Chats with Derryn from Taranaki

Kia ora everyone Jay here, this week I have been back on the road and heading up to the Taranaki region to catch up with a few schools, one of the schools being Sacred Heart Girls College in New Plymouth where I was invited to speak about the SADD 6 principles during the school’s assembly. 

During the assembly talk I also had the fantastic opportunity to announce one of there students had been selected as a year 12 SADD National Leader. Her name was Derryn Fleming.

I decided to take the opportunity after the assembly to have a quick catch up with Derryn and find out a little bit about her.

Tell us a little bit about yourself Derryn:

“Hey, I’m Derryn and I am from Scared Heart Girls collage here in New Plymouth. A little bit about myself, my favourite subject in school is Media studies (which ties in great with being a national leader) I also really enjoy Drama/Performing arts. I play a few sports my top two being Tennis and Netball.”

Living in a rural region such as the Taranaki do you notice any road safety issues around young drivers in your community?

“Yeah, I do, one of the biggest problems in Taranaki is drink driving. A lot of teenagers have the mindset of ‘nah, I’m fine’ when in reality in they are not. They also see their mates doing it and so they think it is cool.”

So, before you became a SADD National Leader why did you decide to get involved in SADD at your school? 

“I joined up with SADD because I found out my mum was involved when she was at high school and was one of the original girls who started SADD at Hawera High School. I have also always been interested in road safety and getting involved in my community. Lastly our school had a lot of our year 13 SADD leaders finish up last year, so we needed some of us new girls to step in and keep things going at our school.”

Last question for you Derryn, how do you feel about becoming a SADD National Leader? 

It feels amazing since it has been one of my families’ legacies. I was over the moon when I found out and I ended up running around my house yelling “I’M A NATIONAL LEADER”