Youth Council

We have some pretty awesome rangatahi here in Kaikōura and one of our locals has been commended for her volunteer efforts in the 2019 NATIONAL Youth Awards. The award Petra received celebrates the passion, commitment and success of rangatahi like her, who make significant contributions to their community through volunteering. Well done Petra!

Aotearoa Youth Declaration - a vision for youth, by youth

The 2019 Aotearoa UN Youth Declaration has recently been released.

KYC member Petra Jellyman was a participant at the conference and is tasked with bringing this back to influencers and decision makers in our community. The Declaration is a document created by youth, for youth and outlines a vision for Aotearoa, as well as a platform for the voices of young people to be uplifted, recognised and valued by our communities and decision-makers. The documents highlights some of the key issues facing rangatahi nationwide and is a very interesting and informative read, based on the voices of 350 youth of Aotearoa.

Check out the declaration document here. 

Coming up: Leadership Development

KYC will be attending a Top of the South Forum – this is with Marlborough, Nelson and Tasman Youth Councils. It will provide a great opportunity for networking with other Youth Councils, where the youth in attendance can discuss the similarities and differences between ideas and activities, as well as explore positive ways of working. A session will be hosted around youth Mental Health and Resilience. We look forward to hearing how this goes!

Two of Kaikōura’s youth have been selected to take part in some awesome life and learning experiences!

Noah Bentley, Kaikōura Youth Council (KYC) member, has received a scholarship to attend a 21 day Mind, Body, Soul course at Outward Bound in April which has a focus on helping teens build the independence and leadership qualities to make the most of their final school years and take on the new challenges with confidence and self-belief.

Petra Jellyman previous KYC Chairperson, has been selected to attend the United Nations Youth Declaration in Auckland in April, participating in the Social Development Roopu where she will help shape a declaration from the Youth of NZ that goes to all MP’s and Government Departments.

As well as this, ten members of KYC will be attending the annual #Activate – South Island Youth Connect in early April. This is an action packed weekend of trainings, workshops, team bonding and fun! Youth will come home with an expanded skill set after attending multiple workshops and sessions with inspiring speakers.

It’s great to see our rangatahi taking up leadership experiences and making the most of what opportunities are out there. KYC are also about to open up a small contestable funding round for Kaikōura Youth to apply for funds to lead opportunities for youth. Email YouthCouncil@kaikoura.govt.nz to find out more or apply online here.

Te wiki o Te Reo Māori week was 10-16 September 2018.  

Kaikōura Youth Council organised a lunch time activity at Kaikōura High School, where they wandered around with colourful balloons asking students to tell them all 6 colours in te reo. Students and teachers all got involved and those who were able to say all the colours were given a chocolate bar. It was great to see everyone at the High School jumping on board and giving some te reo a go, and for those who weren't too sure there was always someone there willing to help them through.

Te wiki o Te Reo Māori has been a great success for 2018 in Kaikōura! 

All three of our finalists in the Canterbury Youth Awards walked away winners on Friday 31 August 2018.

Vicki Gulleford (pictured) took out the top award for 'Adults who support Youth', with her work in the Kaikōura Youth Council, GirlGuilding, Kaikōura Primary School and various other groups and clubs. She devotes her time to seeing the youth of Kaikōura have opportunities available to learn, inspire and be inspired. 

Claudine Smith-Barker was awarded first runner up in the same category, with her dedication to the youth space in Kaikōura - has recently become known as the Biccy Queen for GirlGuides!

Petra Jellyman (pictured) won the 'Supreme Youth in Kaikōura District'. She has been in Kaikōura Youth Council for 5 years now, and recently stepped down as Chair to let her peers have the opportunity to learn and grow in the role. She is now secretary and continues to advocate and encourage the youth in our district. 

Kaikōura had a total of 7 people nominated for an award, as well as the Kaikōura Youth Council as a group.

The nominees were:

• Chloe Fitzpatrick
• Claudine Smith-Barker
• Maia Kahu
• Oliver Hughes
• Petra Jellyman
• Sarah Beardmore
• Vicki Gulleford, and
• Kaikōura Youth Council

Kaikōura District Council wants to not just congratulate, but thank those who work in the youth space in our district. It is fantastic to see so many passionate youth, and passionate people supporting youth within our community. 

We have some pretty amazing people working in the youth space here in Kaikōura, and three of them have been nominated for an award in the 2018 Canterbury Youth Awards. 

Vicki Gulleford, Claudine Smith-Barker and Petra Jellyman are all finalists and will find out their placings at the awards ceremony on 31 August in Christchurch.

Vicki was nominated in the 'Adults who support Youth' section, for her work as Youth Council Coordinator, Guide and Ranger Leader for GirlGuiding, Area Coordinator for GirlGuiding and Kaikōura Primary School Board of Trustees.

Claudine was also nominated in the 'Adults who support Youth' section and is a volunteer Leader for GirlGuiding NZ.

Petra was nominated for the 'Supreme Youth of Kaikōura' award, which is sponsored by Te Hā o Mātauranga - Learning in Kaikōura, and she has chaired the Kaikōura Youth Council for a number of years and is now the Secretary. She has also been involved in Girl Guiding. 

