Video transcript
[Music plays]
[Video shows an aerial view of Wellington harbour]
[Video shows Constantine sitting on a sofa and speaking]
Talofa lava. My name’s Constantine Zombos.
I'm Samoan. I went to Tangaroa College and I'm a pilot for Air New Zealand.
[Screen reads Why do you love your job?]
Well, I love my job because it allows me to travel. I get to do extensive travel around New Zealand, but I also had the privilege to do a bit of traveling around the world as well.
[Screen reads What unique skills do Pacific people bring to this career pathway?]
Polynesians bring a sense of community. We don't always take things too seriously, so we're able to enjoy the job, have fun, and also be professional at the same time.
[Screen reads What subjects in school are a good pathway into this career?]
Good subjects to take are mathematics, physics, English and calculus as well.
Maths, in general, is quite good for the profession because we use a lot of numbers obviously.
We do a lot of map-reading as well, so it's good to have a bit of knowledge on how to calculate distances using maps.
[Video shows an aerial view of Wellington harbour]
We also do quite a bit of flight-planning as well, which requires a bit of calculations with fuel and distances and time and that kind of thing.
Specifically, to flying, STEM subjects are quite important because they provide the foundation for learning.
Each subject plays an important role even though it might not seem like it's important at the time, it will always have some relevance in the future no matter what you do.
Captain Constantine Zombos, Pilot video (01:47 mins)
"STEM subjects are important and awesome!"
Samoan pilot Captain Zombos travels around Aotearoa and the world.
In this video, he talks about why he loves his work and the subjects future pilots need.
Video transcript
[Music plays]
[Video shows a bookshelf with many titles on it]
[Video shows Dr Taumoepeau sitting in a chair and speaking]
Malo e lelei, my name is Lupe Taumoepeau.
My family background is from Tonga, and I was born and raised in Auckland.
I now live in Wellington, and I'm a vascular and transplant surgeon at Wellington hospital.
[Screen reads Why do you love your job?]
So, a career in medicine is something that I aspired to at a really young age, and part of the draw to medicine was I saw it as a way of really providing service for patients, but also fulfilling this love that I have for learning and challenging myself.
I think Pasifika patients respond well and engage better with Pasifika doctors and health workers.
We can speak the language, we understand the culture, and we also bring a lot of, I think, empathy to our role.
When I see a patient, I imagine that that's my mum, or my dad, or my grandma, or my grandfather that I’m treating.
And I know that the patients can, you know, they can feel that empathy and they really appreciate that expertise.
[Screen reads What subjects in school are a good pathway into this career?]
I think biology would probably be the most useful out of the three, but if you also enjoy chemistry, and do well in physics then those are very useful too.
I think part of medicine is also problem-solving, so you have an issue with a patient, and you have a certain number of skills that you can use to fix that problem.
And in that way, I think maths is really useful because it helps to develop that problem-solving side of your brain.
The sciences and maths subjects can be applied to so many different careers. And it really does help give you, or it helps broaden your life experience by having those subjects behind you.
I think STEM’s awesome, and I really encourage you to get behind it.
Doctor Lupe Taumoepeau, Vascular Surgeon video (02:08 mins)
"A career in medicine is fulfilling, challenging and a way to serve the community."
Dr. Taumoepeau is a Tongan doctor who helps people every day.
In this video, she discusses why she loves treating Pacific patients.
Video transcript
[Music plays]
[Video shows labelled bottles and test tubes in a laboratory]
[Video shows Helen sitting in a chair and speaking]
Kia orana. My name is Helen Woolner.
I attended Porirua College before heading to He Huarahi Tamariki, the School for Teenage Parents.
And I work as a post-doctoral researcher in the clinical genetics' laboratory at Victoria University in Wellington.
[Screen reads Why do you love your job?]
So, the thing I love about my job, and science in general, is the ability to explore and test my ideas through experimentation.
But also, because there's the potential to discover something new that could be of benefit to human health.
And also, being able to add to the scientific body of knowledge that already exists.
[Screen reads What unique skills do Pacific people bring to this career pathway?]
It's important for Pasifika people to be represented in science so that we are able to contribute our views and our experiences, but also add new knowledge and providing our ideas.
[Screen reads What subjects in school are a good pathway into this career?]
Good subjects for a pathway towards my job are biology, chemistry and maths.
They're basically the fundamentals to this kind of job.
But you also need to take English as well because there's a lot of reading and a lot of writing in science, so yeah, English doesn't seem like the most obvious one, but it is one that's important.
[Indistinct] is such an important subject to take. If you’re curious about traditional medicines and why they work the way that they do, then science is the subject to you.
You could potentially be discovering something that could help human health.
Helen Woolner, Chemical Scientist video (01:40 mins)
"Science is about discovering new things."
Helen has the chance to make exciting new discoveries as a chemical scientist.
In this video, she tells us what subjects she took at school, and why science needs more Pasifika people.
Video transcript
[Music plays]
[Video shows Amy holding a bottle full of plant material, seeds and water]
[Video shows Amy sitting in a chair and speaking]
Talofa o lou igoa o Amy Maslen Miller.
Hey, everyone. My name is Amy Maslen Miller.
I went to Saint Mary's College in Ponsonby, Auckland and I am a Samoan scientist.
[Screen reads Why do you love your job?]
I love my job because I get to help our Pacific communities.
[Video shows Amy walking from a shed to a house, being followed by two puppies]
As a Samoan scientist, we live off the land. We live, um, we plant crops.
And so I really enjoy finding out about different plant diseases to see if it can help or hinder our crops in the Pacific Islands for our communities.
[Screen reads What unique skills do Pacific people bring to this career pathway?]
If you think about it, everything in our culture is science: our crops that we plant, our [indistinct], our mats that we weave. That's all science.
[Video shows large swathes of cloth with Pacific patterns]
And as Pasifika, we bring so much experience to STEM. We can bring our culture, we can bring our experiences to better help preserve, solve our culture through science.
[Screen reads What subjects in school are a good pathway into this career?]
I would definitely take at least two out of the three sciences. So for me, I took chemistry and biology. I was terrible at physics.
Definitely a science or maths paper, and definitely a subject that you enjoy because that evens up the craziness of high school.
So for me, that was music. I took that to balance out everything else.
If you see the scientists now on the news, on social media, you know, they don't look like us.
But I gotta remind you, like our ancestors, the scientists, they navigated the Pacific Ocean using the stars.
They were doctors. They used plants to heal people. You know, they were engineers. They built fales, you know, Samoan traditional houses.
So don't forget that we have always been scientists. And it may not look like it at the moment, but really, you know, we're the OGs!
Amy Maslen Miller, Plant Pathologist video (02:04 mins)
"Pacific people are the OGs of Science."
Samoan plant pathologist Amy studies plant diseases.
In this video, Amy talks about Pacific peoples' long-standing tradition of science and discovery.