Pūhoro STEMM Academy Now Available to Tauranga Rangatahi
- Lian Soh
- May 26
- 1 min read
Pūhoro STEMM Academy has officially launched in Tauranga, and has begun working with local secondary schools to deliver a kaupapa that supports Māori rangatahi into science, technology, engineering, maths, and mātauranga Māori (STEMM) pathways.
The programme was launched in 2016 to address the low representation of Māori in STEM. What began as a pilot programme with 97 Year 11 rangatahi in Manawatū has grown to support over 3,000 rangatahi across 12 regions, guiding them from secondary school into tertiary education and the workforce.
“We’ve seen tauira go from NZQA credits to PhDs and into impressive STEMM careers. Now it’s Tauranga’s turn, and we’re backing them all the way,” says Principal Kaihautū Riwai Pomana.
Pūhoro deliver weekly in-school sessions, academic tutorials, termly wānanga , mentoring and national and international industry engagement. The impact of the kaupapa is backed by NCEA data that shows Pūhoro rangatahi achieved NCEA Levels 1-3 at higher rates than both Māori (who are not Pūhoro students) and non-Māori nationally.
Teachers and schools across the Bay of Plenty are encouraged to connect with the local Pūhoro Kaihautū, Meschka Seifritz m.seifritz@puhoro.org.nz to find out how to get involved.
Acknowledgements: This article was supplied by Tiana Nepe and Meschka Seifritz from Pūhoro STEMM Academy
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