On Thursday 4 July, 22 students from schools across the Western Bay of Plenty received their graduation certificates for completing the 2024 Acorn Foundation Dale Carnegie Youth Programme.

Ava Dickison and Maddy Whitburn were selected to attend from Tauranga Girls’ College. The estate of the late Mary and Roy McGowan has funded these scholarships for the last fifteen years.

Acorn Foundation CEO Lori Luke said Acorn is so pleased to once again support the Acorn Foundation Dale Carnegie Youth Programme through the generosity of Roy and Mary McGowan.

Through 2024, dozens of Tauranga Girls’ College students have been provided a scholarship to attend a youth version of a course that has taught skills to improve the personal and professional lives of millions of people around the world.

This three-day course teaches the Dale Carnegie's five drivers of success: building greater self-confidence, strengthening people skills, enhancing communication skills, developing leadership skills, and reducing stress and worry. The Acorn Foundation has long partnered with Dale Carnegie BOP Waikato and Priority One’s InStep programme to offer this youth-focused course that helps young people improve their self-confidence and personal communication techniques.

The graduation ceremony featured a short speech from each student about what they had learned, and their experiences – with a particular highlight for many being the ability to learn new skills that will help them in all phases of their life.

This is what Ava Dickison from Tauranga Girls’ College said about the programme “We learned a lot of very valuable practical skills which are applicable not just in our future professional lives, but also in our social lives with new people we meet.”

Congratulations to Ava and Maddy!