Manawatu College in Foxton is creating an Alumni Wall on the school grounds to celebrate successes of past students. Photo / Supplied
Manawatu College in Foxton is creating an Alumni Wall on the school grounds to celebrate successes of past students. Photo / Supplied
During Manawatū College's orientation week earlier this year, Waynne Napier, the lead pastoral care teacher, came up with the idea of setting up an Alumni Wall on the school grounds.
"Robertson House was focusing on leadership and [we] thought it would be useful to look at past students and their successes and leadership roles."
The concept of an alumni wall is to show current students they can succeed; to inspire them to have a growth mindset by seeing others who have attended Manawatū College and created success for themselves.
Melissa Price graduated from Victoria University in 2018 with a Law degree and a BA in Development Studies and is currently working as a Solicitor at Oranga Tamariki. Photo / Supplied
Staff members Chelsea Hickey, Kara Lummis, Waynne Napier and Annie Tatana are working on the project and have already begun making professional profiles for the alumni who have responded to requests to participate.
"We are using all forms of communication to reach out to past students, from email and conversations to putting up Facebook posts to reach out to those who may have moved overseas," said Hickey.
By using social media, the college has even had past students' families giving them information about achievements and other aspects of their lives.
Sarah Sketcher gained a Diploma in Animation and Film Production from Yoobee College in 2018 and has been working in the art department for the NZ Film/TV industry since 2019. Photo / Supplied
The college is asking alumni for an image of themselves, details about their career achievements (either academic, vocational or professional) and other interesting information, like if they've travelled for work, what they consider to be their success and how they got there.
"The image ... will be for when the wall becomes a reality, with each student having their own section with a photo, their names and their graduate year, with a small blurb of their achievements," said Hickey.
There will eventually be a related page added to the school website as well, which will have a more in-depth write-up about each participating alumnus.
Deanna Gunn graduated with a Bachelor of Creative Media from UCOL in 2020 and is currently working as an Illustrator and Webcomic Creator known as Serapheir. Photo / Supplied
Manawatū College has had alumni come and speak at assemblies to share their personal journey and success with the students, and always celebrates and promotes graduations of past pupils from various universities and polytechnics.
"We always post achievements of alumni on our school social media accounts, newsletters and yearbooks," said Hickey, however, the wall will be a permanent reminder of their successes.
The college hopes to have the beginnings of the Alumni Wall up this year, so if you are an ex-student who would like to be part of this celebration of being "Proudly Foxton", you can contact Chelsea Hickey on chickey@manawatucollege.school.nz.
