2012 leaver Jaspreet Singh has worked out that he’s our only alumni studying medicine at the University of Auckland currently, and he wants the company of more MHS students.
That aim became action, and at an event at MHS last weekend for students and whanau, a new mentoring programme was launched which has been designed by alumni in collaboration with staff.
Led by Health Science teacher Nicole Stevens, the programme has spread from Health Careers to include Commerce, Law, Music, Engineering and Computer Science. Many of the alumni involved are currently studying at university, and some are now graduated and working.
“What we have in common is that we see a need to help MHS students,” says Jaspreet. “We’ve experienced how, when we leave school and go to university, we feel at a slight disadvantage – we lack belief that we can achieve our dreams.
“So one of the aims of this group is to help prepare students for the transition.”
The focus is not just on academic mentoring. Jaspreet says the mentors will also support and encourage students’ wider interests. “The importance of extra-curricular activities is increasing,” he says. “For one thing, it matters when you’re applying for scholarships to be able to show that you’ve had broad experiences at school over a long period.”
The mentors will work with students over the next two terms to deliver eight topics that they think will be useful:
- Making the most of NCEA
- Goal setting
- Study habits
- The importance of extra-curricular activities
- Study and work experience – getting a taste of the real world
- Knowing yourself to help you make good decisions
- Subject choices
- CV writing
The programme will finish off with a reflection at the end of Term 3, leaving students well prepared for exams in Term 4.
Alumni involved so far are:
Science
Vetri Krish-MacCarthy - Biomed
Mitchell Clark- Physics and Music
Jenny Lin - Science
Shaqkena So'e - Psychology
Jaspreet - Medicine
Kotalo - Health Science
Non-Science
Alex Greaves - Law
Melissa May Tauch - Commerce
James Bowmar - Engineering
Jacinta Talia'uli - Commerce and Information Systems
Ryan King – Commerce graduate – now working at Vodafone
Vineel Kumar - Engineering
Shaira Baladad - Commerce
Lovelyn Eli-Nofoa- Commerce
Shannon Ness - Computer Science
Alumni interested in joining the group can connect through its Facebook page