04/09/2026
🌿🌱 Growing Our Story – The Environmental Studies Graduate Forest 🌱🌿
Every successful programme has its own story, its own concepts, and its own philosophy.
When we created our Environmental Studies degree, we carefully considered job demand, industry needs, our students’ future, and—most importantly—our own cultural background and connection with the environment.
Our degree has its own flavour. We love to blend with the environment. 🌿
Now, we are creating a story that will grow alongside our programme.
At Otatara Outdoor Learning Centre, there is a small gully and hillside that was once a Pinus plantation. After the plantation was removed around 2012, the area began its own natural succession, with pioneer species such as blackberry, grasses and shrubs gradually establishing.
The EIT School of Primary Industries has since been working to restore the area towards a regenerated native forest. 🌳
Then Dr Robertshaw came up with a beautiful idea:
🌱 Why not create a forest grown by our graduates?
From now on, our Environmental Studies graduates can plant a native tree in this special place as they celebrate their graduation.
Their tree will become a living reminder of their time with us—their learning, friendships, challenges, achievements and success.
🎓➡️🌱
Even when our students leave us and move on to the next chapter of their lives, we will continue to look after their trees for them.
And we hope that one day they will return to Otatara and stand beside the tree they planted.
Perhaps they will bring their children and mokopuna and say:
“This is my tree. I planted this when I graduated.” 🌳❤️
Over time, we hope this will become a Graduate Forest—a living collection of stories from our graduates, growing from one cohort to the next.
Their stories will remain connected to this place, and one day we can share those stories with the students who come after them.
There is also something symbolic about what we do as educators.
🌱 We prepare the ground.
💧 We provide the nutrients and water.
🌿 We create a place where students can establish themselves and grow.
🛡️ We protect them from disturbances when they need support.
🌳 And then we watch them grow strong and flourish.
Eventually, our students leave us and grow in their own direction—but their roots remain connected to the place where they started.
Perhaps this is one of the most rewarding things we can do as facilitators of learning: prepare the ground for others to grow.
A huge thank you to all our graduates who have planted their trees and become part of this story. 🌱❤️
And thank you to Glen, Gerard, Amelia, Dinusha, Chris and Lisa for staying behind, nurturing this idea and helping to make our Graduate Forest possible.
This is more than planting trees.
We are planting memories.
We are planting connections.
We are planting stories.
We are planting a legacy. 🌿🌳
And hopefully, many years from now, our graduates and their Whānau will walk through this forest and tell their own success stories.
Our students grow. Our forest grows. And our story grows with them. 🌱💚
