Monday 15 April 2013 8:04am
Geology PhD student Gabriel Aguirre Fernandez was awarded an Outreach certificate in March for his volunteer work hosting groups in the Geology Museum.
Acknowledging the work of students in the community is behind a new initiative in the Science Division – Outreach Certificates.
Science runs a variety of Outreach programmes, from Hands-On Science to Interschool Chemistry Quizzes, and Senior Teaching Fellow Dr Dave McMorran says some students do hundreds of hours on these projects as well as their other study.
“We felt there needed to be some way to recognise this work, and for it to be recognised by future employers.”
Outreach – taking science and learning into the community – is one way Otago is growing great graduates, which was recognised by the programme being adopted by the entire division after starting in the Chemistry Department.
To qualify for a Certificate, students have to be able to log 60 hours of community work. This can be in a wide variety of programmes or endeavours.
The first three students to receive their certificates did such things as working at Hands-On Science, volunteering at the University’s Geology Museum, and creating Alpine Fault-related resources for the Department of Conservation.
Currently 70 students are registered for the Outreach programme – Science students can register online.