Our team’s 2023 highlights

For our final blog post of the year we are sharing our team members’ highlights with you! We have all had such a fantastic year with some amazing achievements and successes under our belts, it’s been hard to choose just a few highlights. We are so excited for 2024 and what is still to come!

Donna :
Another amazing year has nearly ended for Kaitiaki o Ara/SADD. I am always impressed that every year our awesome students manage to do so many fantastic activities to raise awareness about road safety. I am so proud of our National and Regional leaders who have stepped into leadership roles to help empower their peers to stay alive and thrive on our roads.

My highlights for 2023 were - Working with Western Australia Road Safety Commission to support their youth led programme; visiting our SADD partners in Washington DC,USA; Unveiling our rebrand and our 4 programme aspirations; Launching our new interactive video - 'the after party'; implementing our new Community Road Safety Programme and working with my amazing team to support our youth/rangatahi to deliver road safety activities across Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Renee:
Highlights for me this year is meeting so many amazing young people and witnessing some amazing new SADD groups starting up around the central North Island, from Tuakau to Rotorua, Taupo, Napier and many in between. 

I'm really looking forward to 2024. I'm already getting bookings for our regional clusters, which makes me very excited for our Central North Island Regions. So from me to you, have a safe summer team and please be safe on our roads.

Last but not least don't forget - Do The Mahi Get The Treats.

Kerry:
Tena Koutou Katoa! 2023 has been quite the year for everyone with lots of changes and new opportunities! There were so many awesome opportunities in 2023 since joining the Kaitiaki o Ara team! Here are the top three opportunities for me:

1.       Starting with Kaitiaki o Ara has been my topmost amazing experience with a fabulous team and a great work environment, I have loved being able to travel around the Upper North Island and meet a lot of wonderful people.
2.       Working alongside all the amazing rangatahi has to be one of the best experiences I have had this year, you are all amazing future leaders with endless capabilities!
3.       My last highlight for this year was participating in our end of year staff hui, this opportunity was an awesome experience where I learned a lot of things and where the team relationships were built stronger.

Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou! Hope you all have a fantastic summer!

Roger:
Recruitment for the Deputy Youth Representative for 2024 had the highest level of interest shown for either of the roles meaning we were able to appoint before the end of November. 

The Chch Chat (informal and fluid) group, initial fledgling meeting  November 2022, has surpassed expectations for interested parties and involvement.  Not only do we have strong representation from CCC but it now also includes University of Canterbury and Canterbury Youth Workers Collective - meaning that youth wellbeing is integral to our discussions and collaborative approach.

Mark:
My 2023 highlight is having such an incredibly fun and rewarding job. I am constantly in awe of the talented young people we have the absolute pleasure of getting to know and work alongside. NLP events, my first ever conferences and working closely with our National and Regional Leaders has all been incredible!! On top of all that, we literally have THE BEST TEAM EVER! I cannot wait for 2024.

Sandra:
Mentoring Dianne, one of our 2022/23 National Leaders from Kristin School. Helping her with her project was really rewarding and she was great to work with! Also recruiting students for conference and seeing some amazing students develop into National Leaders themselves has been inspirational!

Vic:
It’s been such a busy and exciting year which makes it hard to choose one highlight! I would have to say that the opportunity to represent our organisation internationally this year takes the cake. We travelled to both Perth and Washington DC where we could proudly share all the incredible initiatives that we deliver through our programme in little old Aotearoa and to have that all received so positively was really cool.

Mia:
My highlight of the year was to see the team grow and all the great things we have accomplished together. I enjoyed our team development sessions and all the fun we had.

Ti:
It's been an exceptional year for me with the team this year! Like a basic Betty I have to say conference was a true highlight, great to see the mahi nation wide from all the rangatahi. Looking forward to doing it all again next year. 

Ka kite!

Bobbi:
Highlights of the year are always hard because there's so many awesome things that happen in a year! I'd have to say all of the Conference's and seeing all the amazing mahi that came from them. Also recruiting new members for the māori advisory rōpū. Oh  and I can't forget all the fun moments with our amazing staff. Bring on 2024!

Anne-Marie:

My first experience meeting a new school and community partners. Setting up a meet and greet with senior students then activities with community partners afterwards. The resultant SADD group are now up and running with activities about road safety including a Poster Competition and leaflets to put on cars about speed reduction near their school.



Thanks to everyone for another great year! Click here to read our highlights report for 2023. Catch you in 2024!