EPIC challenge winners

Huanui College's national champions, from left, Jordan Carswell, Harriette Baxter, Sinead Hallberg [Callum McKay absent] with Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy at the EPIC Challenge awards ceremony in Wellington.

Four Huanui College students have beaten more than 100 teams from 80 schools to be judged national champions in the EPIC Challenge and another team from the Whangarei school has been highly commended in the primary industries careers contest.

The EPIC Challenge was a Young Enterprise Trust programme sponsored by DairyNZ and the Ministry for Primary Industries.

It involved Year 10 students working in groups to research careers available in primary industries then creating a marketing strategy to attract fellow teenagers to a specific career.

Huanui College students Harriette Baxter, Sinead Hallberg, Jordan Carswell and Callum McKay received the top Dairy NZ Innovation Award for their "Dairy Ain't Airy Fairy" team entry promoting careers in the dairy industry.

Their marketing strategy used a three-pronged approach:

• Matching personality types to jobs within the primary industries.
• Social media callouts targeted at teenagers to grow awareness of the roles available.
• A comprehensive poster campaign throughout all secondary schools in New Zealand.

Young Enterprise Trust chief executive officer Terry Shubkin said the Huanui College team took the national championship with their innovative approach.

"Judges said this entry won due to the focus on promoting a range of careers, and the application of an international model to careers promotion," he said.

Another Huanui College team - Brooke Senescall, Toitehuatahi Munroe, Hamish Manderson and Bianca Paratene - was highly commended for their "Get Stuck in the Ocean" entry judged for the MPI Future Focus Award section of the contest.