Follow the Track

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LA0301_01.03.22

Follow the track

School newsletter March 2022

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Graduating interns for 2021

Mary, Michelle, Cecilia and Angel during LEARNZ filming

Veronica presenting at LEEP with Kelston Girls College

School engagement overview The Link Alliance is looking forward to another exciting year engaging with rangatahi.

Last year, we enjoyed a steady flow of engagements with schools until Auckland went into lockdown in August. The lockdown meant all planned onsite school engagments for the remainder of the year needed to be cancelled. However, despite the disruption, our Future Workforce programmes continued to engage, inform and heighten the curiousity of rangatahi about Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Maths (STEAM)-related career pathways, as well as expose rangatahi to opportunities existing for them in the construction and infrastructure industries.

The launch of our LEARNZ online field trip in July 2021 was one Link Alliance initiative that allowed rangatahi to learn while remaining safe in a Covid environment. Rangatahi, their whānau and communities were able to log on from the safety and comfort of their homes to learn about the City Rail Link (CRL) project and roles that help to deliver a rail transport system people love to use. This year, we aim to bring similar engagement opportunites to rangatahi whilst also looking at new, innovative and safe ways to connect. Every opportunity we get to engage with rangatahi is an opportunity for the Link Alliance to help build a skilled and sustainable future workforce for the industry and Aotearoa. Check out our 2021 year in review and learn more about the ways your school can journey with us in 2022.

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Highlights 2021

500 rangatahi engaged with us at school expos

150

rangatahi went through our Link Alliance Education Engagement Programme (LEEP)

39

tertiary students “earned as they learned” on our Summer internship programme

200

20,000

people engaged via our online engagement programmes

60

schools across Aotearoa took part in one of our programmes

students participated in Link Alliance “Design Your Dream Public Transport Station” school challenge

School engagement in 2021

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Photos from 2021 LEEP above and below

Link Alliance Education Engagement Programme (LEEP) Most of our planned LEEP engagements for 2021 were able to proceed until August, when Auckland went into lockdown. This impacted two school visits, which needed to be rescheduled for the new year.

From January to July, eight different educational institutes took part in the LEEP. Groups from Central Auckland Specialist School, Pukekohe High School, Manurewa High School, Auckland Grammar School, Kelston Girls’ College, Hoani Waititi School, Mangere College and UniBound, University of Auckland visited the CRL project. At every visit, students got to hear Link Alliance experts showcase their careers, and explain their role’s function in helping deliver the CRL project. Each presentation was followed by a guided tour of one of the CRL construction sites.

The CRL project is an effective platform to help students learn who, how and what is required to deliver a megaproject. Students can see themselves as the future “who”. This was the case for one Kelston Girls’ College student who, after hearing from a female engineer, told her teacher, “I think I might be changing my career plans now”.

Link Alliance members including from engineering, tunnelling, construction, architecture, BIM, health and safety, communications and engagement, Māori and Pacific business owners, and environmental teams are all helping demystify the construction and infrastructure industries.

We’ve listened to your feedback and this year we are excited to showcase more of our people and their roles. Express your school’s interest in this year’s LEEP by emailing socialoutcomes@ linkalliance.co.nz.

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School expos

AGGS expo

It was a pleasure to attend careers events held

by Auckland Girls’ Grammar School (AGGS) and Marcellin College. In March, Marcellin College hosted a vocational pathways careers expo, and in June, AGGS held a ‘Girls in Trades’ expo.

Both events provided their respective students career information, with AGGS focusing specifically on careers in trades for wāhine.

People are the Link Alliance’s greatest resource so we arranged for some of our team to attend these events and talk directly to students. Two of our young engineers attended at Marcellin College. A Link Alliance apprentice who was an AGGS past pupil attended the AGGS expo. This person was joined by wāhine in the engineering and communications and engagement teams from the Karanagahape site.

AGGS expo

Marcellin College expo

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Going online with Future Journeys The Link Alliance LEARNZ online fieldtrip: Future Journeys: Linking people and places sustainably, came about because of a desire to increase student engagement and access to the LEEP experience. With support from the Ministry of Education, Core Education’s LEARNZ team was contracted to co-create and deliver the online fieldtrip and accompanying resources with the Link Alliance.

