Ha¯ wera teen building mana with Blue Light
‘Ijust enjoyed being able to help others out. The things we did were right up my alley. It was mean,” said Shay Whakatutu (15) from Hãwera.
Shay, who attends Landbased Training and does farming, beat an exceptional group of young people from across Aotearoa to win the overall excellence award at the Blue Light’s life skills programme in Taupo¯ .
Blue Light’s youth worker/ mentor Daniel Bromley says Shay earned the award through demonstrating maturity, respect and intuition, and by building individual and group mana.
“We love sending our rangatahi on the life skills camps,” Leanne Richards, South Taranaki’s Blue Light coordinator, said.
“It opens their eyes to other opportunities beyond their backyard and they make some wonderful connections, both with the staff and other young people on the camp. There are always some who come home thinking about a career in the services. This time, that person was Shay.”
Shay says the camp showed them a lot of things people need to know about life.
“It was a good chance for me. Now with my future career, I am looking at serving. I figure why not do something that really helps people.”
Blue Light’s highly successful programme has been run in partnership with NZ Defence Force for the past 12 years and has adventurebased experiential learning as a key part of the programme.
The programme teaches 14to 17-year-olds critical life skills such as self-development, selfcontrol, and teamwork.
For more information about the Blue Light Life Skills camps visit www.bluelight.co.nz.