Meet our team: Michelle Triggs

“I get pleasure in being active. It’s just in my psyche,” she says. 

Having started out as a health and PE teacher, she enjoys encouraging others to experience the benefits of an active lifestyle. 

“I love educating. I’m kind of drawn to it. Pretty much every role that I've done since leaving teaching has been educating in some way, shape or form.” 

Not long after finishing as a secondary school teacher, Michelle was back in the classroom, only this time as a travel safe coordinator for Tauranga City Council. 

“I loved the education side of that because I was going into schools and helping to educate about safe, sustainable and active travel.” 

The opportunity to work with motivated adult learners is what drew her to join Te Mahi Ako, she says. 

“It's lovely helping people, who may not have achieved that well at school, go on to achieve on-the-job qualifications. Watching them grow and helping them to navigate their learning is really quite rewarding.” 

She hopes to see more awareness raised around on-the-job learning as another form of tertiary education, particularly to those school-leavers who have struggled in the classroom. 

“You don't have to go to university or you don't have to do an apprenticeship. You could formulate a plan through Te Mahi Ako. There is another pathway.”