2011's Bright Sparks
The ETITO - Baldwins Intellectual Property Young Inventor of the year is Dan Collins, from St Aquinas College in Tauranga. Dan's creation - A Self Stabilising Quad Rotor that can be controlled by a cellphone through an Android application, has taken out top honours in this year's ETITO Bright Sparks Awards.
And if you're interested in learning more about how Bright Sparks works throughout the year to support self directed learning, check out this video from finalist Reiker von Motschelnitz as he describes the process he went through to create his steampunk-themed robotic dragon.
ETITO created Bright Sparks in 2000 to nurture those students who will be our nation's future engineers, electricians and programmers.
Cauliflower champion
A Cauliflower rice and lime confetti salad created by Napier Girls’ High School student Sarah Stoney has taken out top honours at The Great New Zealand Vegetable Dish – an HSI Junior Hospitality Challenge Special.
The competition, run by HSI in partnership with vegetables.co.nz was open to Year 11-13 students. Read more
Electricity Supply ITO Trainee of the Year
The electricity supply industry's top trainee for 2011 is Katie MacArthur - the first time a woman has taken out this award.
She is currently working as an electrician with a host company based in New Plymouth, as part of the Mighty River Power and Contact Energy Electricity Supply Apprentice Programme.
Katie joined the programme in February 2009 and is now in her third year working towards a National Certificate in Electricity Supply Level 4 and a National Certificate in Electrical Engineering Level 4. Read more
Otago region's first female top trainee
And in another first for women trainees, Dunedin retail worker Rachae Lynch was named trainee of the year at the Coastal Otago region apprenticeship awards last week.
She has completed her qualification through the Retail Institute while working at Hallensteins in Dunedin, where she has recently been appointed assistant manager. Read more
New series of Just the Job
Series 6 of Just the Job is now showing on Sundays on TV2 and features 30 more exciting career opportunities including several involving ITOs.
Watch out for programmes on being a removalist, a Resin Flooring applicator, a florist, non-hydrocarbon drilling, and careers in the motor industry.
Series 7 has also been confirmed with support from New Zealand on Air.
NZQA's External Evaluation Reviews
NZQA is about a third of the way through undertaking External Evaluation Reviews of ITOs. The periodic reviews, which began for ITOs in late 2010, look at ITO performance and capability in self assessment, have so far the reports have produced overall positive results.
But one of the latest report, for AgITO, has set a high benchmark with an excellent rating in all six areas reviewed.
"AgITO is proud to have achieved this result and we look forward to continuing to deliver excellence in all areas of our business," Chief Executive Kevin Bryant said.
Seven more ITOs are scheduled for review by the end of next year.
BCITO's careers afternoon
About 150 people visited BCITO staff at a careers open-day held around the country last weekend to demonstrate up-coming career opportunities in the building industries.
The afternoon events held in 11 locations from Whangarei to Dunedin gave prospective trainees an opportunity to gain information about getting into the industry and the skills and training required.
While training numbers in the building and construction industry slumped last year, BCITO is preparing for an expected increase, especially to cope with the rebuild in Christchurch and growth in Auckland.
Labour Market Forum
Registrations for the Labour Market Forum in Wellington on 1 December close at the end of next week.
The speakers' line-up includes June McCabe, a member of the Government's Maori Economic Development Panel; BERL Chief Economist Ganesh Nana; and Business Commentator Rod Oram.
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