Bethany Kaye-Blake

University of Canterbury

Ko Motu-Pōhue te māunga
Ko Te Ara a Kiwa te moana
Ko Tākitimu te waka
Ko Te Rau Aroha te marae
Ko Kāi Tahu te iwi
Ko Bethany tōku ingoa

Bethany is a passionate, energetic, community-minded young leader. Her interest in STEM and her passion for the environment overlap to engage her in the science needed to protect our natural world.

Bethany is currently in her Engineering intermediate year at the University of Canterbury, after completing high school in 2020 at Queen Margaret College. In 2018 she attended Blake Inspire and it was there her passion for protecting the environment was ignited.

Bethany was a Wellington City Youth Councillor for four terms. During her time, she collaborated on a range of environmentally focused submissions for projects, plans and bills, including the Zero Carbon Bill, Planning for Growth, the resilience section of the Long-Term Plan and the Outer Green Belt Management Plan.

Bethany is of Kāi Tahu descent, and was a founding member of Te Whānau o Kuīni Mākareta (her school’s Polynesian performance group) and a part of Rautaki Rakatahi, her iwi’s youth strategy working group. She believes that the environmental practices of Māori and indigenous cultures world-wide should influence all environmental policy.

Bethany is hoping her tertiary studies will help her contribute to new developments in environmental engineering.