Well done to all participants of the programme. What a fantastic year we had. From the wilderness adventure (3 weeks out in the bush making their way back to Christchurch), tramping and biking in May, to this years NZ Great Santa Run with the community mentors.

It was an exciting year for this years Star Mentors and Year 9 classes. After a fun day out at the Groynes getting to know each other, it was in to class sessions, with topics such as social media, communication, cyber bullying, sustainability and citizenship.

The star mentors sold muffins they baked themselves, lollies and popcorn to help raise funds for the Mental Health Foundation for Pink Shirt Day. They also held a mufti day. A total of $839.80 was raised, and a cheque was presented to Ciaran Cox from The Mental Health Foundation. 

The community project this year was held in conjunction with Gap Filler and a soccer field was constructed for the community to use during the school holidays. A structure was also made from recycled bottles which the Year 9’s had collected before hand.

The Year 9’s graduation from the Stars program was celebrated with a school disco.

Anna Pohatu received the Stand out Star award for 2018 and Shardey Harris went to Auckland for the Graeme Dingle Excellence Awards and was the winner of Outstanding Contribution from a Peer Mentor.

We finished off the year with our annual Drop Your Boss and Mr Heath and O’Shea Newton volunteered to abseil from the top of the Les Mills Building in the city centre and by doing so they helped raise over $6000 for the foundation, which goes toward the Project K wilderness adventure 2019.

We look forward to seeing you all next year for welcoming the 2019 Project K students in March and graduation in June.