July NLP hui highlights

Last week, all 11 of SADD’s year 13 National Leaders got together in Wellington for their final NLP workshop.

The year 13 hui is always slightly emotional as it is the last time all of our incredible leaders will be in the same place in person before they finish school. At Kaitiaki o Ara we are immensely proud of our leaders and the team were blown away by the hard work everyone put into the three days.  Over the course of the NLP the leaders were involved in leadership building/team building activities, content creation, brainstorming on various issues as well as having some good old fashioned fun.

A big highlight was watching the leaders present their project ideas and progress. It was truly inspiring to see how hard everyone has been working! The team at SADD can’t wait to see their finished products and are looking forward to featuring them.

Read on to see what the highlights were from each National Leader.

Nandini:

NLP has given me the confidence to stand my ground and explore different opportunities that come my way such as the UN road safety week call with SADD USA and SADD Nation. I’ve loved connecting with everyone and getting to know their passion and their ‘why’, also getting to know the origin story of SADD was quite nice. 

Zyon:

The Wellington NLP was honestly so amazing. It was so cool to be in such a beautiful place for the NLP even if it was for a short time. Getting to see everyone again was definitely a highlight. All the information I learned was so amazing and helpful. I will definitely be taking everything I learned home with me. Honestly, the vibe within the National Leaders has been so awesome, along with all the connections I have built throughout SADD by having this role. Everything was awesome and fun, especially seeing my friends again. I will miss everyone but look forward to furthering my SADD journey. 

Dianne:

Making connections with those who share the same aim, goal and interests empowered me to go back to my community and continue the legacy of being a leader and being the person to make a positive change. I now learnt that questioning the ‘why’ is most important when I try to accomplish something or get something started.

Tara:

The NLP event in Wellington was a rewarding experience that I enjoyed immensely. Spending three days with like-minded people on collaborative activities and projects furthered my leadership and interpersonal skills. In particular, I liked learning about the work others were doing for individual projects, and found it interesting to hear the different perspectives and approaches to dealing with road safety issues all around the country. 

Elise:

A highlight for me over the past few days has been reconnecting with all of the SADD National Leaders and hearing about all of the amazing things they have been achieving with the SADD groups in their communities, as well as hearing about all of their awesome projects that are so impactful. Also, the ice cream will be featured in my dreams for the rest of the week (maybe even longer!)

Helen:

Forming new friendships & relationships with people that think similarly allows me to gain insight for new ideas that I’ve never thought of before to bring back to my own SADD group to develop & strengthen it. 

Getting to look at issues & develop/improve things from a different lens and view. Being able to converse with people and connect and laugh. I loved our discussions, getting to see people view things from a different angle to me & being challenged to do so myself as a result. 

Lena:

The past few days once again have been an amazing experience. It was great catching up with everyone and seeing how they have been going! The food, activities are always a highlight for me, and will always have huge gratitude for the SADD team and all the other NLP 🙂

Zac:

The NLP adventure is coming to an end with us as we had our last in person meeting with everyone. It was an enjoyable experience with many laughs and memorable moments. Very valuable and worth it experience. Team work makes the dream work. 

Jordan:

I loved the Wellington NLP conference because it was an opportunity to contribute to SADD on a national level, and it was heaps of fun. Hearing about everybodies projects was really interesting and inspiring. The discussions were really insightful and showed the ways that other SADD groups deal with issues my group face too. Also, the bowling was really fun.

Levi:

I really enjoyed the connections and friends I made, all the fun I had whilst also working on some really amazing activities and getting to put my input into everything. Plus, the super amazing food! It was truly one of my favourite events.

Mira:

Absolutely loved winning bowling and had the best time catching up with everyone. I really enjoyed learning how to carry on my legacy within SADD at my school and hearing everyone’s project ideas. I will miss everyone.