Where are they now?
GEMMA BALDOCK
2012: Accepted as an artist member of the Otago Art Society at just 17, Baldock had won a New Zealand Young Designer Award in 2009. She planned to do a visual arts degree.
2022: Visual arts curator for the Invercargill Public Art Gallery, Baldock is also a practising artist in her personal time and was a finalist in the National Contemporary Art Awards in 2017 and 2022. After completing a visual arts degree, she gained a postgraduate diploma in museum and heritage studies.
JESSIE MANNING
2012: A high academic achiever, Manning was one of 15 New Zealand pupils chosen to attend the 2012 MacDiarmid Institute nano camp at Victoria University. She hoped to forge a career in medical law or bioethics.
2022: The lead adviser for ministerial servicing at Callaghan Innovation, a government agency supporting New Zealand’s high-tech businesses, Manning’s role includes building positive relationships with the office of the Minister for Research, Science and Innovation, and drafting advice, briefings and responses to written parliamentary questions. The Wellington woman has science and art degrees and was previously at Parliament as the manager (senior private secretary) of the Office of the Speaker of the House.
