Top to bottom: From Kaitaia to Invercargill - Part 1

At our National Leadership event in July, we were lucky enough to have representation from the top of the winterless North, down to the very bottom of the mighty South! Mia caught up with Ash (from Invercargill) and Micaela (from Kaitaia), to chat with them about getting to know each other and their time at our NLP event. This week we have Part 1, with Ash!

Hi Ash and Micaela, it was great hanging out with you at the NLP event in Christchurch last week. We had some pretty cool stuff happening throughout the three days and it was amazing to see how you both met for the first time. Not to mention it was Micaela’s very first time in the South Island. The difference was not just seen by your appearances, Ash in shorts versus Micaela wrapped up like an Eskimo, but also in the difference of your communities related to road safety. 

Read here what Ash has to say...

Mia: “What was your favourite moment of the NLP? What stood out the most to you?”

Ash: “My favourite moment of the NLP is really hard to pick but it was actually the SADD essence activity. During this activity, we basically just wrote what we each thought was the key values of SADD and then discussed this. It was my favourite moment for a few reasons, firstly I got to run this and the activity came from myself and other youth’s ideas. It’s also one of my favourites because I know it leads to something really cool that I'm passionate about, that directly links into one of my projects, and it makes me really happy that every one of the National Leaders had input into that. Something that stood out was definitely the consistent debate about if it was actually cold or not. At this NLP event, we had 3 National Leaders from the North Island and 2 from the South (that would be me). We got along really well as long as you didn’t bring up the temperature. This was a very North vs. South debate, and for the record, it wasn’t cold!. Big ups to the northern NLs for handling it though, showed me just how much of a South Islander I am.”

Mia: “Yes, I loved watching your debates and there was never a consensus. How did you feel meeting each other for the first time?”

Ash: “I was really excited to meet her, as well as the other NLs I hadn't met yet! I was excited to welcome them, get to know them, and see what cool ideas they had. I thought when we first met it was standard, although I'm sure when I rocked up in shorts it was a bit weird for them, especially Micaela.”

Mia: “You all get along well with each other and had lots of fun. What did you learn about each other's communities? Are there major differences or even similarities”

Ash: “Aside from road safety: Landscape tends to be quite similar. I also thought it was interesting that we have very similar social issues, especially within schools - even down to schools' responses to some of these issues. The ways our schools look at other things were also similar. I also thought we had a similar sense of humour and attitude, which is why it isn’t solely a community thing…It's definitely a “not big city” kind of humour. Major differences were again temperature and up north seems to be a lot more beachy, but other than that there wasn’t much to stand out.”

Mia: “Did the NLP meet your expectations?”

Ash: “Always! Lots of learning, lots of discussion, lots of bonding.”

Mia: “That is great to hear :) Do you think both of your areas are facing the same road safety challenges?”

Ash: “Yes and no. Basically, I think yes overall, this is for things like speeding or licence breaches which are really common throughout NZ, but the key issues are different. For example, I observed Southland has a big issue with tired drivers or distracted driving (Distracted by phone) but Micaela, if I remember correctly, said the key issues in Kaitaia at the moment were driving under the influence.”

Mia: “What is your biggest takeaway from the NLP?”

Ash: “I have four big takeaways:
1. I’m really bad at public speaking.
2. Pre-planning is always essential because the year never slows down.
3. Support, sustainability, empowerment, education and advocating are key.
4. No matter how far away, even on different islands and the other end of the country, the struggle is still real to get people engaged.”

Mia: “Thank you so much Ash for your insights. It was fun hanging out with you.”

One of the many great things about being involved with SADD is the opportunity to meet other awesome young people from all over New Zealand! Stay tuned for Part 2 of this conversation with Micaela next week.