2021 Staff Highlights!

To wrap up another year of SADD blogs we will finish with our staff highlights! It has been a mixed bag of a year, but amongst the uncertainty and lockdowns SADD has still managed to flourish. We are so proud of all the mahi that has gone into making our roads safer.

SADD’s staff team during our EOY hui in December

Mark:

“Joining the SADD team has been such a highlight for me personally in 2021 and I have absolutely loved every minute of it. One of my big highlights was being able to get on the road in term 4. It was so exciting for me to meet with SADD groups and community partners and to see firsthand how passionate everyone is about road safety and empowering our youth.

The October National Leadership event here in Christchurch was another big highlight, I was super stoked to meet such an enthusiastic, proactive and fun group of year 12's. I know these guys will go on to do great things next year and I can't wait to keep working with and supporting them.

Finally, joining such a fantastic team has been a gigantic highlight for me. I have so much respect for the SADD team and thoroughly enjoy working with every single one of them. It is great to be around a group who is always willing to do the mahi, who care deeply about keeping our rangatahi safe and who never fail to make me laugh. I am really looking forward to heading into 2022 with this awesome group of people!”

Lydia:

“It is always a challenge to pick a highlight because so many parts of the SADD year are awesome. However if I had to pick, I think my highlights would be a tie between our Dunedin conference in April, and seeing our Yr 13 National Leaders present on their projects at the NLP workshops in July.

The conference in Dunedin was a highlight because it was all my awesome South Islanders attending, and I may be biased but they are a pretty cool bunch of young people. I was so inspired by how they all got along and worked really hard on their group challenges, plus just getting to hang out with them was a privilege. The other highlight was during our July Yr 13 NLP workshops. We had a session where each of the year 13’s presented on the project they were working on. Seeing them talk about their mahi really honestly, and then have discussions and feedback time with each other was inspiring. We have some top-notch leaders involved with SADD.

Of course there were so many other awesome parts to the year; from workshops and school visits, to seeing the progress on SADD’s Māori engagement strategy, and how groups adapted with lockdown. Thanks for all the hard mahi you have all put into making Aotearoa’s roads safer in 2021!”

Mia:

Wow , what can I say? Another year has passed and so many things have happened. Its incredible to see our young kiwis to persevere through uncertain times and still create positive messaging to create a safer Aotearoa. There is not enough space to name all the fantastic work they have done. We are celebrating you all! One of my highlights this year was to welcome our new team members Mark and Sherein and expand our SADD family. I feel we have a strong team to move forward with and have an even bigger impact in 2022.

Donna:

“Wow where did the year go! It is nearly Christmas and we are already planning for next year! I am so impressed by the resilience shown by our young people. The last 2 years have been so disruptive and have changed the way we live our lives. But through all of this our SADD rangatahi have continued to focus on raising awareness about road safety alongside adjusting to their new norm. They have recognised that road trauma continues to rise and that we as a nation must do all we can to continue to build a road safety culture.

We had a few changes to the SADD team, we said goodbye to Jay, but we welcomed 2 new amazing team members, Mark and Sherein :-), Victoria went on parental leave and had a lovely son called George (who we are looking forward to being a part of SADD in the future).

Unfortunately covid-19 impacted our plans and we had to adapt to our new norm. I was stuck in Auckland and felt frustrated I could not be with my team and attend our leadership events and team hui, but it was made better by seeing what everyone got up to despite lockdowns!

As I was putting the SADD 2021 highlights report (link at the bottom) together, I felt so proud of all our SADD team, participants, community partners and supporters who are committed to making the journey on our roads safer. I am looking forward to progressing all the fantastic mahi we have achieved this year into 2022.”

Ti:

"My Highlight for 2021, was finally getting to see the magic that is SADD conference with my very own eyes. It truly is something special. I loved seeing students connecting in different ways, collaborating with each other, creating creative content through the challenges. the perseverance shown even after conference by our rangatihi to make things work and continue making a difference in their communities through another year of covid was really inspiring to see."

Roger:

“2021 has been a testing year - but one full of rewards as well as challenges. There have been almost too many highlights to reference but I'll try. I had a pretty optimistic target in mind for SADD in the media this year. We met it! Thanks to all our leaders who helped make an historic high possible. Your contribution was pure gold!

Next - well....I left the North Island behind and relocated to the South Island which gave me a chance to get alongside existing and new SADD team members. That has been simply brilliant and we've really motored.

Next up - Conference 2021 delivered so much more than I could have hoped for and those memories will stick with me for a long time to come. Additionally, I had my own cohort of Regional Leaders to support and facilitate. The first of their kind - they are creating a pathway for those to come after them. That has been a real privilege but also really fun. I take my hat off to all of you. Last, but not least, the big objective to secure our immediate future was achieved. A great way to finish the year. Bring on 2022!”

Sherein:

“My SADD year has been just 3 months but it feels like a lot longer. Besides working with a great team... highlights so far - getting out and about to meet community partners, getting the lay of the land and working with our national leaders. I'm excited to get around schools across my regions in 2022 among a lot of other cool things set for next year.”

Some more photos from our EOY Staff hui, including our double-denim themed lawn bowling activity!