The ?leaders of tomorrow?
By Jamie Melbourne-Hayward
The Rotary Club of Petone is seeking young people from the area to receive a Rotary Youth Leadership Award for 2010. The annual awards are given to around 50 young adults from the greater Wellington region. ?The awards attract youth from as far north as the Wairarapa. ?There has not been many youth from the area involved so we wanted to get the word out there about these awards,? says Petone Rotary Club President Pam Hanna. Award recipients will gather in January next year at the Silverstream retreat in Upper Hutt for a week of activities designed to extend their leadership qualities. The retreat involves interactive presentations with well-known community figures and workshops to ?develop the special abilities of young people?. ?We had one young man involved last year who was working for Statistics New Zealand, so you can be studying or in employment. ?There was another young girl who we sent to a science and technology fair in Auckland, and now she is studying science at University. ?It?s great to encourage these young people because the youth are the leaders of tomorrow,? says Ms Hanna. The award is open to young people aged 18 to 24, and a preference will be given to those actively involved in youth groups or working in leadership roles. Applications close on 17 September, and for more information call Ms Hanna on 972 8791. Other Wellington regions are also looking to accommodate for the needs of their youth leaders. The Newlands and Tawa Community Centres are humming after hiring youth leaders, and Churton Park wants to provide for their organising youth. The centres have taken on the equivalent of two full-time youth leaders, with a past Tawa college student filling one role and three Newlands College students job sharing the other. National MP and Ohariu candidate Katrina Shanks says North Wellington?s communities are centred on grassroots things like the school hall in Churton Park and the Newland community centre. ?The new centre in Newlands is humming, it?s always full of people and in the afternoon it?s full of youth with the leaders from Newlands College,? she says. The Newlands College students help run a study centre, street ball and table tennis activities. Youth facilities are top of the agenda for Churton Park Community Association President Roger Ellis who says the desire for better facilities is part of the areas push to evolve as a suburb. One local youth group leader told the association that youth meetings are constrained?because of cramped conditions in the school library.? The school has also informed the association that they have turned away some would-be community groups because of excess demand for facilities. ?We are looking at getting funding for the proposals and where would be the best location for them. ?The school facilities get pretty crowded,? says Mr Ellis.
