Pūhoro STEM Academy
Our Land and Water is a primary sponsor of the Pūhoro STEM Academy, a mentoring and support programme for Māori high school students.
What We Are Doing
Our Land and Water is a primary sponsor of the Pūhoro STEM Academy, a mentoring and support programme for Māori high school students to support pathways to science, technology, engineering or mathematics careers. The programme currently has 630 students from 24 schools.
The Pūhoro STEM Academy is hosted by Massey University. It starts at Year 11 and provides sustained support for Māori pupils, through their NCEA levels onto university and ultimately into the workforce.
The students get an hour of mentoring a week and attend a full-day wānanga (seminar) each term, gaining access to university laboratories and teaching. Students that have completed high school in the programme have been accepted to many New Zealand universities. Tertiary students in the programme are expected to tutor the high school students.
The programme’s curriculum results have exceeded the national averages at the NCEA level. In its first year, Pūhoro STEM Academy students at NCEA level 1 achieved better than Māori and non-Māori in physics, chemistry and biology.
There are 46 schools on the waiting list to participate in the Pūhoro STEM Academy. The Academy welcomes contact from potential partners and sponsors.
In The Media
Stuff, 11 February 2019
VIEW ARTICLE →Newshub, 27 December 2018
VIEW ARTICLE →Stuff, 26 December 2018
VIEW ARTICLE →Māori Television, 13 April 2018
VIEW ARTICLE →Participant Spotlight
Heeni Blakey
Tuwharetoa
Auckland Grammar Girls School
“There aren't many Māori kids in science and there are less girls, and I think this has opened a pathway for me to get into science.”
Meschka Seifritz
Ngāti Kauwhata
Feilding High School
Meschka graduated high school in 2018, winning Pūhoro's major prize, full undergraduate tuition plus a $6000 grant to attend Massey University. "I think my mission is to make that connection between western science and mātauranga Māori” (traditional knowledge).
Luke August
Ngāti Hauiti, Muaupoko, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi
Palmerston North Boys’ High School
Luke wanted to explore further his passion for engineering. He found great value in meeting regularly with engineering academics and learning more concepts of engineering through the project-based learning opportunities that Pūhoro gave him.