Joint Celebration of Ongoing Learning at Central Hawke’s Bay Mayoral Graduation Ceremony

Central Hawke’s Bay graduates were acknowledged at the annual Central Hawke’s Bay Mayoral Graduation Ceremony on Tuesday night, held at the Municipal Theatre in Waipawa.

Hosted by Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Alex Walker, the graduation saw the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs partner with the Waipukurau Rotary Club to celebrate success within the community. This is the first year the local Rotary has collaborated on the joint event, with the Club presenting the Rotary Young Employee of the Year.  

Graduates and their families, employers, trade representative, members of the Waipukurau Rotary Club including President Dennis Mills and David Tilyard, Vocational, Youth & Recreation Services, as well as invited guests were in the audience as students were presented their graduation certificates by Mayor Walker, qualifying in a broad range of fields.

“I’d like to personally congratulate every single one of last night’s Graduates, who have worked so hard to upskill by continuing their education in Central Hawke’s Bay,” Mayor Walker.

“The commitment to education shown by these people is providing excellent employment outcomes for people of all sectors.”

“The concept of earning while learning, enabling our young workers to continue to earn a living and contribute to business and the economy while also achieving a qualification, is a really clever way to upskill.

“It opens the door to continued education for a lot of our people and it is fantastic to spend an evening celebrating this.”

The Mayors Taskforce for Jobs is a network of New Zealand’s Mayors, working toward the common goal of all youth partaking in appropriate education, training, work or other positive activities. It offers industry training graduation ceremonies nationwide to recognise the achievements of graduate trainees.  Mayors Taskforce for Jobs presented certificates to 16 graduates at last night’s Central Hawke’s Bay celebration.

The partnership with Waipukurau Rotary Club this year saw the celebration of ten nominees for Young Employee of the Year with four highly commended, Keira Oliver from Hawkes Bay District Health Board, Cleavelin Cook from Central Hawke’s Bay District Council, Josh Renall from Nola’s Café and Ben Swinburne from Central Hawke’s Bay District Council. The overall winner and Central Hawke’s Bays 2021 Rotary Young Employee of the Year was awarded to Morgan Dysart from Pleroma.

“This last week has shown me that scattered all across Central Hawke’s Bay there is much hope in the younger generation, that as a growing and vibrant community, we are well equipped to meet the challenges that our community faces now, and into the future” said David Tilyard, Vocational, Youth & Recreation Services, Waipukurau Rotary Club.

The guest speaker of the evening was Robby Smith, General Manager of Stephenson and Taylor. Mr Smith is a local employer who has employed many local apprentices throughout the years and was a former apprentice himself.

Under COVID-19 Level 2 restrictions, Ministry of Health guidelines were followed with use of masks and proper social distancing practices put in place.

12 January 2022

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