National Young Leaders Day.

Last  week ten students went to National Young Leaders in Christchurch. We left at 9 am and went over Arthurs Pass. We did some shopping at Riccarton Mall and then when our accommodation was ready we went there. We stayed in ‘the lodge’ at Meadow Park Top Ten. Each room sleeps 4 people and had a shower, toilet and basin. Once we were unpacked and sorted Miss Smith went to buy our food and Mrs Magon supervised us swimming in the heated pool. We had Hells Pizza for tea. There are two great playgrounds, a pillow, a games room with large size games and a room with arcade games. Some of us won lots of lollies.

The next morning we got up early and headed off to Horncastle Arena for the conference. It was an AMAZING and INSPIRING DAY!! There was a theme for the day E KORE AU E NGARO HE KAKANO I RUIA MAI I RANGIATEA -  I AM A SEED BORN OF GREATNESS. Our first speaker was Aaron Jackson an actor (he is Hayden in Shortland St) - he talked about NGARO - the times we all have when we feel invisible and have nothing to offer. Next came Daniel Flynn - he is from ‘Thank You’ and told how he worked despite being told no again and again to build up a company that makes sure there is fresh water for people all over the world. He gave us 2 books, if you buy his book there is no set price you just pay what you think it is worth. We then had some netball players speak and then nomad (band was interviewed). At lunch it was a big party where we danced and had our photos taken. After lunch Adam and Duane who bought a beach in the Abel Tasman National Park for “all of us” by starting a Give- A- Little campaign told their

story and how important is to work with a team and support each other. They talked about KAKANO - everyone has the potential to make the world a better place and that “impossibility is someone's opinion, not a fact”. It is important that we all help each other. We also learnt about RUIA  - this was about how we become like the people we choose to spend time with so it's important to make good friends.

Lastly was Matt Brown a hair artist, (he did an amazing haircut that we all wanted !!!!). He talked about RANGIATEA  - how we can leave the world a better place and achieve greatness in small ways every day. Finally Nomad played 2 songs and we all got to dance up by the stage. It finished at 3.00pm and we left to come home.

I wish that we were rich enough to take more than 10 kids as we all (even the adults) learnt something about how we can grow into better, greater people no matter what happens in our live (if we make good choices).