"Ideals are like stars: you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them, you reach your destiny." Carl Schurz.
Dive Training
Through the auspices of the Gateway programme, Queen Charlotte College students have the opportunity to gain valuable work experience whilst still attending the College. If students are successful in Aquaculture in Year 11, 12 and 13 they can gain the Level 3 National Certificate in Seafood (Aquaculture). This is a qualification offered to workers employed in the local mussel and salmon farming industries. Students also gain valuable insights into the range of careers available to them from visiting speakers and field visits to aquaculture facilities throughout Nelson and Marlborough.
For students who wish to continue their education beyond Queen Charlotte College, several New Zealand Universities offer marine related degrees. Otago University, Victoria University Wellington, Auckland University and University of Canterbury all have undergraduate Science degrees that can include marine papers. Scholarships will be offered to suitable candidates who go on to university and enrol in a marine related degree course.
The most deserving Year 12 and 13 students from each year receive the MFA Scholarship. In the past this has enabled students to experience Aquaculture ventures in South Australia, the United Kingdom and closer to home in New Zealand.
Students at the college have been involved in industry research programmes such as the selective breeding of mussels, biofouling investigations and feeding trials for King Salmon.
Mussel Trial
A selection of careers that could lead on from studying aquaculture at Queen Charlotte College include:
- Mussel harvesting
- Mussel processing
- Water quality testing
- Research scientist,
e.g. with NIWA or Cawthron Institute or within the aquaculture industry - Salmon cage maintenance
- Commercial diver
- Dive instructor
- Boat skipper
- Boat building
- Department of Conservation
- Paua farm contractor
- Rope manufacturer
- Receptionist
- Marketing
- Aluminium or steel fabricator
- Engineering
- Planning Officer within District and Regional Councils