Generation Y-ine - Annaleise Faint

Photo Scott Hammond/Stuff

Generation Y-ine

Inspiring Māori STEM scholars

SOPHIE PREECE

WHEN ANNALEISE Faint looks ahead at the opportunities of science, she also looks back to the perspective of her Māori ancestors. “I want to learn as much as I can about science but also want to learn, what was our ancestors’ point of view and how does that influence our knowledge? It can open new doors that might not even be considered.”

This year Annaleise will undertake her second year at Massey University, where she is majoring in molecular biology and biochemistry. But she has has spent the past three months on an internship at the Bragato Research Institute (BRI), through a Pūhoro STEM summer internship. The scholarship – part of Pūhoro’s drive to support young Māori in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – saw her working with the BRI and Plant & Food Research in Marlborough, both in the research winery and out in the field. It then took her to Lincoln University, where she worked with Dr Darrell Lizamore, the BRI’s Principal Research Scientist for grapevine improvement.

Covid-19 meant much of Annaleise’s first year at university was remote, with little of the hands-on lab work she’d expected. She’s made up for that in recent months, getting plenty of experience in the lab and vineyard to help progress wine research, despite knowing very little about the industry when she arrived. Meanwhile, the BRI has

Launched in 2016, Pūhoro is a complete science, technology, engineering and mathematics pipeline for young Māori that supports engagement from secondary school, through tertiary education and into employment. Today, the academy fosters the development of over 800 Māori students, representing more than 80 iwi throughout the nation, and is focussed on revitalizing Mātauranga Māori within STEM.

“These resources try to focus on how we can teach ideas based on what our ancestors used to do.”

Annaleise Faint

welcomed the insights Annaleise brings to the research team, which is in the early stages of progressing Vision Mātauranga, the Government’s science policy framework, designed to unlock the science and innovation potential of Māori knowledge.

BRI Chief Executive MJ Loza says Annaleise’s internship reinforced the “untapped opportunity” for Mātauranga Māori to contribute to science in the wine industry. “As a new organisation, we are beginning our first wave programmes and projects that collaborate with Māori wineries and growers.”

Annaleise’s intrigue with the knowledge of her Māori ancestors began when she started to learn te reo Māori at high school, beginning a journey that would entwine her love of science with curiosity around her people’s traditions. That journey accelerated when she joined Pūhoro, and connected her lifelong love of science with her emerging engagement with Māori culture.

Meanwhile, Annaleise was also forging a name as a squash player, captaining the Trans-Tasman Secondary Schools competition for 2018 and 2019, and competing in the 2018 Junior Worlds Championship in Chennai India, where she placed top 50 in the world for under 19. The same year, her relationship with Pūhoro saw Annaleise travel to NASA in the United States, meeting with astronauts and Native Americans, on a trip that fuelled her aspirations for a career in STEM careers “and enriched me culturally”, she says.

“As a new organisation, we are beginning our first wave programmes and projects that collaborate with Māori wineries and growers.”

MJ Loza

Last year, Annaleise was offered a much soughtafter US college squash scholarship to attend Dickenson University in Pennsylvania – a plan foiled by Covid-19. “I’m disappointed I’m not going, of course, but I’m thrilled to be selected for the internship with BRI,” she said on her arrival in Blenheim in November. “It’s a great opportunity to do hands-on work in the research field. I’m grateful that creating this internship is another way Pūhoro has positively impacted my studies.”

As well as her own university studies, Annaleise has been working with Pūhoro as a tutor and in developing NCEA resources for Levels 1-3 science subjects that are Mātauranga Māori inspired. “It’s about revitalising te reo and Mātauranga Māori, normalising it and making it sustainable,” she says. For her, the resources are another opportunity to help ensure more proud Māori scientists, tapping into the latest science as well as the insights of their ancestors. “In school they are taught the western idea – these resources try to focus on how we can teach ideas based on what our ancestors used to do.”

The resource writing and tutoring has helped Annaleise channel her focus. She’s long known her career would be in science, but had swung from vet to doctor to scientist in her aspirations. Now she’s certain she will be an educator, working in a Māori medium school teaching biology and chemistry. “I have found that I am passionate about teaching and helping students reach their potential.”

NMIT Winegrowers Hub

We can deliver courses tailored to your team of staff directly at your vineyard.

Connect with us today.

nmit.ac.nz/winegrowers

> Bachelor of Viticulture and Winemaking (Level 7) > New Zealand Certificate in Horticulture

Viticulture Fruit Production (Level 4) > New Zealand Certificate in

Cellar Operations (Level 3, Level 4) nmit.ac.nz/viticulture