Young Role-models Recognised by their Peers

Twenty-four young people from around New Plymouth District have been recognised in the Young Achievers Awards 2009.

Organised by New Plymouth District Council’s Youth Subcommittee, the awards celebrate the achievements of young people aged from 12 to 24 in any of 10 categories.

There are also Mayoral Choice Awards for outstanding young people who also deserve recognition.

Says Youth Subcommittee Chair Grace Hall: “Every year I am amazed by the calibre of young people that receive Young Achievers Awards, and this year is no exception.

“It continues to be a rewarding and positive experience for the members of the subcommittee to recognise the brilliant things that our peers have done and achieved. We hope that by recognising their achievements they will be encouraged to continue making a positive difference to this community,” she says.

Mayor Peter Tennent says all of the finalists are self-motivated young people who are intent on achieving the high goals they have set for themselves.

“These are our young leaders of today, and their dedication and their talents are an inspiration to both young and old alike,” he says.

“Their successes benefit not only themselves, but the wider community as well. I’m very proud to be the Mayor of a community that includes young stars such as these.”

The recipients of the 2009 Young Achievers Awards are:

Male Sports Achievement Award

Winner: Dylan Dunlop-Barrett
Dylan is a year 13 student at Francis Douglas Memorial College and an outstanding young swimming athlete in both pool and Surf Life Saving. He has gathered an amazing number of Taranaki pool swimming records – 17 short course records and 21 long course records. He holds the New Zealand age group records for 17-year-old boys in both the short and long course 15,000m freestyle events. In 2008 Dylan represented New Zealand in the Oceania Championships and was also part of the New Zealand Trans-Tasman Team for under 17s where he broke the New South Wales All Comers record for 800m freestyle. He also represented New Zealand in Guam at one of the world’s premier junior events the Junior Pan Pacific Championships, placing an impressive and credible 5th and 6th in events.

Matiu Welch (highly commended)
Matiu is a year 13 student at Waitara High School. In addition to him being the deputy head boy, Matiu has gained representative honours in rugby league. This year Matiu was selected to play for the Waitara Bears Men’s premier team which competed in the Taranaki Rugby League competition and also won the Western Alliance competition. Matiu was selected to play for the Taranaki Under 18 League team, and was also selected to represent New Zealand in the New Zealand Maori Under 18 league team which will play the Warriors Development Squad as a curtain-raiser to the NZ Rugby League team’s match against Tonga. In addition to his New Zealand representative status, he has excelled and represented his high school in rugby, soccer, basketball, volleyball, touch, softball, hockey, athletics and boys’ netball, and is the Taranaki Secondary Schools 8 Ball champion.

Julian Beardman (highly commended)
Julian coaches, plays and referees inline hockey. In 2009 he was appointed coach of the Ravens Under 12 inline hockey team which he lead to an unbeaten season and winning the 2009 Central Regional League, the Queen’s Birthday Junior Under 12, and the New Zealand National Champions Under 12 in September 2009. Julian is also a New Zealand representative and team captain of the New Zealand Under 16 squad which won a silver medal in Australia this year. He also captains the Francis Douglas Memorial College school team. He plays for the under 18s for the New Plymouth Ravens (winners of the Central Regional League) and is a member of the regional under 18 team. Julian balances both playing the game and contributing to the growth and development of the sport by being a New Zealand level 1 inline hockey referee. He hopes to continue to represent New Zealand in 2010.

Female Sports Achievement Award

Winner: Charlotte Webby
Charlotte puts countless hours into training in her chosen field of sport, swimming. She won the women’s section of the 2.8km Capital Classic Ocean swim held in Wellington this year, and at the New Zealand Open Swimming Championships she won the Women’s 1,500m freestyle, the 800m freestyle and the 200m butterfly. In August she represented New Zealand at the World University Games in Serbia, Bosnia. She won all seven events she entered at the Three Regional Grand Prix and was named the top senior female athlete.

Claire Richardson (highly commended)
Claire is a hard-working and committed sportswoman. She has flourished in many areas of sport including cross country, rugby, cricket and swimming. She was the captain of the Sacred Heart Girls’ College rugby team and was selected to play for the Taranaki Girls A Team (also being named the captain for the squad), and is part of the Sacred Heart cricket team. She is acknowledged for her sporting achievements by her school for both her individual ability and for her team pursuits as a player and a leader.

Chloe-may Geurts (highly commended)
Chloe-may is an outstanding football goalkeeper. She has been involved in the Taranaki representative and Central Federation football teams and programmes for many years. Her talents have recently seen her spend a week with the NZ U17 development squad, and she has been selected to be part of a team playing in the New Zealand national women’s league this season. She is a young woman with a passion for football and is committed to training and developing her skills further.

