Transcript
Ten promising young scientists, mathematicians and engineers have been selected to test their western based STEM knowledge against the traditional lore of the Pacific.
The students' Pacific heritage and their talent in the sciences has led them to an exchange programme at the University of Hawai'i's Hilo campus.
Sixteen-year-old high school student Mosiah Igatia has Niuean, Maori and Tongan heritage and says he's really excited about learning from a Pacific perspective.
"The majority of my secular learning or education has come from a European point of view but with Puhoro I've been able to see things from a Maori perspective along with my Polynesian heritage. Going to Hawai'i, I really can't wait to see the similarities with our common ancestry, how our ancestors did stuff, how they were able to overcome great things like crossing the Pacific Ocean."
The ten students will be crossing the Pacific this weekend with Puhoro's director Naomi Manu and team.
Ms Manu says Puhoro was inspired by the health science academies in south Auckland, and the remarkable results they were achieving in getting Pasifika and Maori students into health-science careers.
"So when I started here at Massey I saw an opportunity within the university for us to do something similarly and encouraging students into broad STEM programmes and then onto STEM related careers."
The Puhoro programme started in 2016 and Ms Manu says it represents a pipeline from year 11 at secondary school, through tertiary programmes and into employment.
She says the Hawai'i exchange is a new facet aimed at the application of year 12 classroom learning.
It came about through conversations with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority which had been sending STEM students to Silicon Valley.
"They were looking at providing international opportunities for students to see the offerings on a global stage in terms of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. There was opportunities to sort of think about what we could do connecting the Puhoro students with opportunities overseas."
It was through this process that they discovered the Keaholoa STEM programme at the University of Hawai'i.
The programme co-ordinator from the Hilo campus on the big island, Hōkūokahalelani Pihana, says she's excited to host the New Zealand students and show them the sciences from a native Hawaiian perspective.
"The students in my programme have this innate understanding of this practice, where it no longer has to be justified or described, you know, it's just understood that this is the way and I think that's a refreshing change. There's no longer a debate over it. The bumps that we're kinda trying to iron out is to be cautious of always remaining in the native perspective."
Hoku Pihana says the students from Aotearoa can expect to be immersed in an integration of indigenous and institutional sciences in different conservation practices.
"So we're going to introduce them to our local i'as, which is our fish ponds, so they'll go out and work with the local community in Keaukaha. Learning of the place from the Hawaiian, native Hawaiian, perspective and then also understanding how we care for these resources in a conservation land using these knowledge systems together."
Ms Pihana says they'll also go out on outrigger canoes with the Nā Waʻa Mauō programme and to the sacred mountain Mauna Kea to extend the rigour of their traditional science knowledge.
Mosiah Igatia says he's can't wait to immerse himself.
"I'd love to do something like you know, learn how the ocean works, learn how to use the stars. I'm glad this opportunity has come up. Like I said before, I've never had the opportunity to learn from a... a Pasifika point of view... yeah."
Mosiah will complete his final year of high school next year and intends to stay with the Puhoro programme at Massey University where he'll study physics and chemistry.
Next year the return exchange will get underway with Hawaiian students visiting Aotearoa New Zealand.
