Wairarapa Youth Symposium
After years in the making The Wairarapa Youth Symposium came together early last month, on the 1st of June. There were representatives from every High school/College in Wairarapa, ranging from year 9 all the way through to year 13. We caught up with David Chapman to see how the day went.
We have to start this blog with a huge mihi to Holly Hullena from The Wairarapa Road Safety Council and all the hard mahi she has put in throughout Wairarapa. We were absolutely privileged to tautoko Holly on this project. Thank you Holly!
Back to David!
1. Tell us a little about yourself?
Hi I'm David Chapman, I live in Carterton. I go to Rathkeale College and I enjoy a variety of cultural and extra curricular activities. I am a stage Actor, I enjoy cycling with my dad, I love tramping around the Tararuas, I play the piano and drums, and I am in 2 choirs and 2 bands. I like to keep my family and friends close to me. I am a Christian, and I am a nature photographer. I am a part of the Wairarapa Youth council. I am the Arts, culture and heritage lead. Above all, I have been involved with the CYC for just under 1 year.
2. Can you tell us what happened at The Youth Symposium?
The Youth Symposium started with everyone getting to meet everyone else. We then had the opening presentation and we talked about the why, and our goals. After that we had an introduction to the road to zero presented by a guest speaker from Waka Kotahi. Morning tea was after that and man it was good, I also enjoyed the mocktails.
After morning tea, we had all the representatives from the panel talk to us about what they do and how we can contribute to their part of the community. Then as groups we talked and discussed problems in our community to do with the roads and things that will help our goal of road to zero. We presented our ideas to everyone else. Our group's idea was to try and reduce the amount of people at school driving around by themselves without an adult in the car, or doing something else illegal like that. Then we had some kai to eat! Tips on event planning were next, this was one of my favourite presentations. We then refined our group's objectives to create an activity or solution.
3.What was your group's focus?
Try and reduce the about of people at school driving around by themselves without an adult in the car or doing something else illegal like that
4. What did you present?
We had our presentations of our problems and their solutions, our solution to our problem was to run an event. This event would be a course/maze for students to go through and we called this the learners labyrinth. Students have to go through a series of challenges to get to the end or the "labyrinth".
5. What were some of your key takeaways from the Youth Symposium?
I really enjoyed it all and there were many things that really inspired me to get out and achieve something. I also enjoyed making new friends and getting a better bond with those I’m already friends with.
Thank you to everyone involved with The Wairarapa Youth Symposium.
Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini. Success is not the work of an individual, but the work of many.
We look forward to catching up with these groups later on in the year to see their progress!