Bay Harbour: April 14, 2021

20 Bay Harbour News Wednesday April 14 2021 Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Novel Success for Linwood
College Business Student
“Who we are” helping inform “what we do”
Linwood College at Ōtākaro has been motivating
students to find and forge their own unique and
exciting pathways through the senior Business
Studies course. The rich cultural diversity of the
school is embraced and students are also using this
to inform their new product and marketing ideas.
Partnering with the Young Enterprise Scheme, the
school has picked up a number of awards in the
competition and also helped usher several students
along paths to setting up their own businesses and
studying in universities.
Students from many different countries and
backgrounds has been a real source of strength
for the school and this has
been reflected in the successful
business teams. Abdullah Wahidi
is one such student whose
business team created a children’s
book that advocates for diversity.
The book garnered national media
attention and can now be enjoyed
by children in local libraries
throughout Christchurch.
Abdullah was born in Afghanistan
and later moved with his family to
Pakistan before settling in New
Zealand in 2018 and becoming an
LCŌ student. In his senior year,
his Business Studies class had to
come up with ideas for a project to
enter in the Lion Foundation Young
Abdullah and his brother Abbas Wahidi
at Linwood’s Festival of Nations.
Enterprise Scheme. It was Abdullah’s hope that he
could to do something to address intolerance towards
other cultures. His community had been severely
traumatised by the recent 2019 Mosque attacks, and
he wanted to find a way forward towards healing and
coming together. “The staff, the students and all the
people at Linwood College have always respected
other cultures and were proud of being a diverse
college. Though there were only few students from
Afghanistan, LCŌ always recognised us and made
us feel a part of them by putting the Afghanistan flag
up on our Festival of Nations day and by encouraging
us to wear our traditional clothes.”
He teamed up with Paigan Watson-
Hall, along with classmates Josh
Stiles and Luka Russell. They
decided to create a children’s
book featuring tales from around
the world in the hope of inspiring
families to take a more openminded
view of different cultures. A
$1000 grant from the Christchurch
City Council Community Activation
Fund gave the students the
financial boost they needed to get
the ball rolling.
The first-print run of the book was
completely sold-out within two
weeks. Their success was picked
up in the national media who
celebrated the uniqueness of their
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product and vision. The book can also now be found
in several libraries around Christchurch. Additionally,
the senior Business Studies students were presented
with the excellence award for customer and market
engagement at the Young Enterprise regional finals.
This year Abdullah is a Bachelor of Commerce student
at Lincoln University, majoring in marketing with a
minor in supply chain management. He is also part
of the Future Leader Scholarship Programme, which
provides students with opportunities to contribute to
the community. “I am the first in the family to study
at a university, so it was very exciting for me and my
family. I had a lot of tertiary education options but
chose Lincoln for the Future Leader Scholarship,
which is a program that is connected to what I want
to be in the future.”
linwoodcollege
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11th MAY, 3.30 - 5PM
www.linwoodcollege.school.nz | 180 Avonside Drive | Tel: 9820100