Adult learners and educators awarded

Media Release Friday, 4 November 2011
Bay of Plenty Polytechnic students and staff were amongst top award winners at the annual Adult Learners Week Awards.
Held last night at the Tauranga City Council�s Chambers the Awards were presented by Deputy Mayor David Stewart.

The awards are the culmination of International Learners� Week recognising and celebrating community achievements and contributions in adult learning.

The annual Awards are split into three categories, Outstanding Adult Learner, Innovative Provider and Exceptional Adult Educator.

The Outstanding Adult Learner awards celebrate those adult learners who demonstrate key attributes, including enthusiasm for learning, commitment to  sharing new skills and knowledge  with others, and  improvement  to  their own personal or professional life or the lives of others.

Award winners were Caro Officer (a high achieving culinary student at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic), Rose White (a passionate second year Bachelor of Counselling student at Bethlehem Tertiary Institute) and Lena Bassington (an addictions counsellor with the Salvation Army).

Two Innovative Provider awards were presented this year to Literacy and Language BOP (who coordinate 260 trained volunteer tutors working with approximately 400 learners) and Katikati Community Resource Centre (who offer the only comprehensive coordinated adult community education programme in the BOP area). A special commendation was awarded to Exult.

Three Outstanding Adult Educator awards were presented to individuals who went above and beyond the call of duty. The first went to Bay of Plenty Polytechnic computer tutor Stefan Stasiewicz whose end of year student evaluations consistently see Stefan get 100% satisfaction rates.

After graduation, Stefan continues to support his students into paid employment through his many connections with the local business community.

Raiha Hooker and Justin Heke from Bay of Plenty Polytechnic�s School of Business were jointly awarded an Outstanding Adult Educator award for their educational support network for M�ori students, BizM�ori.

Trevor Boyle from ACE Katikati was the third award recipient for his exceptional contribution to community education with a career spanning more than 36 years.

Commendations were also awarded to Bay of Plenty Polytechnic tutors Debbie MacRae, Greg Bold, James Paterson and Tania Wharry, Exult�s Kerri Tilbey-Price and Edvance�s Judith MacNeil.

For more information about the awards, contact Judith Honeyfield.