Dr Hare Puke Scholarship recipients set to grow Māori voice and equality

Wintec’s prestigious Dr Hare Puke Māori Leadership Scholarship was awarded to two deserving recipients late last year.

TeUrikore Biddle, Pouārahi (Executive Director Māori, Quality and Academic), announced the scholarship winners at Wintec’s annual Ngā Tohu Whakaihuwaka | Wintec Staff Awards in December last year.

Nika Wallace always tells everybody she’s never left education.

“I’ve been through the whole system, kindergarten, primary school, secondary school, tertiary and then tertiary as an employee”.

Born and bred in Te Kūiti, a small Māori community, Nika left school at 15 because, she said, academic success was defined by the classes you were put in, and to be given equitable opportunities to learn, you needed to be excelling in either education or sport.

Nika went from school into a voluntary role at the Ngāti Maniapoto Marae Pact Trust, under the Maniapoto Training Agency division, a Private Training Establishment, founded to provide equitable learning opportunities for diverse ākonga within iwi Maniapoto as a Support Tutor, specialising in literacy and numeracy education.

“My passion grew at the trust, and by 19 I had worked with many diverse ākonga including alternative education, young parents, youth, and adults who all needed a second chance at educational success. The hardest part about teaching at the time was teaching people who have come from diverse backgrounds, and those who were the same age or older than me.  Although it was a challenge, it was some of the most rewarding parts of my time in the classroom, and many of these students are now thriving in their careers.”

Nika went on to become a Foundation Skills Kaiako helping young mums and youth with mental illness, body dysmorphia, homelessness, and domestic violence before joining Wintec in 2019 as a Kaiako in the Literacy and Numeracy Embedding Team managed by Willfred Greyling.

“I came here to gain more experience. I didn’t have many qualifications, but Willfred has become a mentor to me including in my current role as Teaching and Learning Coach and my studies. I’ve finished my Post Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Teaching and Learning and am currently enrolled in the Master of Educational Leadership with the University of Waikato; because I started my qualification journey later than most, these are steppingstone qualifications to support my goal to be accepted into the Doctor of Education by the end of 2024 and become one of the first in my whānau to attain this”.

“I want to be a role model for Māori in Tertiary Education, as well as promote the importance of cultural identity and literacy in learning to ensure all ākonga are successful throughout their educational journey.”

Nika applied for the scholarship with the intention to increase the voice of Māori in educational spaces.

“It is an honour to be a recipient of the Dr Hare Puke scholarship, Dr Hare Puke was an exceptional leader, and his work and advocacy for Māori reflects this. Winning this scholarship keeps me accountable, not only to myself, but to those gone before me, my whānau, hapū, iwi, and the wider Māori communities.”

Cameron Nepe has a background in forestry as from a young age he’d always wanted to work in the bush.

Cameron went straight from school to work in forestry, after a number of years decided to gain his Diploma in Forest Management at the Waiariki Institute (now Toi Ohomai) while continuing to work.

“My first job after graduating was as a GIS technician (Geographic Information Systems), so I shifted into IT (Information Technology) and started to get curious about this industry.

“Before I got into that I was tree felling. I had gotten to the stage where I was competent at what I was doing, but my learning slowed down. When it comes to IT, there’s so much to learn. Especially when you solve problems or stuff works!”

After being a GIS technician for a while Cameron got tapped on the shoulder to see if he would become a tutor in forestry and he did that at Eastern Institute of Technology (EIT) in Gisborne.

“I also gained my Diploma in IT at EIT while I was tutoring there, from there I ventured into software development. Then in 2021 I landed a job at Learning Works working as an eLearning Web Developer and that’s where I started my journey in the eLearning space. I spent a year there working on the administration side of LMS (Learning Management Systems) and helping with web development.”

In May 2022, the job at Wintec for a Kaiārahi Māori came up and Cameron enquired about it and landed the role. There was a need for someone to work on eLearning projects and help facilitate professional development workshops.

“I’m enjoying it. I get to work with a lot of staff to develop Kia Tupu Evolve courses for workshops that our Tōia Mai group facilitate.”

Cameron was encouraged by his colleagues to apply for the scholarship.

“I’m about to study, I’m a Wintec staff member, I’m Māori, I’m Waikato Tainui and I thought I might give it a shot. I’m super grateful to have been awarded the scholarship, I didn’t think I was going to. I’m enrolled to do my Master’s and it means a lot to me as it’s going to help with that. I’m doing the Master’s in Applied Information Technology.

“I’m carrying on this journey I accidently fell into when I first got my GIS Technician role after being in the forest industry. To generate positive outcomes for Māori and Pacific learners inside our institute, I want to investigate what technology is effective and run an analysis on this information.”

Cameron said his career has been an exciting journey with many changes and he didn’t expect to end up where he has so far.

“I only wanted to be the best tree feller on the East Coast, and I loved it until I started getting sore knees,” he laughed.

“I was 30 when I first went to studying, I was 16 when I started working. I never thought I’d be an academic and now I have my Bachelor’s in Iwi Environmental Management and I’m set to get my Master’s.”​​​​​​​