Kaikōura had a total of 7 people nominated for an award, as well as the Kaikōura Youth Council as a group. The nominees were:

• Chloe Fitzpatrick
• Claudine Smith-Barker
• Maia Kahu
• Oliver Hughes
• Petra Jellyman
• Sarah Beardmore
• Vicki Gulleford, and
• Kaikōura Youth Council

Congratulations to all who were nominated from all Kaikōura and wider Canterbury. It's great to see the fantastic work being done celebrated and rewarded. We look forward to hearing about the results at the end of August!

On Tuesday 24 July, Kaikōura Youth Council met for their 2017/2018 AGM.

Introducing new members, going over past events, checking their finances and the current Chair handing the batton to a new leader for 2018-2019 were all included in the meeting. 

Gearing up for another year of events, influence in Council and making a difference in our district, every member of the Youth Council are a credit to our community. 

Council are excited to work alongside Youth Council over the next three years, as we work to implement many aspects of the 3 Year Plan that will require a strong voice from our youth. 

Here's to another year!

Some of our Youth Council members attended the Youth Council Top of the South Forum mid July. Theo shared a few thoughts about the event...

On Friday the 13th of July, members of Kaikōura Youth Council traveled to Blenheim to meet with other youth councils in the Marlborough area; Nelson, Blenheim, and Murchison Youth Council's.

We discussed things like financial information, the events we run, and submissions that we make. We enjoyed getting to know how other councils did things. Some were more submission based, running only one large-scale event a year. Others were more like KYC, running events often, but also writing submissions occasionally.

There was also casual time for casual conversation, so that members from different youth councils could socialise, and talk about things not related to councils, over pizza. There was also a presentation/workshop from Steve Smith, to develop rapport and to learn about our personalities.

KYC finished off the enjoyable day with a round of 10-pin bowling.

Thanks for sharing Theo, looks like there were plenty of networking and learning opportunities to be had by all Youth Council's in attendance!

Image courtesy of Nelson Youth Council.

Kim and Libby (Council Communications) had an awesome time speaking to Kaikōura High School about Council's draft 3 Year Plan and what it means for the youth of Kaikōura and their families.

The Students (and Teachers) had some great questions about things in the plan - thanks so much for having us and thanks so much to Kaikōura Youth Council for helping us organise the presentation.

The Youth Council have been busy gathering the youth voice of Kaikōura and creating a submission on the 3 Year Plan. We feel very lucky that we have such an active and motivated Youth Council who understand the importance of having a youth voice on a plan such as this one. 

Council looks forward to working alongside the youth of Kaikōura for the next three years and getting stuck into some key projects addressed in the plan. It's vital that youth have their say on important matters in our district, as they are the ones who will be shaping the future of our community. 

Read more about the 3 Year Plan 2018-2021 here.

On Thursday 24 May, Kaikōura Youth Council invited two of Kaikōura's awesome Police to Kaikōura High School for some giant Jenga and Connect Four.

The aim of the game was to connect the youth of Kaikōura and the Police in a casual and fun setting.

The first tower of Jenga went falling to the ground with a gasp from the crowd, and the students took the lead one-nil. Connect Four was also in the students' favour, with red taking victory over blue. The games continued throughout lunchtime, with the playing field evening-out and the conversation flowing freely. 

Lots of students got involved. Thanks to Kaikōura Youth Council and Kaikōura Police for an awesome event.

Kaikōura Youth Council organised events every day of the week at the High School, as the internationally celebrated Youth Week is on. We think the youth in our community are pretty outstanding.

Monday's Youth Council organised activity was a hand print mural, created to represent everyone coming together as one and supporting one another to be their best selves. Then Tuesday saw a mirror day, where mirrors were used for the youth of Kaikōura to look at their reflections and write positive things about themselves.

Youth Week  2018's theme was 'Ahakoa te aha, kei a koe te tikanga: Be who you want to be," and was 19-27 May. Youth Week is held every May and is a nationwide festival of events organised by young New Zealanders to celebrate the talents, passion and success of local young people. It recognises the amazing contributions and achievements of young people in New Zealand and inspires the wider community to value, support and affirm the diversity of young people in our society. 

Youth Week began in 1995 with a handful of events scattered throughout Canada. Since then it has gathered momentum and is now celebrated each year in countries all over the world. It came to Aotearoa in the late 1990s.

Kaikōura Youth Council joined forces with Te Hā, All Right? Kaikōura and the Violence Free network to support Pink Shirt Day on Friday 18 May. 

The Youth Council hosted multi-sport at lunchtime and had a pledge board where students and teachers could sign the board pledging to not bully, and to do what they can to stop bullying if they see it. The Youth Council had some tee shirts available to students who came up with some good ways to deal with bullying and to encourage and build up our peers, whanau and social networks. 

The day was beautiful and sunny, and lots of the students dressed up in their pink gear to take a stand against bullying.

Celebrated annually around the globe, Pink Shirt Day began in Canada in 2007 when two students took a stand against homophobic bullying, mobilising their whole school, after a peer was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. 

In New Zealand, Pink Shirt Day aims to create schools, workplaces and communities where all people feel safe, valued and respected.

The event also saw the end of week one for Courtney, Kaikōura's new Youth Development Worker based at Te Hā o Mātauranga - Leaning in Kaikōura. Welcome to Kaikōura, Courtney!