Two east Auckland teachers have had the opportunity of a lifetime, attending the ‘School to Skies’ camp run by the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) in a bid to get more female youth interested in the armed forces.
Sandy Collier of Pakuranga College and Elisha Hoskin of Howick College were among two of 32 teachers from primary, intermediate and secondary schools across the country to attend the five-day camp at Auckland’s Whenuapai Air Force base.
The ‘School to Skies’ program, which took place at the end of January, allowed teachers to learn the basics of flight and how aircrafts work, get hands-on experience fixing a real aircraft and plan a real flight mission to name a few.
“Personally my mind was blown from the experience, I had no idea that any of that stuff existed so to come back to the classroom and telling my students about it was really xciting,” says Hoskin.
The program has been running since 2016 for students and 2021 for teachers.
“They are looking for these talented young ladies to come into the Air Force, and defence force in general,” Collier says.
By getting teachers involved in the camp, the NZDF are allowing schools to can build awareness of the opportunities and work with career advisors to promote Defence Force opportunities to their own students.
“Placing interesting learning problems within the context of typical Air Force activities, e.g. planning search and rescue missions will allow students to hone their planning skills to solve a range of real-world problems,” Collier says.
Collier says that Pakuranga College will now teach more lessons in the context of flight, mission planning, aircraft design and more to create a greater awareness around the opportunities in the NZDF.
The NZDF says the country needs more women in the aviation industry as Engineers, Technicians, Pilots and more.
Around 60 percent of careers in the NZDF are based on STEM (Science, Technology, English and Math) subjects, “whether you want to spend your days in the skies or keep your feet firmly planted on the ground,” says the NZDF.
As a direct result of Collier’s involvement in the School to Skies teacher camp, year 13 Pakuranga College student Andrea Hawke has been selected to attend the next camp for students.
Year 12 Pakuranga College student Depali Lamba has also been selected for the ‘School to Seas’ wahine camp, run by the NZ Navy.
Set to run in the April school holidays, Depali says she applied for more exposure to the possibilities after school and to gain more practical knowledge to compliment her theoretical knowledge in STEM subjects.
Applications are open to year 13 females across the country who are currently studying NCEA Level 3 (or equivalent) Math, English and Science subjects.
More information on the program can be found via the link https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/nzdf/programmes-and-resources/school-to-skies/.
