The first Red Cross-funded leadership programme at Bridge Valley Adventure Centre has got the thumbs up from students and teachers and is likely to lead to more camps.
Students from Waimea Intermediate took part in the three-day, two-night camp at the Wakefield centre recently as part of a pilot project funded by Red Cross.
Red Cross Nelson president, John Davies, says the organisation wants to do more for the region’s youth and that led to the pilot project at Bridge Valley.
“We’re in a situation where people can barely feed their kids and so they are not going to send their kids to Bridge Valley because they can’t afford it.”
Legacies given to Red Cross provide funding for community projects and John says the organisation is at a stage where it is re-evaluating where the money will be spent.
Bridge Valley guest services team leader, Kirsty Mercer, says the leadership development camp worked with student leaders where they were given difficult tasks under pressure.
The goal was to achieve key outcomes such as self-management, conflict resolution, using initiative, working as a team towards goals, plus an instructor-led self-review module.
She says the centre has had a long history with Red Cross, but the pilot project was a new and developing initiative.
The next step will be offering the programme to students from a variety of local schools.
Waimea Intermediate team leader Karina Rako says students gained new leadership skills which they continued to build on back at school.
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“It was fantastic to see our students having fun, working together, developing trust in each other and watching them grow as leaders over the three days we were there.”
She says the school could not have provided the experience for students without the funding from Red Cross.
