Students building Mega partnership
Nelson’s Mitre 10 Mega store welcomed a group of Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology pre-trade carpentry students into the store last week to undertake a large work experience project as part of the store’s trade expansion.
Mitre 10 Mega marketing coordinator Murray Leaning said the group – backed by their tutors Eddie Shields, Huw Morgan and Colin Roach – had spent three days building a major display onsite essentially a ‘‘cut away’’ house which demonstrated different materials and construction methods.
The project also gave students the chance to interact with customers who had taken an interest in what the students were doing.
‘‘It’s been a really great initiative, and has helped the students practise their skills, in a real world environment.’’
Leaning said the attitude and skills shown by the budding builders had been so impressive that some students had been offered weekend employment at the Nelson store.
‘‘You forget that these guys are still in pre-trade and have only been learning since the start of the year,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s all good learning for when they’re qualified.’’
The work experience project was part of an ongoing partnership between Mitre 10 and NMIT, where both organisations will assist each other with projects in the community.
The partnership had so far yielded ‘‘good synergy’’ between the two parties, Leaning said.
In June, around 25 NMIT students joined Mitre 10 Mega staff and numerous local businesses to complete a bathroom renovation for Nelson’s Miro Romanowski, a young boy with cerebral palsy and ataxia, as part of the Mitre 10 Mega Helping Hands project.
As well as pitching in with the final touches of the interior build, the students also built a wood shed and raised garden beds at Miro’s family home in Teal Valley.