Mya Hesp (Year 9) was selected to be part of Te Pōkai Ao, which is a STEAM initiative through Ngāi Tahu.

Mya travelled to Silicon Valley in California over the September school holidays to visit the likes of Facebook and Google headquarters, as well as NASA!

I caught up with Mya today about her awesome trip and the overall experience. The thing that struck me was how stoked she was and grateful for the opportunity that she was given. She explained to me that the highlight of the trip was biking the Golden Gate Bridge and visiting awesome places.

Mya was pretty busy while she was away, mostly visiting different college campuses and other science and technology related institutions. Her favourite campus was Berkeley and she really loved seeing the first flying cars at Zephyr.

She travelled with 20 other Year 9 and 10 students of Ngāi Tahu iwi from all over New Zealand. They started the day with karakia, and Mya enjoyed performing haka at all of the locations they visited. The group performance even had people in tears at the airport! One of the more memorable haka for Mya was at the start of the Golden Gate Bridge. That would have been awesome!

Mya learnt many things while she was away. One was the amazing opportunities there are to attend college in the USA, and the others were personal: Mya learnt to persevere through challenges and the importance of contributing and getting involved.

Mya also met lots of new people and has maintained those connections on returning to NZ. They are planning a Noho Marae in Tekapo in November.

She has set herself a goal to try and go back as Year 10 leader next year so she can continue to grow and experience the trip from a different viewpoint.

What a great opportunity. We wish you success in reaching your goals, Mya.