Coming out of his corner because of the AUT Edge Award

Personal growth is a huge part of the AUT Edge Award. The Kingi Personal Growth prize - sponsored by Intercontinental Hotels Group - acknowledges the student that demonstrated the greatest personal change during the award.

The winner Yves Guo had little self confidence before he started the Edge Award. But, by drawing on his passion for fashion and desire to do something for the less fortunate,he pushed through his shyness and created the AUT Streetstyle and Fashion Club and organised a runway and donation event for Auckland City Mission. A big ask for someone who tended to hide in a corner.

Setting up the club and running events involved a lot of communication and engagement. He had to source photography, encourage students to model their donated clothing, engage with the City Mission staff and manage the social media and promotion of the event. A big challenge for anyone, least of all someone like Yves who tended to hover in the corner.

Yves also went on to mentor hospitality students working on group presentations and getting involved in other activities that demonstrated great personal growth and change.

Intercontinental Hotels Group human resources manager Lauren Heys (R)  says IHG sponsor the Personal Growth prize because it reflects the importance of developing perseverance, building employability skills and going over and beyond.

“It is very commendable that Edge Award students are doing this outside of commitments to school and work.”

As well as IHG, four other industry partners sponsored prizes for the award; YUDU, Auckland Council, SEEK Volunteer and Chartered Accountants Australia & NZ (CAANZ).

Industry sponsorship of prizes demonstrate the significance to employers of the skills fostered by the AUT Edge Award, says AUT Deputy Vice Chancellor Geoff Perry.

“You will have become better employees, family members, friends and better members of society through this award,” says Geoff, listing skills such as thoughtful and critical thinking, cultural intelligence through working with people from different backgrounds and ability to lead.”

Yves was one of 50 students to graduate with the AUT Edge Award in Semester 1, taking the total number of graduates to 204. Over 2400 students are enrolled in the Award. So far they delivered 39,000 hours of volunteering and just under 18,000 leadership hours to their communities.

The other prize winners were Jackie Chan for Overall Achiever, Priscilla Schwalger for Volunteering, Hilary Esterhuizen for Leadership and Liubov Sidorova for Social Impact.

The AUT Edge Award delivers graduates with work ready CVs and relevant LinkedIn profiles. They are capable networkers and confident about who they are, says Director of Student Employability, Anna Williams.

“Our employers continue to tell us that they are looking for great communication skills, evidence of volunteering, of leadership….. students who are engaged well outside their classroom learning.  We feel that the AUT Edge AWARD encompasses all of these skills and know that the students here tonight will have that extra edge in their approach to their future careers when they leave here.”

Anna says the Award is proving to be so successful that this semester Employability and Careers has launched a second award – the Beyond AUT Award for postgraduate students.

For more information about the AUT Edge Award or the Beyond AUT Award please contact AUTEdge@aut.ac.nz

PHOTO CAPTION: (L-R)  Priscilla Schwalger for Volunteering, Jackie Chan for Overall Achiever, Liubov Sidorova for Social Impact., Hilary Esterhuizen for Leadership and Yves Guo for Personal Growth.