🎀 Wānanga 2026 🎀
Women in Health Network (WiHN) was proud to start off 2026 by hosting our largest event on 15th of March, our mentoring Wānanga!
This lively and inspiring day was designed with the goal of welcoming first year university students into our mentoring programme to help build community and facilitate inter-degree networking within the health disciplines, while supporting the transition into competitive first year courses. Our mentoring programme is a great initiative with the aim of students further along in their health related degrees guiding first year wahine throughout their year in competitive degrees such as biomedical science and health science.
The day was filled with energy and began with registration and goodie bags from our sponsors for our mentees and mentors! We then had opening karakia, introductions from our executive team followed by Ruia, the Waipapa Taumata Rau waiata.
Mentors and mentees then broke off into their specialty lead (SL) groups to do icebreakers before taking part in the highlight of the day, an Amazing Race style scavenger hunt, which required them to navigate the Grafton campus while answering university trivia. To make the race even trickier, roadblocks were sprinkled around campus to test the teamwork and problem-solving skills of our participants. From Just Dance to the Twisty challenge and much, much more, each roadblock gave participants the opportunity to step out of their comfort zones and get to bond more with their group amidst the thrill of the race!
Finally, the race ended with prizes for our winning team which included premium goods from Antipodes and Dermal Therapy, as well as vouchers from Eme’s cafe, the Gelato Workshop, Giapo kitchen, Needo pasta , La Bises Beauty, Khu Khu Eatery and Sugar Bae dessert.
Wānanga truly embodied the spirit of our mentoring programme, and it was amazing to see mentors creating a space for our mentees and connecting with them by sharing advice, offering support, and building meaningful relationships grounded in their own experiences. It was tremendously rewarding being able to host an event where we can inspire future generations of wahine in healthcare.
To our mentors, mentees and the wonderful WiHN executive team - thank you all for your amazing mahi!
Inspired to be a part of the WiHN community? Stay connected for future events and opportunities!
Written by Swetlana Khoo & Durrane Zaidi (Co-directors of Mentoring)