Launched in July 2020 with a series of events, meetups and webinars, the Taitamariki Potentia community has grown significantly over the last two years, not just preparing students for the real world but supporting them through many of the challenges that Covid-19 has thrown at them. Most recent events have included:
World Cafe #1 - The world-cafe format has been popular (so much so that we have done five of them). Breaking off into smaller groups, students rotate around a series of tables with different topics, each hosted by an industry expert. Because you are forced into new groups every 15 minutes, it also helps to boost confidence and get students out of their comfort zone. The first World-Cafe was all about becoming job-ready, with topics covering networking, mentoring, internships and soft skills.
Let's Talk About Mental Health - for students, anxiety levels were high following the lockdowns, particularly with the uncertainty around internships and graduate roles – many of which had been paused at the time. Off the back of this, we Zoomed in a mental health expert from New York to lead a kōrero that is often swept under the carpet.
Debate 2020: Higher Education in Crisis - ending 2020 on a high, this event brought together students, academia and industry to debate a controversial topic: “Institutions of higher learning have failed in preparing students for success in the real world”
World Cafe #2 - for our second world-cafe, it was all about real-world tech problems and real-world problem solving! This time, our industry hosts raised a business-centric issue they were experiencing in their business, with each group coming together to brainstorm possible solutions.
World Cafe #3 and #4 - during Techweek22, we ran TWO world cafes, including the launch of our second Taitamariki Potentia community in Wellington. Both of these events focused on setting your career up for success at different stages of your journey