Te Kete Kōrero achieves milestone
Wintec’s Māori and Pasifika student publication Te Kete Kōrero showcases many graduates.
The team at Te Kete Kōrero is discussing how they are going to move forward with the fourth edition of the student-run magazine.
Current editor Donna-Lee Biddle is off to a job at the Waikato Times on graduation this year and is handing over the editor’s torch to writer and third-year journalism student, Jason Renes.
The passing of the torch will take the form of a goodbye piece by Biddle, which will welcome Renes on board.
Biddle has been a part of the magazine since its inception.
As editor she has had to juggle her role with both her academic and personal life, but has thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the Te Kete Kōrero whānau.
Managing editor and School of Media Arts Kaiāwhina, Kahurangi Waititi, wants to involve more students in the magazine in 2015, hoping they will bring what they love and want to talk about; making a good foundation for Te Kete Kōrero.
“For next year it will be about rebuilding as we’re losing quite a lot of senior members this year. We’ll be looking to integrate more students who want to be involved.
“Hopefully it progresses to a stage where they don’t need me, but I think we need to build that culture up first and make it something stable within Wintec, and I think from there it will progress really nicely.”
Formed in late 2013, the publication was set up as a way for Māori and Pasifika Wintec students to have a place to share stories they were passionate about.The first meeting of Te Kete Kōrero saw only journalism student, Biddle, turn up.
“She (Kahurangi) mentioned that she wanted to start a newsletter, and because I love writing and being creative I thought it would be an interesting project to be involved in”
Biddle beat up some interest in the publication from her class, while Kahurangi was able to contact the Māori and pacific students around Wintec.
They have published three issues of Te Kete Kōrero, with each one better than the last.
“At first, it was a newsletter and it has since progressed into a magazine,” Waititi says.
The publication has transformed into a 28-page magazine run by Media Arts students.
The costs of the publication have been covered by the Māori Achievement Office with help from Wintec and the School of Media Arts.
At times, producing Te Kete Kōrero has been a struggle, Biddle says.
“Every edition we’ve released, we’ve had to push back the deadline.
“We all have study to focus on, and lives outside of tech, which makes it a little bit harder to meet deadlines.”
The publication, designed by graphic designer, Jade Ormsby, is available in print as well as online.
The online versions of the publication is available at issuu.com/teketekoorero.