Similar to the LEEP, students on the Future Journeys fieldtrip got to hear from inspirational Link Alliance experts showcasing their STEAMrelated role in the context of a virtual site tour onsite at the CRL project.

Since launching in June, over 20,000 students, teachers, and parents across Aotearoa have taken part in the Future Journeys online programme. In contrast, LEEP has hosted around 150 students onsite this year.

When Auckland went into lockdown and all planned LEEP engagements were cancelled for the remainder of the year, rangatahi were able to learn about the diverse range of opportunities existing for them in the construction and infrastructure industries through Future Journeys. People logged on at times that suited them to view freely available CRL engagement videos and resources.

Some schools got the added bonus of connecting with experts such as Francois Dudouit, Project Director for the Link Alliance in live web-learning sessions.

Moving our engagement programmes online has increased the number of students able to access Link Alliance knowledge, experience and expertise.

Health and safety, age, school timetables, Covid lockdowns and logistical considerations are no longer barriers to learning with the Link Alliance thanks to online learning opportunities!

Click here to view the Future Journeys online programme.

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Sisterhood scaffolding support The construction industry is one of the fastest growing industries and holds a wide range of diverse roles. However, according to StatsNZ, women make up just 13% of the construction workforce. Numbers decline further still when factoring in whether Māori or Pacific women.

The Link Alliance actively encourages women in STEAM-career roles. Here are some examples of wāhine thriving after participating in one of our engagement programmes.

Angel Sturm (Te Arawa- Rotorua), Antoinette Albert (Waikato-Tainui), Cecilia Palu (‘Ohonua ‘Eua Tonga) and Erene Punefu (Samoa) work at the Link Alliance and are helping to lift Māori, Pacific and women representation in the industry. Angel joined the Link Alliance via a recruitment agency and is the Health & Safety and Environmental Administrator based at Mt Eden site. Having entered the workforce straight out of high school, Angel takes any opportunity to upskill herself.

With plenty of on-the-job experience, Angel is consolidating that knowledge through study.

She has just completed the New Zealand Certificate in Workplace Health and Safety Practice through Connexis.

Cecilia at Karangahape site

Antoinette, an electrical engineering student at Auckland University of Technology, joined the Link Alliance as part of the 2020 Summer internship programme. She was fortunate to stay on parttime with the tunnel boring machine (TBM) team while she completed her studies. At the end of 2021, Antoinette left her TBM engineer assistant role to join Martinus Rail as a site engineer. Antoinette attributes the experience gained working for the Link Alliance in helping her secure her new role.

When Cecilia joined the Link Alliance through a recruitment company, she already had experience working on a construction project. Her work at our Karangahape site has given her further experience and insight into working on a construction project.

Shortly after starting with the Link Alliance, Cecilia began a national concrete construction apprenticeship through Building & Construction Industry Training Organisation (BCITO). Cecilia sees this as part of her journey to owning her own business.

Erene joined the Link Alliance through the 2021 summer internship programme. A mechanical engineering student from the University of Auckland, Erene feels blessed to have the opportunity to work on the “largest transport infrastructure project” ever in Aotearoa.

With access to these opportunities and scaffolding support within the Link Alliance, this sisterhood has been given on-the-job mentoring, training, experience, and exposure that will leave them fully equipped in helping to realise future career goals.

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Nationwide school competition In the second half of 2021, as students across Aotearoa continued their school learning at home, the Link Alliance launched the “Design Your Dream Transport Station” school challenge. Students were provided supporting resources and asked to design an imaginary public transport station. We were looking for stations that were designed for rail, another mode of transport, or a transport system that didn’t even exist yet!

We wanted to know what kind of clever, creative space tamariki would create, and were looking for innovative ideas that highlighted at least one sustainable design element. Over 200 students entered. Click here to view the winning entries for each age group category.

Bill’s entry – year 5-6

Winner Year 5-6, Bill, Brooklyn Primary School

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Tunnel ventilation at Karangahape

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