Cara Clark-Howard

Cara Clark-Howard joined the University of Waikato with an interest in Geography and left inspired to teach it. With her Bachelor of Arts in hand Cara took on a postgraduate degree in secondary teaching and credits her Waikato lecturers with fuelling this next move.

“Deciding to become a teacher was definitely inspired by my lecturers at Waikato,” she says. “They had a huge impact on my life and my curiosity for learning. I want to follow in their footsteps to create the next generation of inspired learners.”

Despite being unsure of her abilities when she first applied to study at the University, Cara says that at Waikato she felt more included in a learning environment than ever before. “As well as everything I learned on paper, I learned that if you’re provided with a positive, nourishing, learning environment with people who believe in you, your self-confidence will only grow.” Professor of Geography Lynda Johnston and Lecturer in Geography Dr Sandi Ringham each get special mentions from Cara, who describes the pair as “incredibly intelligent and motivating women”.

Geography has Cara’s heart – she’s fascinated by the interaction between people, space and place. The Waikato Geography programme’s specialisation in human geography is what drew Cara here. “It’s a very optimistic subject,” she says. “It’s about using an empathetic mindset to feel the emotions of society and think of ways to apply improvements, rather than simply accepting the way that things are.” The aspiring teacher says she gets a lot of joy from seeing students become inspired by the topics she loves so dearly.

Having graduated with a Bachelor of Arts double majoring in Education and Geography, and with a minor in Anthropology, Cara hopes to come back to Waikato in future to undertake research in geography.