Categories: News

Meet the team: Staff Writer Naomii Seah

We sit down with Naomii Seah, the staff writer and social media manager of School News NZ.

<h2>There are many people who work tirelessly behind the scenes to produce the magazine each term&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>This series&comma; to be published over the remainder of the year&comma; introduces you to the writers&comma; editors&comma; directors and sales team behind the magazine&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;latest-print-issue&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><strong>Read the Term 3 edition of <em>School News<&sol;em> HERE<&sol;strong><&sol;a> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Naomii Seah&comma; is an industry reporter for <em>School News<&sol;em>&period; Her work features predominantly across the New Zealand print and digital editions of <em>School News<&sol;em>&period; As well&comma; she does pen the occasional piece for the Australian arm of <em>School News<&sol;em>&period; To get to know her better&comma; I asked Naomii a few questions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>1&period; Please introduce yourself and explain what you do at School News<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Kia ora koutou&excl; My name is Naomii Seah&comma; and I am the industry reporter and social media manager at <em>School News<&sol;em> NZ&period; I find and publish relevant education news for our weekly newsletter &lpar;released on a Wednesday morning&excl;&rpar;&comma; and I also write editorial for the quarterly magazine&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>2&period; Where are you based&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>I am usually based on the North Shore of T&amacr;maki Makaurau&comma; Auckland&comma; where I was born and raised&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>3&period; Do you have any other current jobs&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Yes&comma; I have an existing relationship with news and arts publications in Aotearoa&comma; New Zealand and will occasionally pick up freelance work for them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;24918" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-24918" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-24918" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2022&sol;12&sol;Headshot-300x271&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"271" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-24918" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Naomii Seah<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<h2>4&period; Did you know you always wanted to be a writer&sol;editor&quest; What did you want to be when you were at school&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>I’ve always loved reading and writing&comma; and secretly harboured an ambition to be a writer since I was a kid&period; However&comma; I always thought it was unobtainable or unrealistic job&comma; and that I wouldn’t be able to find work&period; So&comma; in university&comma; I set my sights on STEM and pursued a Chemistry degree&excl; I completed it&comma; but quickly realised I didn’t want to stand in a lab all day under fluorescent lighting&period; So I began writing here and there&comma; quickly realising there is a huge demand for writers of all stripes&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>5&period; How are stories chosen for <em>School News<&sol;em>&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>For the quarterly magazine&comma; I’m always keeping an eye on the bigger news publications of Aoteaora&comma; as well as press releases from unions and the Ministry of Education for relevant educational news&period; I will also keep up with upcoming award&sol;events for any outstanding schools or educators to approach for our profiles&comma; columns and special reports&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I also keep in regular contact with young teachers in the industry&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>6&period; If you could introduce one thing into all schools &lpar;a program&comma; a position&comma; a philosophy or rule etc&rpar; what would it be&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>I would personally abolish streaming&comma; effective immediately&excl; Although I did well in school and was always placed in the top steams &lpar;which advantaged me&comma; and I’m very grateful&rpar;&comma; I had friends in lower streams and witnessed firsthand the detrimental effects of streaming on their self-esteem and achievement&period; My friends were no less clever than me&comma; but they weren’t given the same resources&comma; <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;developing-opportunities-at-school-with-a-view&sol;" title&equals;"opportunities" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">opportunities<&sol;a> and encouragement that I had access to&period; Thankfully streaming is already being slowly phased out&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>7&period; What’s one thing most people don’t know about you&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>I lived in Malaysia from the ages of 1 to 4 years old so my first languages were Mandarin Chinese&comma; Hokkien&comma; Malay and English&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>8&period; What do you do in your spare time&quest;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>I love podcasts&comma; crochet&comma; big walks and yoga&period; I’m a big nerd so I listen to lots of history and science podcasts&period; Crochet keeps my hands busy while I’m watching Netflix&comma; on the bus or just having a coffee with friends&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Shannon Meyerkort

Shannon Meyerkort is a freelance writer and author of Brilliant Minds: 30 Dyslexic Heroes Who Changed our World, being released by Affirm Press in October 2022.

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