Senior Academic Staff Member, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic

"My passion and purpose is to inspire students to achieve their goals, ensure they believe in themselves, and develop a drive for continual personal growth."

Responsible for the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s preparation programme for aspiring police officers, Sam’s curriculum is strongly contextualised and based on an understanding of student purpose. She believes that as a teacher she must embody what she is asking for from her students, even going back to policing work and passing the police physical requirements with her students.

Sam’s teaching is characterised by her caring, empowering relationship with her students, and this has a deeply lasting impact on their careers and self-belief. As one student comments, “Every time I do something towards my career I think to myself, I know I can do this, and I hear Sam saying, you go girl!”

With her teaching grounded in research, Sam generously shares her expertise with other programmes. The hallmark of her teaching is communicating her faith in her students. In the words of one student: “She relates to students as if she already knows that we are going to make great police officers”.