Community Service Award

Winner: Sian Whelan
Sian is extremely passionate about helping others in her community. She does not seek any public recognition for her efforts but purely does it for the love of her community. Sian has voluntarily contributed to many areas including: The Special Children’s Extravaganza (working with hundreds of children), being a road marshal for the Americarna Street Cruise, being a Relay of Life volunteer for the past three years, being a collector for the Women’s Refuge Annual Appeal, and being a runner for the annual Food Bank appeal. She is also currently working with an agency to support disabled youth. Sian simply wants to help make others happy and make our community a great place to live in.

Josh Lamb (highly commended)
Josh is described as an honest and reliable young man who takes pride in his community and church. He is committed to volunteering at many a charity and fundraising function including the Special Children’s Extravaganza, at which he devoted two entire days of his own time to supporting the set-up and the special children involved in the event. He’s not afraid of getting his hands dirty and is cherished and highly valued by many young members of his church for his efforts.

Melissa Haydon (highly commended)
Melissa takes pride in being able to provide support and help to the elderly in rest homes. Residents describe her as ‘wonderful’, ‘polite’ and ‘a pleasure to have around’. Melissa does a variety of things to assist residents as they age including clipping and painting nails, reading to patients in the hospital wing, wheelchair walks outdoors, and playing board games with individuals to provide some company. She is dedicated to ensuring the elderly have a positive ageing experience.

Eco-friendly Award

Winner: Cameron Lacey
Cameron is a year 12 student at Inglewood High School who has contributed significantly to the eco-friendly initiatives of the school. He was the 2008 spokesperson for the Enviropower project in which Inglewood High School aimed to reduce energy expenditure by 20 per cent. In 2009 Cameron became the spokesperson for the school’s Enviroschools team and spearheaded the Paper for Trees programme to increase recycling within the school. He has taken part in orchard planting, worm farm construction, insulation and earth-oven building. He has contributed greatly to both the school’s and the wider community’s awareness of environmental issues, and helped provide his school with eco-friendly assets for the future.

Music Award

Winner: The Sacred Heart Tenners
The Tenners are recognised Taranaki-wide for their singing abilities. They perform at functions, community meetings, concerts and festivals. This year they created a national name for themselves in the national Big Sing competition held in Dunedin after winning the regional Big Sing competition. They were selected to perform alongside the top 24 choirs in New Zealand, making them the first Taranaki school in history to be recognised formally in the competition for their coral singing. The Official New Zealand Choral Federation members commented that the group ought to be an example to other choirs for the passion and joy they bring to the stage.

Youth Development Award

Winner: Te Ahu Mane
Te Ahu has a ‘can do’ attitude in life. He enrolled on the YMCA Education Department’s Y’s Up course after realising he needed a bit of guidance with his educational goals in life. He is described as a shy and quite person with a hard-working desire to create pathways of success for himself, his family and his community. He is committed to up-skilling himself first and foremost so that he can then be an asset to his community. He has also been responsible for successful internet cabling of the YMCA Education building, helping create more educational opportunities for his peers and tutors. Te Ahu has a goal of achieving his NCEA Level 2 and his National Certificate in Employment Skills. If Te Ahu is successful he will be the first student ever on his course to achieve this level of accreditation. He openly acknowledges the struggles he has faced in life through varied social, cultural and economic hardships but has committed to proactively making changes to better himself physically, socially and academically for his whanau and community.

Cameron Betts (highly commended)
Cameron is a year 11 student at Francis Douglas Memorial College. He is a forward-thinking young man who constantly thinks of others. He has been involved with WAVE youth health for two and a half years, where he helps organise youth programmes and activities with the WAVES team. He has a passion for film and television production and contributes his time and technical skills to a safer streets programme by volunteering his time to help monitor the CBD with New Plymouth police.

Greg White (highly commended)
Greg is a go-getter with a keen interest in providing opportunities and activities for youth, namely his peers at New Plymouth Boys’ High School. He was instrumental in the efforts to organise a highly successful tennis competition and a hostel ski trip to Mt Ruapehu for years 9-13 boys. He enjoys creating events that foster healthy competition, with skill development as an added bonus. He is selfless in his contribution to the social and physical development of his peers and is celebrated by his school and community for this.

Arts Award

Winner: Erana James
Erana has an absolute passion for the arts, both as a performer and as an artist. From a young age she has spread her talent across many fields including ballet (at both social and competitive levels) and kapa haka, and most recently in the visual arts field. She was recognised for her artistic ability by winning the 2007 Top Maori Scholar award at Sacred Heart Girls’ College and was one of the very few students accepted straight from school to complete a Batchelor of Maori Visual Arts. A short film piece she exhibited earlier this year has been requested for use in collaboration with New Plymouth District Council’s Waitangi Community Korero workshop series in 2010. She currently has works on display at the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust Awards in Opunake, and her arts pieces are sought after by both local and national organisations.

