Conference Season 2023

April is almost over and we have wrapped up all 3 of our 2023 Conferences, in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland. It was a jam packed school holidays for our SADD staff team with a good chunk of us attending all three events, but what a fun and inspiring time. Check out today’s blog to hear about how the events went!

We started off our Kaitiaki o Ara Conference Season in the mighty South Island, with 3 days in Ōtautahi. This event was held at Rangi Ruru Girls School and we had such a solid group of young people attend from around the South Island, from Invercargill through to Blenheim. 

Our next stop was Wellington, but more specifically Silverstream at St Patrick’s College, where we had three sunny days with an amazing group of rangatahi from all over the lower North Island. 

Last but definitely not least we headed up to Auckland, and King’s College hosted us there. Students from the upper North Island regions gathered at this conference, and we had heaps of fun together. 

Each conference has its own vibe, but the common denominator is a group of amazing young leaders that come along to make a difference and a positive impact, while hopefully having fun and making some new friends.  

We were so impressed with how they got stuck in, were engaged, and worked so hard on their group challenges. There was such a broad range of road safety issues that they tackled; from peer pressure, seat belts, rural roads, and restricted licence conditions, to truck safety, pedestrians, vehicle maintenance and way more. 

It is so essential that Kaitiaki o Ara as an organisation gets such a variety of young people from around the country to contribute on a range of road safety topics like this. This gives us such a quality of perspective and lived experience. 

Hearing the young people that attended present their solutions and resources to the audience of their peers and community partners on the last day is always a highlight for our staff team, and we have come away with a whole lot of really usable work that we can now share and use! 

Here are some comments from students that attended: 

“It was a really enjoyable experience, being able to meet and work with new people around the area that I live in but also sharing what everyone else is doing in their schools about the organisation” 

“This course was able to give me more ideas on how to promote and help my community with reducing dangerous driving. As well as creating new friends”

“I made new friends, new connections and I learnt new skills that I will utilise outside of school and my community.”

“It was a great learning experience and allowed us to connect with others our age who share the same values and passion towards road safety. it provided us with further knowledge, resources, and connections we can use to further SADD as an organisation and continue to make an impact”

“It opened my eyes to new opportunities and the need for road safety organisations like SADD”

“I found it really beneficial in terms of creating ideas and recognising new ideas and different ways of interpreting things”

“I loved being surrounded by like-minded people and our final products we created were so rewarding and inspiring.”

“I got 99 problems and the conference is not one”

Keep an eye out because over the next term or so we will be rolling out the mahi they worked on, which we are excited to share with you all. A massive thank you to everyone who came along, and also those that made these conferences happen. 

We know road safety is a big and ongoing issue to tackle, but we also know that we are in good hands with all these young people who are inspired to make a difference on our roads! 

“I orea te tuatara ka puta ki waho” 

“A problem is solved by continuing to find solutions”