Top student honour for Te Ariki at Air Force camp

Tongariro School student Te Ariki Turanga, 17, was named Top Student at the RNZAF's School to Skies Programme held at RNZAF Base Auckland last month. Photo / Laurilee McMichael

Te Ariki Turanga isn't shy about her goal.

It's to become only the second-ever Māori female pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

But the 17-year-old Tūrangi student was forced to reconsider that after having her eyes opened to the huge range of careers available in the Air Force at an eight-day School to Skies RNZAF camp at Whenuapai Air Force Base last month.

And it was at that camp, attended by 38 female Year 13 students studying STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects, that Te Ariki's goal-setting, motivation, desire to learn and focus was noticed by the Defence Force staff running the camp.

To her great surprise and pleasure, Te Ariki was named Top Student at the end-of-camp prizegiving.

The Year 13 student is a member of Tongariro School's Services Academy, which was set up in 2012 to cater to students thinking of a career in the military.

Formerly a student at St Joseph's Māori Girls' College in Napier, Te Ariki changed to Tongariro School to join the Services Academy, which is directed by George Jensen because she was interested in a career with the New Zealand Defence Force, preferably the Navy or Air Force.

She says while it was daunting at first, partly because she was a new student in a new environment, she quickly settled in and made new friends as well as enjoying the rigour involved in being part of the Services Academy. The Services Academy students spend a day a week on Services Academy work which includes physical fitness, drills, camps and camp preparations.

Te Ariki found out about the School to Skies camp via Instagram, spotting a notification that the RNZAF was looking for Year 13 females interested in a STEM career to attend the free camp at Whenuapai, West Auckland.

Te Ariki is studying physics, maths, English, te reo Māori and sports leadership so she applied and was accepted. Her parents Anita and Neal took her up to Whenuapai.

During the camp the participants had the chance to learn all about the different STEM career opportunities available in the Air Force, which is looking to attract more women.

Participants on the School to Skies camp for Year 13 female students at RNZAF's Whenuapai base last month. Photo / Supplied

They were split into six groups and each day there were five lessons, some based around topics such as engineering and aviation and some based around military skills.

"It was more focused on females going into a STEM career so there was a lot of learning involved," Te Ariki says.

"I had the chance to experience so many different trades in the Air Force that I've never heard about. You have that stereotypical thinking of only pilots but we learned about ground-based trades, air crew, aviation trades, engineering, technology, IT, so many different things."

Another learning experience was being around a group of similarly ambitious female students, Te Ariki says.

"They knew what they wanted to do and I really looked up to them because they had their whole lives sorted and the staff that were teaching us lessons, I learned from them and I learned from my peers ... when you're in an environment like that with like-minded females, it makes your learning more fun and easier because you all have the same mindset."

At the final dinner of the course, a prizegiving was live-streamed on Facebook for the parents to see and Te Ariki's parents were watching as their daughter, much to her surprise, was named Top Student, with staff saying they selected Te Ariki because of her motivation to achieve and the goals she set herself.

Te Ariki says she was completely floored by the unexpected honour.

"I had no idea. I wasn't aiming to get it. I was very clueless when it came to prizegiving and they called my name … I was very surprised but humbled to be given it.

"It was such a prestigious camp, being given an award like this was something really big."

Te Ariki says the camp really opened her eyes to all the different opportunities that are available and may have even changed her future career path.

"It was such a privilege to go. It just allowed me to explore my options, not be close-minded and narrow.

"When we first went in I definitely wanted to become a pilot. I wanted to become the second Māori female pilot in the Air Force because there is only one currently in New Zealand but once I experienced the camp it opened me up to such a broad range, so many trades. I'm still contemplating because there are so many [careers]. I wouldn't say I've chosen one yet."