It was an incredible day on Sunday 28th September 2025 at the Tauranga STEM Festival 2025. The community came alive with excitement, curiosity, and a whole lot of fun as families and young explorers flocked to celebrate the wonders of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Best of all – it was completely free, making it accessible for everyone to dive into the world of STEM!
This amazing event is proudly organised by the registered charity STEM Wana Trust, dedicated to inspiring the next generation of innovators through engaging STEM activities and activations. Special thanks to Tauranga Western Bay Community Event Fund for their continued generous support.
The festival also received incredible support from sponsors. This year the headline sponsor was Ballance Agri-Nutrients, a Mount-based company recognised for its active participation in community initiatives. Their enthusiasm and generosity helped to create a day packed with hands-on activities, mind-blowing demonstrations, and inspiring exhibits.
Visitors were blown away by the lineup of exciting displays! And there were plenty of other local STEM businesses and organisations eager to share their innovations.
Other sponsors and funders include:
- University of Waikato
- Downtown Tauranga
- One NZ
- Basestation
- Beca
- Tech Step
- Grace Team + More
- WSP
- Zespri
- BOP Regional Council
- MPI
- Port of Tauranga
- Trevelyan’s
Children and adults alike rolled up their sleeves for science experiments, coding challenges, virtual reality adventures, and so much more. The energy was electric, and the smiles were contagious as everyone got a taste of what’s possible when curiosity meets creativity.
The Tauranga STEM Festival is a celebration of innovation, collaboration, and community spirit made possible with the dedicated team at STEM Wana Trust and our fantastic partners!
Special mention to the following for their support:
- Our amazing organising team: Soraya, Rachael, and Lily!
- Rotary Club of Tauranga for looking after the fundraising Sausage Sizzle with all proceeds going to STEM Wana Trust
- Pak n Save Cameron Road for donating $500 towards the fundraising supplies
- Jaco + team for the giant bubbles
- Janet Van Jenkins – long time STEM friend and occasional MC
- Mignon and the army of amazing volunteers #TeamPink
- Rebecca Drake our STEMFest Ambassador 2025
- Tauranga Repair Cafe volunteer repairers
- Andrew and Andy from JDSA
- The lovely team from Spectrum Connections – for managing the Quiet Space
- Dolphin Seafaris, But First Dessert, Kix NZ, Escape Room Tauranga, for the raffle prize
- Classic Flyers for loan of the super fun “baby planes”
- Volunteer photographers Amit Kamble, Paul Lush, and Anita Burgess
- Artgame – for the donation of prints for Explorer Trail – we had 270 people complete the Trail! Congratulations to the drawn winner of the Explorer Trail, Alexis B.
We can’t wait to do it all again in October 2027! Make sure you save the date and follow us on social media for all the latest @stemfestnz.
Mā te wa!
Tia, Amanda, Erin, and Steven – STEM Wana Trust Board Trustees