Students connect with industry professionals at Parks Leaders Forum

The event provided students with an excellent opportunity to engage with industry professionals and build connections for their future careers.

Co-hosted by Lincoln University and the Parks Leaders Forum, it focused on parks management and included a range of presentations and discussion opportunities, followed by a networking event and hot topic debate led by renowned radio broadcaster Kim Hill.

Presentations throughout the day discussed hot topics and reported on the past, present and future of the parks sector at Lincoln. There were also taster sessions from lecturers of the Master of Parks Management, one of Lincoln’s new taught programmes, with its first cohort of students graduating this May.

Sam Strong is one of those graduates who will walk across the stage. She now works as a Senior Planner at Thrive Spaces and Places.

Sam returned to university in her thirties as a Canadian now living in New Zealand. After graduation Sam reached out to her lecturers to see if they could help her find a job. They connected Sam with the owner of Thrive Places and Spaces, and she was working for them almost immediately.

Now Sam is helping facilitate connections for new graduates. She’s helped employ a current student to work on a project with the Ashburton District Council.

“We’re giving her the opportunity to participate in really sector-relevant projects.

“As a foreigner, it feels like New Zealand is all about who you know. Lincoln is a great producer of really intellectually smart and driven people. Here’s a chance to help get those people into the positions they’ll be most successful at.”

Georgia Fitzpatrick is in the second year of her Master of Parks Management. She was proud to speak to the audience about her experience of the Master’s programme and how it has prepared her for work in the parks sector.

“You get to talk to people in the field you’re aspiring to be in, and you get to share how Lincoln University has strived to facilitate growth in the Park’s sector. It’s a perfect networking opportunity.”

Drs Emma Stewart and Stephen Espiner, who co-designed the Masters in Parks Management, said it was the first of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and built on Lincoln University’s long history of teaching parks and recreation programmes.

“Building capacity in teaching and research in the area of Parks Management is central to the strategic direction of the university, especially given the significance of parks and protected natural areas to New Zealand and internationally.”

A large number of the attendees were Lincoln University Alumni and it was great to welcome them back to our campus.

Interested in the Master of Parks Management? Learn more here.