During the holidays Leilani Kara, Tiara Nafatali, Ana Finau and Symone Washington attended a programme run by Sisters United, named Crown Yourself.

Sisters United is an organisation based in Auckland and founded by the Goebel Sisters. 

The Crown Yourself programme is for Year 13 girls of Pasifika descent who want to become a mentor for the junior girls at their school. We were joined with other Pasifika girls from Otago and Southland and participated in workshops.

All of the workshops aim to help students build confidence and to focus on empowerment. For example we did a workshop on self-love that involved us walking down a catwalk with the other girls supporting us. We all had a great time and loved meeting Kendal, Sau and Puni.

Now we will run our own sessions with the Pasifika girls at Queen’s who are in Years 9-11. This will happen after school on Fridays. We can’t wait to start, and hopefully by working together, we’ll all make a positive difference in their lives.