A leadership programme at Hauraki Plains College has given 50 student council members a place to learn and expand their skill set as leaders in their community.
Representatives from the school’s nine student councils gather together on Friday afternoons to attend the Lift55 Rangatahi Leadership Workshop Series facilitated by Daz Burns and Emily Ussher of The Good Day Matrix and Lift55.
The nine student councils are arts, sports, hapū (house), hospitality, service, Te Māngai Pāho o Tikarahi (Māori student council), systems, academic and environmental.
Students split into teams to think through, unpack and move toward addressing some of the issues they face in school guided by Daz and Emily who reinforce leadership skills.
“The purpose of this kaupapa was to invest in our rangatahi in our community, who have such massive potential to have a positive and meaningful impact on the wellbeing of a wide range of people,” Daz said.
Emily said seeing passion and commitment from the students towards their projects was a highlight.
“Even if they won’t see the benefits in their time at the college, they have dug deep and it’s awesome,” she said.
Student council members Isobelle van Mil and Joshua Stonyer told The Profile the programme was teaching them how to deal with things and work with people.
“It’s really valuable,” Isobelle said.
“[Daz] has also taught us some useful conflict de-escalation techniques.”
Part of the systems council, Isobelle said she worked with her group to tackle issues related to water systems. Students photographed drinking fountains around the school in need of fixing or replacing for a presentation they planned to take to the board of trustees, Isobelle said.
“Some of them [water fountains] just need a bit of TLC.”
Isobelle said students would also like another water bottle filling station. The environmental council was another group Isobelle was part of, and she said her group received help from Jo Buchan from Enviro Schools who worked with schools to make them more environmentally sustainable.
“We’re making some steps towards that sort of thing. It’s pretty neat,” Isobelle said.
Joshua, who is part of the service council, said one significant thing he’d learned from the leadership programme was how to react under pressure and communicate clearly and concisely.
The goal for Joshua’s group was to promote respect among students and teachers.
Joshua said there was a big difference between how year 9s and 13s responded to situations.
“[Year 9s] don’t have the respect as much compared to when we were [in] year 9.”
The group were in the early stages of talking with all year level deans, and adding an anonymous form to each classroom where students could share their stories about times they felt disrespected.
The aim was to organise an assembly where the group could raise awareness and help people understand their actions had consequences, he said.
Both Joshua and Isobelle said “good communication” was an important leadership quality that helped others.
“Making change is really important for me, but it’s also really important that you’re able to communicate and co-operate with others – especially if you want to change something,” Isobelle said.
