Career Expos and Student Outreach Events

Boffa Miskell consultants have been actively involved in a range of student engagement activities, from career fairs to speaking at events and hosting office tours. 

Megan Harshey, Alex Prujean, Mapihi Martin-Paul, and Miriam Moore reflect on their experiences connecting with students and inspiring the next generation of landscape architects, urban designers, and ecologists.

Megan Harshey: Every year, we’re invited to Wakatipu High School to speak with students who might be interested in landscape architecture. Last year, we included urban design and planning in our presentation to show how our disciplines work together.
This year, Alex and I hosted the Boffa Miskell stand at a Careers Expo Day for Year 9 and 10 students. Most conversations began with us explaining what landscape architecture is, showing project examples, and describing what our work involves.

Alex Prujean: We found that Year 9 and 10 students often don’t know what they want to do yet, so it was interesting talking with them. Many conversations were more about university in general, and the pathways into architecture, engineering, and similar fields.
They’re familiar with broader disciplines like architecture, design, and engineering. While we did talk about what Boffa Miskell does, much of it was general guidance about working in consultancy or design-related fields, and talking about our own experiences.

Megan Harshey: I think we were introducing them to potential careers they might not have known about, at a time when they still have a few years to consider their options before university.

Mapihi Martin-Paul: I’m an Old Girl of Rangi Ruru Girls’ School. A few years ago, they approached me to help develop their cultural narrative. After that, I hosted a Boffa Miskell stand at their Careers Expo. It was similar to Megan and Alex’s experience.

Many students understood ecology as a discipline. Interestingly, many of the girls were interested in farming and asked questions about biosecurity, pest control, and related topics. That was kind of unexpected for me, but really good to see that level of knowledge and awareness around those issues.

Later, I was invited to speak at the National Presbyterian Schools Conference, which brings together teachers from private Presbyterian schools across the country.

The theme was sustainability, so my work aligned well. The school puts effort into showcasing where alumni have gone, and with environmental issues being so prominent now, it’s great that even private schools are engaging with these topics.

It’s encouraging that schools are now inviting people like us to speak, rather than us always having to advocate for environmental priorities.

Miriam Moore: This was our second year hosting students in the Wellington office, through a Ministry of Education programme. We run two sessions a year, each with students from three or four schools, so about 14 to 20 students per session.

They come into our boardroom, and we start with introductions, then rotate through presentations from whoever’s available. Bhakti covered landscape architecture, Alex Gardiner spoke about landscape planning, Jos and I presented urban design, Vinnie and Tim covered ecology, and Catherine talked about planning. We gave quick overviews of our roles and mentioned some local projects Boffa Miskell has worked on.

The students were really engaged; and after that, we gave them a map of Post Office Square outside Queens Wharf and asked them to redesign the space based on what they’d learned. We asked questions like, “If you’re an ecologist and want to attract more birds, what would you plant?”

They had creative ideas around narrowing roads for more green space, and then some really inventive ideas like putting a hamster wheel in the middle!

Then we held a panel where they could ask us about university. These were Year 12 and 13 students, and some knew what they wanted to do, while others were still deciding. What made the panel valuable was the diversity of our backgrounds. I studied law, Catherine started in vet school before switching, so we shared our experiences and career journeys.

Our main message was: “This is what we do and this is how we got here, so don’t panic if your first choice isn’t right. You can change direction, or you build on one degree with another.”

We try to involve younger staff in these events, so students can relate more easily. I told them that when I was their age, the urban design master’s programme didn’t even exist. New jobs, especially in environmental fields, are emerging all the time. These events are not only about giving them a broad view of what we do at Boffa Miskell, it’s hopefully inspiring them to follow their passions.