National Young Leaders Day

On Thursday 25th May 2017, I was selected along with 6 other peers to attend the National Young Leaders Day which was being held at the Vodafone Events Center located in Manukau City south Auckland. It is an estimated 30 minute drive from our location in Glen Innes to Manukau. This time could vary depending on the time you travel, the traffic and weather conditions.

When we parked up and got out of our van, we were one school among multiple schools who were also attending the event. My peers and I were eager to get into the center however we had to pay for our carpark. There was a very long line and only one machine where you could pay for the parking, although this took some time we waited patiently for our turn. We proceeded eagerly to the kiosk to get our entrance bracelets, these allowed our team access to the event and we were also issued a booklet where we could write our thoughts about the day. We were guided down a hallway where we passed the  restrooms and dolphin shaped fins on the side surrounded by protective glass panes. We came to the theater it was massive with 100s of seats. Excitement was building you could see that most of the seats were already half way filled, it was like a really big movie theater except the people were live on stage. It was enjoyable seeing that everyone was excited, I even started to get goosebumps.

As we were seated everyone had calmed down. The show began with our two main hosts Liz and Christian kindly offering us a prayer before starting anything else. They explained what we could expect throughout the day, who the inspirational speakers were and what they would be talking about. The crowd erupted when the announcement of a special surprise at the end was explained.

Our first speaker was Aaron Jackson who stars in Shortland Street. He has also appeared in multiple movies and is hilarious. Aaron talked about the lies and truths of what people say. When Aaron was younger someone had scratched the cupboard in the teachers office. He was the last one in there so he was accused by three people, saying he had done it. But he held onto the truth and only the truth. That is what he wants to encourage other people, young or old to do because people will accuse you but only you will know the truth.

Our next speaker was probably one of the most generous and inspirational of all the speakers in my opinion. His name was Daniel Flynn and he dedicated his life to helping people. Nearly six years ago Daniel took notice in the world of poverty. To help reduce poverty he wanted to make a company where he would make water bottles, and give them to countries that needed them. He waited nearly three years with four request for people to help him, but out of those three years only one person replied. It was only because people thought he was two young and stupid. But he had a vision to change the world. He is now carrying on from water to other types of foods. His message in my opinion, was “never give up, it just takes one person with a dream to make a difference in the world”.

Our first lady speaker was Jodi Brown. She is used to being at the Manukau Vodafone Center as some days she is either coaching a netball game or playing an actual game. She started from a very young age playing sports because she was very open to it. She was either right next to a netball court or next to a field for a good game of touch. That's not all however. She explained how not all people that you meet in your life will stay forever. Some will throw you away and some will keep you. You have to learn the difference as you grow up. “Everyone comes and goes, but family is forever”.

Luti Richards was the second speaker and personally my favourite. She is a poet and singer which I think suits her very well. In her poems and songs she explains things all about her life. She talks about her dreams, failures and how sometimes words latch on to you if you let them. She was also the only speaker that came on stage but did not stay for question time. My favourite quote from her was “Just because you weren’t planned doesn’t mean you were a mista.

In between each speaker we played a little game. Our first game was to direct these massive balls similar to beach balls around the curb and right into the center where you would be claimed the winner. We were divided into two groups which were called “Monkey’s” and “Toucan’s”. Our group were in the monkeys and we won that game.

The other game we played was ‘Guess that sound’. It was a variety of sounds where one girl would represent the girls, and one boy representing the boys. There would be a photo of an animal which was un-viewable to them, where we would have to make sounds of what would be behind them. It was fun because we had beat the boys by one point.

After the games were finished we were all going to be doing a little activity for someone we appreciated. It was called ‘Attitude of gratitude’. It was just a little area where you could write something. My mum was the person I decided to write about, so was many others. This was a timed activity and we were given about 5-10 minutes to complete our written pieces to the person who we appreciated.

The end of our day was drawing close and the so too was the big surprise. During the middle of the event we were given the opportunity to see the group ‘Nomad’ perform. It was an all boys group, with only three participants. They had talked about their journey and how their group started. The three friends had met in highschool where they had realised that together they could really sing and harmonise. They spoke about their name and came up with “Nomad”. We got an up-front live singing performance from them and as you looked around you could see lots of people waving flashlights around on their phones. I am unaware what the song was called but it was really amusing.

Before exiting the hall each person was asked to fill in a pamphlet about our day. This was then placed into a basket and given to the organisers of the event.

Overall, spending the day at Manukau Vodafone Event Center, Young Leaders Day was a very special experience. It was fun to see everyone having fun and the motivational speeches really made you consider what you can do and to never give up. I was very lucky to attend this event and would recommend it highly to future students of any school but especially for my school. It would be amazing if this opportunity could be given to every year eight student of GIP, this is something that is a once in a lifetime experience but will have lasting positive effects for our futures.