By Instep Young Leader Indy Rhodes

Last week the Instep Young Leaders’ Forum had a noho at Paparoa Marae, and it turned out to be a pretty awesome way to start the year. Staying overnight at the marae meant everyone actually had time to talk, hang out, and get to know each other properly instead of just having occasional breakfasts and leadership workshops together without truly connecting.

The programme, run by Priority One, brings together secondary students from schools across the Western Bay of Plenty. The goal is to build leadership skills, connect us to business leaders from around the region, and give us chances to connect with other students and learn from each other and from people doing cool things in the community. The first afternoon was full of icebreakers and team activities to get everyone talking. One of the best ones was the spaghetti and marshmallow challenge. Each team had to build the tallest tower possible using spaghetti and tape with a marshmallow on top. It sounded simple… until the towers started collapsing. A lot. Turns out spaghetti is not the strongest building material.

Before that we had a workshop about different personality styles to understand how different people communicate and approach life. I ended up being mostly a red and blue type, which basically means I’m quite driven, organised, and focused on getting things done. To be honest that result was not exactly shocking. While doing the marshmallow building challenge it became extremely apparent to me everyone’s personality styles. This was pretty interesting to see how easy it actually is to identify others strengths in team type activities.

The second day had some really cool hands-on activities. We learnt flax weaving and also made kawakawa balm using kawakawa leaves. Later we practised the Tauranga Moana waiata together. Singing as a group was a great experience and helped everyone build confidence while also learning more about the cultural side of the programme.

Spending two days together like that meant everyone bonded pretty quickly. Sharing meals, working in teams, and learning new things together made the whole group feel a lot more comfortable by the end of the noho, and really set us up strong as a group for the rest of the year.

Instep has a very strong reputation as a really great youth leadership programme in the region and it seems to keep getting better every year. It is very student focused and brings together people who actually want to be there and get involved. Everyone is already pretty excited about the upcoming business breakfasts where we will hear from local business leaders and learn more about leadership outside of school.

Overall the noho was an awesome start to the year. It set the tone for what looks like a really exciting programme ahead and made everyone even more keen to see what the rest of Instep has in store!