AUT Beyond award Stories

A feisty go-getter is the first AUT student to gain both the AUT Edge Award and the inaugural postgraduate Beyond AUT Award. To do two awards concurrently is a big ask for anyone, especially someone with extra responsibilities.

Volunteering - tick! Leadership - tick! Employability workshops - tick! You'll be feeling good. Just the final Edge reflection/Beyond interview to go and you'll have completed the award you've put many hours of free time into.So don’t ruin it all now by not allowing enough time to work on your Final Reflection/Interview. Typically, it can take from 2 to 8 hours to draft, refine, polish and complete

Fulfilling academic study this year has been tough, yet 80 AUT Edge and Beyond Award students managed to also successfully complete their awards despite arduous times.

When Giri Gonsai found out about Employability and Careers after picking up a flyer at Orientation, the Postgraduate Computer and Information Science student realised he’d stumbled onto a way to charge up his year and become fully prepared for employment. And he was not wrong.

Having to volunteer during the AUT Edge Award opened Liubov Sidorova’s eyes to the huge social impact individuals, like herself, can make. Liubov won the Social Impact prize for her huge involvement in many community ventures around sustainability.

The 15 students that completed the Beyond AUT Award this year demonstrated great resilience and resourcefulness, with two standing out in particular. Read how the Award has made such a difference to their lives.

Stepping up to the challenge of taking on leadership roles rather than staying in the background has been a major achievement for Etienne Tapueluelu who received the Cordis Hotel Beyond AUT Overall Award prize at the Employability Awards Graduation Ceremony on Monday 14 November. The prize is awarded to the student who went over and beyond in all aspects of their award journey.

A significant chapter of personal and professional growth is how Beyond AUT Award Overall Prize winner Karan George describes her Beyond AUT Award journey. “The award has helped develop my leadership skills, bolster my confidence, and foster community engagement and compassion,” she says.