Putting education first

university-of-waikato

Wed Apr 29 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Putting education first

Wednesday, 29 April 2009, 1:28 pm
Press Release: University of Waikato

Media Release
April 29, 2009

When Amrita Nandini Sahay graduates from the University of Waikato next week, her proud grandparents will be in the audience. Sahay is continuing with her honours year studies at Waikato, but will emerge after the May 4 ceremony as a newly-minted computer graphic design graduate.

“I’m the youngest in my family, and the last to graduate,” says the Fiji-born, Hamilton-educated student, whose family migrated to New Zealand in 1996 after two of the four coup d’etats which have wracked the island state since 1987.

Education matters to Sahay’s family. Her parents gave up good jobs as school vice-principals in the sugar town of Lautoka on Fiji’s main island to give their children more opportunities in New Zealand. Her mother now teaches at Te Awamutu College, while her father does relief teaching in the Waikato area and Hindi interpreting at the Manukau District Court.

“We moved here for our education and better job opportunities,” explains Sahay, who went to Hamilton Girls High School. “My older sisters went to Wintec and to Waikato Management School, but I liked the idea of doing design so I picked the Waikato computer graphic design degree.”

The degree covers print, illustration, typography, animation, motion graphics, website design and programming, and Sahay says she enjoyed the variety. “At first it was a bit daunting, but you get to apply your own creativity and nothing’s ever the same.”

For her final year degree show, Sahay drew on her Indian heritage to design packaging and promotion for a range of temporary henna tattoos. “The idea was to widen the variety of designs to embrace different cultures, such as Pacific and Asian.”

She plans a complete change of tack for her honours project. “I’m interested in advertising that engages with customers,” she says. “So I’ll be looking at effective ways to use interactive media in public spaces.”

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