Western News: February 19, 2019

12 Tuesday February 19 2019
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
TWO TE KURA Hagley Park
Tennis Club players took out
the boys singles titles at the
Canterbury senior secondary
school championship.
Will Schneideman, 17, won
the year 12-13 singles title, while
Charlie Morrison, 15, won the
year 11 title at Wilding Park last
week.
After dropping just one game
in his opening two matches,
Will accounted for his younger
brother Nick in the semi-final
6-1, 6-3. In the final, he defeated
fellow Te Kura Hagley Park
member Jamie Garbett 6-2, 6-4.
Will represented Christ’s
College and also claimed the
year 12-13 doubles title with
Tom Downs.
Charlie was tested on his way
to the title, defeating Nathan
McKenzie 6-2, 2-6, 10-6 in a
third set super tie-breaker to
book a spot in the final. He then
cruised past Jordan Edwards
6-0, 6-1 to claim the silverware.
There was also success for Te
Kura Hagley Park’s Alana Liu
who teamed up with Juliette Ma
to win the girls year 11 doubles
title.
SPORTS
Te Kura Hagley Park
players scope two high
school tennis titles
SILVERWARE: Will
Schneideman and Charlie
Morrison both won titles
at the Canterbury senior
secondary school tennis
championship. ​
The pair defeated Jade Feneon
and Annabelle Schneideman
4-1, 0-4, 10-8 in a tough semifinal
before claiming the title
4-1, 4-2 against Abby Mason and
Issy Story.
Points lead for Ransley as
86s head into final round
ST THOMAS of Canterbury
College student Jaden Ransley
will head into next month’s
final round of the Toyota 86
Championship with the points
lead after a superb performance
at Manfeild.
Ransley, 17, had two wins and
a second place from three races
at the penultimate round of the
championship
in Feilding.
After
coming into
the round 13
points off the
championship
lead, Ransley’s
win in race
one elevated
Jaden
Ransley
him to the
top.
He was
then able to extend his buffer
with a tough-fought win in race
two, holding off championship
rival Callum Hedge and Arran
Crighton.
At the race start, it was
Crighton who got the better
jump out of those in the front
row.
It looked like Ransley
might have been able to use
his inside line to take the lead
into turn one, but Crighton was
determined to lead and by the
turn-four hairpin he had the top
spot.
TITLE SHOT: Toyota 86 Championship driver Jayden Ransley
(No 53) will head to Hampton Downs with the points lead after
two wins at Manfeild. ​
A lead change looked
imminent on lap three. Ransley
had been all over Crighton’s tail
after getting edged on lap one,
culminating in a big lock-up. By
turn one on the following lap,
Ransley got past.
“I had a terrible start, which
put me into second. We had a
good battle with Arran and then
managed to get past him,” said
Ransley.
“Callum was really coming
along good too. Our car went
off a bit at the end there, so
WESTERN NEWS
there was a bit of a fight to keep
Callum behind me.”
Ransley finished second in
the final race behind Hedge,
who is now second in the
championship.
The series will head north for
the grand finale at Hampton
Downs Motorsport Park.
Three races will take place
from March 9-10.
Ransley has the chance to
become the fourth Canterbury
driver to win the championship
in five years.
Tech graduates in
ADVERTORIAL
demand from industry
Young technology graduates are being snapped
up by employers, with the rapidly growing New
Zealand ICT (information communications and
technology) industry hungry for skilled staff.
“There are lots of IT jobs, but not enough graduates
joining the marketplace,” says Gary Taylor, campus
manager of Vision College in Christchurch.
Vision College, a private training establishment with
campuses in Christchurch, Auckland, Pukekohe and
Hamilton, has seen huge demand from employers
for its graduating information technology students.
“In the future, there will be an even bigger shortfall,”
warns Taylor, who notes that IT industry occupations
are on Immigration New Zealand’s long-term skill
shortage list, reflecting the growth of the industry
and the rise in job vacancies. “The IT industry is
growing rapidly. We need to get more skilled
graduates ready to ride the wave.”
According to the latest annual TIN Report, the
revenue of the top 200 New Zealand technology
companies grew by 11 per cent to $11.1 billion in
2018. The New Zealand tech sector employs more
than 25,000 people locally and 50,000 globally, and
offers a significantly higher pay than the national
average.
Christchurch woman Jessica Costello, 20, recently
graduated from Vision College with a Level 5 NZ
Diploma in Web Development and Design and
a Level 6 NZ Diploma in Software Development.
The two-year programme covered a range of
subjects, including web design, coding languages,
programming skills and software engineering – as
well as an eight-week internship with local company
CORE Education – which led to a job offer.
Late last year Costello started as a junior web
designer with the company. “It’s a great industry
to be working in, and I can’t wait to see what the
future holds,” says Costello.
She attributes Vision College as being a huge part
of her success in gaining employment in the IT
industry. The small class sizes and supportive tutors
were both nurturing and engaging. “Our tutors built
a great rapport and connection with the students,
so they knew where we were at to ensure we were
all keeping up with the programme,” says Costello.
There was also a focus on practical learning and
writing code. “We were on the computers from the
first day, learning by doing, and really drilling down
into specialty areas,” says Costello. “I could see my
skillset progressing and developing every day.”
As well as learning technical skills, she had the
opportunity to do professional practice papers to
build up “soft skills” too – something employers are
increasingly looking for, notes Taylor.
“They’re wanting peopale that are technical skilled
but who can also be innovative, creative and solve
problems and can communicate well,” says Taylor.
He says that industry internships are a key part
of the course programme, giving students the
opportunity to apply their learnings to real world
situations – and these opportunities often lead to
employment.
Aaron Kitto, national IT manager at CORE
Education, and Costello’s new boss, agrees that the
industry is desperate for more skilled IT graduates,
particularly in areas such as software development.
He encourages students to find out more about
IT courses, as it is a career that offers flexibility and
growth.
“For me, IT is a skill that can exist in any industry like
human resources or marketing,” says Kitto. “The skills
of an IT person can be mobile between almost every
type of organisation from education to agriculture
to tourism. This means that as the world moves
towards less “job for life” roles and more “do what is
needed” roles, IT people are perfectly placed to take
advantage of this. We have contractors who set up
company servers in Taiwan while writing code for a
Canadian firm, all from a beach in Bali.”
For more information on getting started in IT, see
visioncollege.ac.nz or phone 0800 834 834. The
programme allows for flexible study and University
Entrance (UE) is not required to begin studying.
Upcoming intakes are scheduled to start
March 4, 2019.