I would like to thank the Decision Reach Out Toromai Trust for awarding 4 of our students a scholarship to attend the Outdoor Pursuit Center Tongariro during the July holidays.

Jess Cotterill, Jordyn Gaby, Bella Cook and Casey Rendell joined students from Mount College and Te Puke to enjoy a week of personal development and leadership activities in a challenging outdoor setting.

“This was an amazing opportunity and I gained heaps of leadership skills. While I was away I learnt that a leader comes in many forms, and for there to be a team, everyone needs to be a leader and take some sort of action to complete the task that has been set.” Bella Cook

“I will take the leadership skills I learned back into my everyday life, within school and my sport. Hopefully becoming a leader to my younger peers at my school and encouraging others to step out of their comfort zone. I have had a chance of a lifetime and learned to appreciate the nature around me, and grow an understanding of how important it is to us.” Jess Cotterill

“What I also got from this experience is I learned what qualities are good/important for a leader to have and what qualities are good/important for a follower or member part of the team to have. Also we learnt how to trust each other and how to keep each other's trust. Personally I learnt that it is important to speak up.” Jordyn Gaby

”Personally I enjoyed the 10 minute meditation in the outdoor environment that we did everyday, this gave me time to reflect and enjoy some ‘me’ time. I thought this activity was a good idea as it relieves anxiety and stress which is very common for young teenagers to experience, and this is definitely something I will be doing more often.” Casey Rendell