Holiday Camp
Are you a creative problem solver? Interested in STEM subjects? Want to be a change maker? Join us on a three day, day-camp where you’ll explore how to impact the world through engineering.
What is the camp?
🎉 The Short Answer...
A fun and jam-packed three days where you’ll make cool things, meet with like-minded people, and make an impact on the world! And it’s all free!
🤔 The Long Answer...
Over the three days, students will be involved in a variety of activities from different fields that play a major role in shaping our future. They will have opportunities to engage with experts and role models who are actively involved in these industries and will show how the activities relate to the real work that they are doing. There will also be opportunities for students to engage with current engineering students who will share their own experiences and journeys.
The event will wrap up with a celebration at the University of Auckland, with parents, guardians and whānau to showcase the student’s achievements during their time us.
This camp is offered free of cost to all successful applicants, thanks to our amazing sponsor, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, and the support of the Faculty of Engineering!
Key Information
3 day camp
Year 11 wāhine
Term 1 holidays
The University of Auckland
Past Camps
🌱 2025: How can we be sustainable?
This year’s Holiday Camp took place under the theme “Operation Clean Water and Hygiene”, focusing on real-world challenges faced by communities like Kitui Village in Kenya.
Over the course of the week, students took on the role of engineers working in teams to develop sustainable, innovative solutions to problems related to clean water access, hygiene, transportation, and emergency response.
From building towers, to making sanitisers, to building SMARTCar delivery robots, each activity was inspired by global issues and aimed to raise awareness while building critical STEM skills!
Click on the images below to see more! ↓
🔧 2024: WIE Design the Future!
With an aim to show how engineering can impact the world around us, we hosted a smaller group of women students in July this year.
We included a water filtration activity and an industry team from PDP ran a workshop on climate change planning using online GIS maps.
Click on the images below to see more! ↓
🚀 2023: Let's problem solve!
A record number of applicants saw us host over 50 students at this camp, with nearly half of all attendees coming from beyond Auckland!
During this camp we included a group project running alongside all the different workshops, for which attendees had to provide a transport solution for moving between campuses.
We also launched our longitudinal research study to further explore the experiences of women students after they attend the camp, and how they make their career pathway decisions.
Click on the images below to see more! ↓
🎨 2022: Creativity and Exploration
After a successful pilot with Y12 students, and a COVID-enforced break, we decided to focus this camp on Y11 students.
We offered a diverse range of hands-on workshops, a tour of our Newmarket facilities and activities to unleash creativity and experience the breadth of engineering pathways.
Click on the images below to see more! ↓
Testimonials
I love how I made new friends by socialising with the people who have the same mindset as me.
The camp helped me understand university life. It offered a welcoming environment with space to talk, get involved, and receive a lot of support. The camp activities were easy to understand and made sense in the context of engineering. They were fun, cool, and interesting. It was a good experience. Everyone — including all the girls and others — felt comfortable putting up their hands and answering questions. I also learned about the benefits of being a girl in engineering, and how girls can contribute to the field.
The camp has made me realise that engineering is not just bridges, roads, cars, mechanics etc. and that there are a lot more pathways and branches of engineering that I originally though, which is something that I’m interested in.
I like how everything relates to engineering and it is relevant to skills workshops taught in uni and/or in the industry. I also liked learning more about different types of engineers and what their jobs involve.
I enjoyed the camp. The hands-on activities, campus tour, and the gym were really cool. I learned a lot about what going to university is like, what studying engineering involves, and the different engineering specialisations. I now have a better understanding of it all. My perspective has definitely changed in a positive way. I have a clearer idea of what engineering actually is and what a career in engineering looks like.
The holiday camp helped me realise that there is a space for women in engineering, and also many women working in various types of engineering.