Friday 25 November 2022 3:46pm
From left, staff member Dr Tahir Suleman in the Bloomberg Markets Lab with visiting students and their teacher Duncan Trickey.
The Otago Business School welcomed a Year 10 Enterprise Class from Otago Girls’ High School earlier this month.
Student Vakisha Saunderson explained some of the areas that they cover in their learning: “We study how to manage money and entrepreneurship, how people started their businesses. We see how all these different things all work together”
One purpose of the visit was to welcome the students to the space and give them an introduction to studying at Otago. The students were greeted by staff, led by Dean and Pro-Vice Chancellor Commerce, Professor Robin Gauld. Associate Dean Pacific Esmay Lemalu-Eteuati, and Kaiāwhina Māori Ben Sommerville outlined some of the support available to students, and Julie Pearse outlined the School’s Internship Programme.
Vakisha Sanderson and Amelia Thorburn ringing the bell to signal the start of trading. The bell is loaned by Aquinas College, where it was once housed in an alcove outside the chapel.
The students were then invited into the BNZ Bloomberg Markets Lab by its Director Dr Muhammad A. Cheema. They are the first learning group outside the University to be hosted here. The room provides access to real-time and historical financial market data, news and analysis.
The students had access to the same Bloomberg trading platform used by the world's leading investment companies, banks, corporations and government agencies.
Otago Girls’ Enterprise Teacher, Duncan Trickey, said he particularly enjoyed hearing the cultural narrative about the space from Dr Cheema, and that its design reflects the historical importance of the site to both Māori and settlers.
Dina Veituna, Evelyn Veituna and Ema Takataka at Te Mātiti cafe in the Business School, one of the intentions of the visit was for the students to experience and feel welcome in the space.
“The students are getting comfortable with what tertiary study might look like, and this experience is stretching their understanding of enterprise and the global impact it has. When we’re back in class we will be able to tie in with our understanding of data and all the rich learning from this,” said Mr Trickey.
Students Dina and Evelyn Veituna agreed it was great to have the opportunity to get out of the classroom and come and experience the Business School, learn about the BNZ Bloomberg Markets Lab and real-world data.