from recruitment officers

A dinner was held at the Mana Cruising Club which included entertainment by ?Manuel?.

On Wednesday Glen Taylor from Kapiti Pak ?n Save informed delegates about the opportunities working in retail (specifically the food industry). We also had a very informative presentation by Sarah and Suzette from Wellington Zoo on life as a zoo keeper and the opportunities available. They also bought along a Blue Tongue Lizard which everyone brave enough could get an up close look at.

The afternoon started with a Conference Forum made up of Liz Gray from Career Services, Vaughan Crimmins from TEC and Jocelyn Anton from MOE. It was a great opportunity to have questions answered by highly skilled people experts in their field of Transition and Careers.

The afternoon finished with a presentation from David Pimblott from Explorer Graphics showing everyone the high technology programmes available and the success of a local business.

The Conference was successful as it enabled Gateway Co-ordinators and Gateway Administrators the opportunity to network as well as gain new knowledge from different industries.

Reported by: Alison O?Connor