Waitaha Positive Action for the Environment youth conference

The conference featured 32 workshops and presentations by around 40 experts.

Waitaha Positive Action for the Environment Youth Conference was hosted by Rangi Ruru Girls’ School, who were joined by 30 schools from across Canterbury to attend workshops hosted by a range of people aimed at the high school rangatahi.

The event was a resounding success, and brought together passionate ākonga, kaiako, and community leaders to explore and address environmental issues.

Organised by a dedicated team led by Tim Kelly (Hurunui College), Alicia Poroa (Aotearoa Social Studies Educators’ Network), and Kate Rivers (Rangi Ruru Girls’ School), the event showcased the power of collective action and the importance of educating rangatahi about sustainability and kaitiakitanga (guardianship).

Inspiration behind the event

Tim Kelly, a seasoned event organiser, has a history of initiating projects that spark enthusiasm and drive in young minds.

“I like organising events and projects that could inspire young people,” he says.

He quickly points out that his vision would not have come to life without the collaborative efforts of his team.

“I approached my friend Alicia Poroa to join the organising committee. For quite a while it was just Alicia and me, with a few others coming in and out,” he says about how the team came together.

“Then I approached Kate Rivers. Kate offered Rangi Ruru as the venue to host, which turned out to be a great option, especially as they had a central venue with a working horticulture unit and beehives.”

Workshops and presentations

The conference featured 32 workshops and presentations by around 40 experts, with 30 schools and several home-schooled ākonga attending.

Prior to the event, Tim provided ākonga a survey to gauge their preferences for the workshops.

“I matched students with their preferred sessions, while also endeavouring to make sure each session had a good number of participants. This worked really well, with students getting their top preferences in most cases.”

The workshops included:

• Pacific solutions for environmental issues
• new technology in pest management
• managing eco-anxiety
• understanding recycling and recycling initiatives
• mātauranga Māori solutions for environmental issues
• sourcing and preparing native plant seeds and growing native plants
• bee keeping
• kaitiakitanga ki te awa Ōtakaro: Ōtākaro river kōrero and clean-up.

There were many more opportunities for ākonga, including multiple question-and-answer sessions on various topics with a range of panellists to answer questions.

The first sessions of the day were designed to get everyone engaged and asking questions.

Engaged ākonga

After being welcomed with karakia and waiata by Rangi Ruru ākonga, Tim and Rangi Ruru deputy principal Juliet Collins gave an overview of the event and its importance.

The first two sessions of the day were for all students to set the tone of the day and get them engaged and asking questions.

“I think the pairing of two thought-provoking compulsory sessions at the beginning provided practical thought and skills to administer in how we make change, made me engaged and helped with the rest of the day’s proceedings,” said one student. “The presenters were all great and the subjects were very interesting.”

Every workshop was full of captivated students eager to learn from the workshops they had chosen to participate in.

One workshop, run by Year 6 ākonga from Tuia Burnside Primary School, taught the secondary school students about native butterflies in Aotearoa and how to create a habitat for the Canterbury-native Pepe Para Riki Boulder Copper butterfly.

The workshop highlighted how ākonga from different schools could collaboratively engage in teaching and learning across year levels, with some students saying it was their highlight of the conference, including Year 12 student Sarah.

“I love the concept of involving younger students who are so environmentally concerned that they want to share the knowledge they have,” she says. “They started with an engaging quiz, followed by a great session. Younger students doing that was amazing and so informative.”

“The Boulder Copper butterfly presentation was amazing,” noted another student in feedback from a survey sent out after the event. “The tamariki from Burnside Primary were so great at running the session.

“It was very interactive, and I enjoyed planting my own plant. Our school will definitely be creating a butterfly garden after hearing from the Year 6 students from Tuia Burnside Primary School and their awesome teacher.”

Organising the event

Tim says key to organising events such as this starts with assembling a team of dedicated volunteers, noting that it’s also essential to find a suitable venue.

“The first step is to find a committee of people who want to do it for the love of it,” Tim explains. “Assign jobs and meet regularly. When there’s a shared passion for environmental education, finding engaging presenters is straightforward.

“Organisations were keen to fund the event,” he adds. “Similarly, we found that teachers in schools were keen to support us.”

Event growth

When asked about future plans, Tim was cautiously optimistic.

“It’s very rewarding, but it takes quite a bit of time to organise,” he says, not making any promises. “One of our major sponsors, Grow Waitaha, is trying to continue the mahi post-conference by facilitating meetings for the teachers that were involved. Something may grow from this.

“We may look at doing it again, we have a template now and can use the students’ session preferences from 2024 to focus on what is most important to them.”

Tim urges teachers to motivate their students to engage in activities beyond the classroom.

“School is about more than studying and exams. Encourage your students to get out and do stuff,” he advises.

“It was a pretty special day and has certainly had impact,” adds organiser Kate Rivers. “Momentum has continued since the event, with new initiatives happening in schools following the conference and new connections between students and teachers formed.

“We will soon have a catch up of kaiako to help support and sustain these actions.”

Event feedback

Following the event, kaiako and ākonga were sent a feedback survey, which provided overwhelmingly positive post-event feedback.

Feedback from students

“I really enjoyed the conference and would definitely come back next year! It really inspired me to think about my actions and things I can do to help the environment. Also, ways in which I could help others do the same.”

“I thought the conference was really well done. Really enjoyable and informative.”

“My favourite session was the Pacific solutions one, it was incredibly interesting, and it made me think about climate change in another light. I think it’s also quite important that we look at climate change in a cultural perspective.”

“The eco-sourcing really stood out to me. I would 100 percent recommend this to other people as it was a great learning experience.”

“I believe the conference has inspired many to make long term sustainable plans in our society.”

Feedback from teachers

“Thanks for a great conference. Tomorrow we are having a follow-up with the students from our school so that they can make some decisions about what they want to do next. Starting with the keynotes was excellent and it was good to see such a variety of topics covered in the workshops.”

“Great range of workshops and guest speakers. A very worthwhile outing and we look forward to strengthening our networks and look forward to more opportunities in the future.”

“The students were so excited in our follow-up meeting. Thank you and the team so much.”

If you would like to get in touch with Tim Kelly about any further information, you can email him at tk@hurunuicollege.school.nz.