Open Day fun for Bay of Plenty students
Friday 27 June 2014, 3:10PM
By Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology
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There’s nothing like 1,000 teenagers to get the party started and that was exactly the atmosphere at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic's annual Open Day.
Catering to high schools from around the wider Bay of Plenty, and attracting students from as far away as Northland, the Hawkes Bay and Wellington, students came to attend information sessions and let their hair down a little.
Mount Maunganui College students Kori Jeffery and Bridgitte Collier both plan to study with the Polytechnic in 2015.
Kori is keen to start the legal executive diploma in 2015 to get a taste of what a career in law would be like. “I’m pretty excited about it here. I wasn’t going to come but after today I’m keen. I didn’t think it would be this big or this good!”
Bridgitte wants to study marine science. A keen diver, she hopes to become a dive instructor. “Coming here [the Polytechnic] is my first option; I never thought of going anywhere else.”
With parkour demonstrations from the Manic Room, free Mr Whippy ice-creams from ZM, sardine-car competition, a DJ and live music from the Polytechnic’s Diploma in Music Students (amongst many) there were plenty of fun options to keep students amused between the information sessions.
Also proving popular was a Snapchat scavenger hunt. The social media photo messaging tool has been heavily adopted by New Zealand teens and more than 200 signed up to participate, snapping back answers to clues spread around the Polytechnic. The eventual winner, Matamata College’s Rebekah Buchanan, walked away with a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 kindly sponsored by Gen-i.
Event organiser, Cressida Evans, was rapt with her first Open Day experience. “Having so many high school students on campus was fantastic and brought a real buzz to campus. The energy levels were through the roof, and I loved seeing these kids starting to realise what an exciting time of their life was just ahead of them.”
With more than 40 different information centres there was something to attract every student’s attention. As in previous years, Marine Studies and Sport & Recreation proved the most popular, as was the Polytechnic’s new Bachelor of Creative Industries. Other popular choices were automotive, business, engineering, environmental management and travel & tourism.