Ryan Smith, Keturah Parton and Thamena Essahaty have received industry recognition as recipients of the Intergen Top ICT
Student Award at a ceremony held at the Wellington Institute of Technology. The Intergen Awards recognise academic
achievement as well as the contribution students make to their peers and to their overall programme of study.
Toby Spendiff, Intergen’s General Manager, Enterprise Solutions, congratulated the students for choosing an industry
that is one of the fastest-growing, largest and most exciting sectors of the New Zealand economy.
“The ICT sector employs more than 120,000 people. There has never been a better time to undertake an IT qualification
and enter our industry. There are so many employment opportunities working on really innovative projects.
“Intergen’s involvement with WelTec and IT students recognises not only these award-winning students’ academic ability,
but also their contribution to teamwork, supporting their peers with respect and integrity – values which are very
important to Intergen. Our partnership with WelTec is also about promoting IT as a top career with excellent prospects.”
“As WelTec students and future graduates, the advanced applied IT skills students are developing alongside the ability
to build supportive relationships is what we are looking for at Intergen. Through the Intergen Young Achiever Awards we
want to promote IT, support young people in learning more about the exciting options available and contribute to the
future of the sector.”
Ryan Smith and Thamena Essahaty are enthusiastic about the options available to them in ICT. Ryan says, “I can see there
are many opportunities available to me in the IT industry. Through WelTec’s partnerships with industry I am getting a
good sense of the jobs that are available to me when I have qualified.”
Thamena Essahaty chose WelTec for her degree in programming and information security because of the value placed on
practical, applied skills needed to enter the IT industry. “The focus on skills and the practical elements of ICT is
driven directly from WelTec’s relationships with industry, and this is exciting to me.”
WelTec Chief Executive, Chris Gosling, acknowledged Intergen’s continued support of WelTec’s ICT students. “We are very
proud of our partnership with Intergen and their genuine commitment to the future success of our students in training to
become part of the ICT industry. Our ICT qualifications provide high level ICT skills and qualifications that enable our
graduates to competently enter into, and energise, the ICT sector.”
The Intergen Young Achiever Awards are available to first year Bachelor of Information Technology students at WelTec. In
addition to Young Achiever Awards, Intergen runs a graduate recruitment programme employing around 25 graduates across
New Zealand each year.