Earlier in the year, ten young leaders from Sancta Maria College were given the opportunity to attend the Misson Heights Junior College Leaders Conference at Mission Heights College. The purpose of the conference was to gather Year 10 leaders from different New Zealand schools to communicate their ideas on significant topics of today. Students were split into eight groups, with students from each school being represented in each group. Each group were given a topic to discuss and were instructed to present their ideas within two hours. We had to include a brief of what our topic was and focus on a reason it was happening. Then with our intelligent minds, suggest possible solutions to solve their problems. An important aspect of this task was to incorporate the ‘Maori World View’, which included values such as Kaitiakitanga. Two groups had the same topic and competed against each other in pursuit of the prize… some delightful, sweet Whittakers chocolate!
Kathrina stated “I was grateful to have such a wonderful opportunity, there was great excitement, knowing I would get to meet several different people too. Of course, meeting a group of new people gets you nervous but thankfully, when we were in our designated groups my team members were amicable and sociable. With our chosen topic, we successfully collaborated and communicated our ideas towards a solution to the topic. With great honour, my group won!”
Overall, all the event was a great opportunity to meet other like-minded students and we all had a great time.
By Kathrina Bacay
