Student of the year a communal effort

09 November 2016
Lucie Fowler and Marco de Jong at Arts Student of the Year
Lucie Fowler and Marco de Jong at Arts Student of the Year. Kings Lane Photography.

Marco de Jong has been named the Arts Student of the Year by the Auckland University Arts Students’ Association.

Not only has Marco maintained an impressive academic record, he is also a dedicated Tuākana mentor and executive member of the University of Auckland History Society.

He is reticent to take individual credit for what he says is a “communal effort”.

“I like what I do, and the people I work with make it easy to commit large amounts of time to doing it.”

Marco has Samoan ancestry on his mother’s side, and has spent the year working as the Stage II and III Tuākana mentor for History.

Alongside Zoe Henry and Dr Hirini Kaa, he has been working to build community and foster academic excellence among Māori and Pacific students.

Marco says that it is looking like they have managed to halve the amount of DNCs and fails in Semester Two this year, and that they are working towards a full pass rate and a higher postgraduate intake over the coming two years.

“It’s a pleasure to work with people like Zoe and Hirini who are passionate about addressing educational inequalities.”

Marco has also been heavily involved in the outreach activities of the recently-formed History Society, which has visited 20 high schools this year and spoken to over 1000 students about the value of undertaking tertiary study in History.

Head of Humanities, Associate Professor Malcolm Campbell, says that “Marco’s energy and enthusiasm in promoting History are infectious. He’s made an excellent contribution.”

The members of the Society have been using their own research to show the relevance of their study to broader issues, and to demonstrate what Marco argues is the greatest strength of Arts study: “that you get an education, not just a vocation”.

“I have presented my own work on the massive, covert, illegal whaling operation undertaken by the Soviet Union in the 1950s that caused the collapse of Oceanian humpback whaling and nearly wiped out the species, showing how this is relevant to current issues such as climate change and contemporary environmental diplomacy.”

Marco has been elected as the President of the History Society for next year, and is planning to return for his Master of Arts in History.

He is proud to be part of a community of people that know the value of Arts education, and want to share this value widely.

“I would not be wasting my time on this if I didn’t believe in it and didn’t have friends, colleagues and teachers who are passionate about what they do, and eager to share that passion.”

Alongside Marco, Jamie Trower received the Contribution to Culture award, Symone Tafuna’i received the Service to Sport award, Anna Zam received the Service to Academia award, and George Greig received the Service by a Māori/Pasifika Student award.

Deputy Dean of Arts, Professor Bernadette Luciano, said that "we are incredibly proud of the students that were recognised... they are all creative, passionate and engaged, taking advantage of the many opportunities the Faculty has to offer and enriching the Faculty by their contributions and participation."


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