Source: Massey University
(from left) Massey Guides Brendon Xie, William Yu, Student Development Coordinator Kristina Sokolova, Linda Yan, Yalu Zhou, Sara Yao, Fei Feng.
Student guides who provided online support for Massey University’s offshore Mandarin-speaking students during the COVID-19 lockdown have been celebrated.
A morning tea was held at the University’s Auckland campus recently to acknowledge the achievements of seven student guides during COVID-19. They were specifically recruited and employed to support the Mandarin-speaking students unable to come New Zealand during the national lockdown.
Massey Guides typically help new students with their transition to university during orientation week and beyond. They offer peer support by giving timely advice, acting as role models, and by providing new students with information and guidance.
The seven guides assigned to the lockdown scenario were thanked for their help with communicating to over 900 students in China, responding to their questions and queries on social media, and keeping them informed.
The group produced over 40 videos with tips and advice, answered questions on WeChat groups and created posters with exam tips and fun social content including a cooking competition.
Massey Guide Sara Yao says the group enjoyed supporting and providing useful information to the students in China. “Our role was to keep in touch with our offshore students and keep them engaged during this difficult time.
“It was such a cool and ultimately a very rewarding experience – it’s great to know our work is appreciated by the students and the University.”
Kristina Sokolova, Student Development Coordinator at Massey, says the students’ work has been inspiring. “Despite having to cope with being in lockdown themselves and all that it entailed, the Massey Guides have been dedicated, and shown utmost concern for the students in China. They really have been nothing short of amazing.”
The seven guides, Fei Feng, Brendon Xie, Alice Xu, Linda Yan, Sara Yao William Yu and Yalu Zhou, all received letters of appreciation from Massey University Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Thomas.
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Created: 06/08/2020 | Last updated: 06/08/2020