Employee/Trainee of the Year

Winner: Rakei Ngaia
Rakei is a youthful employee of Toiora Healthy Lifestyles Ltd. Toiora values Rakei as an employee for a number of reasons. Through his sheer commitment to the youth health area he completed training in both health and journalism to secure a position as a health promoter with Toiora. He has committed to up-skilling and ongoing training in the field, working toward a certificate in Health Promotion with Otago University. His topic area of expertise is currently designing, developing and delivering awareness programmes that address the issue of problem gambling in our community. He has presented at the National Problem Gambling Conference and has been invited to present at the International Problem Gambling symposium in 2010. He was also the winner of the Maori Problem Gambling Workforce Award in 2009 – the Most Promising Worker Award – which was presented by Hon Tariana Turia.

Lauren Waters (highly commended)
Lauren is employed by Subway Bell Block. During her year and half in employment, management have been impressed with her standard of work and level of customer service. She is entrusted with the closing process for the store, which involves delegating duties and monitoring other employees to ensure cleaning and customer needs are met. Lauren is a fast learner with an ability to adapt quickly to new aspects that arise within the role. She is highly valued by her employer and other staff members.

Cultural Development Award

Winner: Te Rehua Cameron
Te Rehua is a young, vibrant and culturally talented Maori woman. She has from a young age contributed to her whanau, hapu, iwi and the wider community. She makes personal sacrifices to ensure that tikanga and cultural values are upheld in the community. She has actively sought to revitalise te reo Maori in the community by working in Maori media and continually up-skilling her own language base. She has a role as a cultural advocate for Tu Tama Wahine o Taranaki, and is a youth representative on the National Jigsaw Board for Flourishing Families and Nurtured Children. She also assists young Maori women in her role as a facilitator in family violence and education groups. Her contribution and commitment to cultural development locally and nationally is invaluable.

Super Student Award

Winner: Alison Chamberlain
Alison excels in her school work. She passed both NCEA levels one and two with 70 and 90 excellence endorsed credits. Alison is currently a year 13 student at Sacred Heart Girls’ College studying English, calculus, economics, chemistry, physics and religious education, and plans to sit four scholarship exams as well. She is a strong contender for dux at the college and actively organises and celebrates other students by organising excellence award assemblies and tutoring younger students. She is an academic leader to her peers and has participated in the O’Shea Shield, gaining five out of six marks for her efforts. This year Alison participated in the Auckland University Economics Challenge and gained a credit in this exam.

Bethany Lowe (highly commended)
Bethany is in her final year at Spotswood College. She is highly respected by both staff and students for her outstanding academic ability, and has more than 28 credits, 87 merits and 58 excellence credits to date. She intends to sit for a scholarship in geography and English this year. She won the Rebecca L. Lynch Memorial Scholarship, which will see her study at the University of Idaho in 2010. She is viewed as a creative student with perseverance in all her work.

Jessica Richardson-Land (highly commended)
Jessica is a bright and bubbly, hard-working student. She recently achieved a 100 per cent in her mock NCEA exam in Spanish, the first time in five years a student at Spotswood College has achieved such a mark. She has achieved high marks in all of her other school subjects and is always available to help other students who are finding aspects of a subject difficult. She puts tremendous effort into all that she does and valued by her teachers and peers.

Mayor's Choice Award

Winner: Kruze Tangira
Kruze is an exemplary sporting role model at Waitara High School. He has represented the school in volleyball, basketball, men’s netball and tennis, also helping to coach the Waitara High School girls’ netball teams. Kruze has played for the Taranaki Men’s Netball team since 2007 and was named the most valuable player of the tournament in both 2007 and 2009. Kruze has since gone on to play for the Auckland Men’s Netball Team in 2008 and 2009 in the national competition. In 2008 he was selected for the New Zealand under 23 Men’s Netball Team which travelled to Rarotonga earlier this year. Although netball is not a mainstream male sport, Kruze has extreme dedication and determination to represent New Zealand in this code.

Winner: Cole Mossman
Cole has a passion for waterskiing. He began competitive waterskiing at the age of eight and has progressed to win numerous regional and national titles. He competes in all three disciplines: Jump, trick and slalom. He has competed for New Zealand in the Australia/New Zealand challenge three years in a row, winning bronze in slalom in 2007. He has also represented New Zealand in France at the Junior World Championships and is currently training in London for the 2009 World Under 21 tournament. Cole has sacrificed many things to fuel his desire to train with the best in the world and constantly seeks opportunities to raise the profile of waterskiing.

Winner: Alex Geary
Three and half years ago Alex took up the sport of karting with the Taranaki Club in Waitara. He has since gone on to compete successfully in events around the country. He was recently presented with a trip to Japan with Yamaha for his sporting efforts in karting. He placed first in the New Zealand Championships this year and won the 2009 Toyota Fast Track award for a fully funded drive in one round of the Toyota Racing Series Lites 2009-2010.

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