University leader’s lofty feat benefits youth trust
HEIGHTS do not bother David Murdoch.
What does bother him is the thought of a sudden stop at the bottom.
The University of Otago vicechancellor was one of 50 Dunedin ‘‘bosses’’ who participated in the Toss the Boss fundraiser at Forsyth Barr Stadium yesterday, where they had to abseil 35m from the roof to the field below.
‘‘Heights don’t particularly bother me — as long as I’m securely attached to something of course,’’ Prof Murdoch said.
‘‘I’ve abseiled and parachuted before, so I was looking forward to this. There were naturally a few nerves, but it was great once I was under way.’’
❛ There were naturally a few nerves, but it was great once I was under way
The fact it was something he enjoyed, along with the fact it was for such a worthy cause, had meant it was not a difficult decision to take the plunge.
‘‘The trust does extremely valuable work and has very similar beliefs and aims to the university — we both work to empower young people and believe that they can make a difference.’’
The event aimed to raise $30,000 for the Malcam Charitable Trust, which is a youth notforprofit agency offering a range of in the Dunedin, Clutha and Waitaki areas.
The trust uses activitybased learning, reallife scenarios and youthled activities to be able to promote good life choices, goalsetting and confidencebuilding.
Its services include behavioural and motivation mentoring; smallgroup engagement; afterschool youth programmes; fulltime 10week youth development programmes; youth council coordination; employment and pathway planning; life skills development; high and complex needs support; and transitional support (intermediatesecondarytertiary).
All money raised would be put back into the trust to provide youth development programmes.