ISSUE 8

[hey-day]THE STAGE OR PERIOD OF GREATEST VIGOUR, STRENGTH, SUCCESS, ETC.; PRIME

YOUR STORYJOSH FOSTER

INSPIREKINANTI DESYANANDINI AWARDED AUT SCHOLARSHIP WANNABE VEERAN MORAR : A PASSION TO HELP PEOPLE SEE

YOUNG BUSINESSMAN STRIKES GOLD

EDITORIAL

Chloe Vaughan

Hi everyone,

This issue is full of amazing stories about young people doing well in the face of tough times but coming out the

other end stronger than ever.

I thought this quote was quite fitting that: “it doesn’t matter what others are doing. It matters what YOU are

doing.”

The real question is what are you excited about right now? For a couple of our interviewees it has been building a

business, getting scouted for a top basketball team, scoring a scholarship or going on a whirlwind trip courtesy of

the Global Leaders Development program.

I’d love to hear about what you’re excited about right now, email chloe@youthline.co.nz and let’s get talking.

For now, I hope you enjoy the issue!

Editor

YOUR STORY

06. JOSH FOSTERAbout a year Josh didn’t know what

he wanted to do, now he’s off to uni

and has been scouted for a high level

basktetball team .

INSPIRE

17. KINANTI DESYANANDINI Kinanti Desyanandini, 18, has been

awarded the AUT Vice-Chancellor’s

scholarship for 2016.

12. YOUNG BUSINESSMAN STRIKES GOLD 16-year-old businessman Eathon

Robson got the idea for his business

when he was 14 and launched in 2012.

IN THIS ISSUE

CONTENTS

If you have any cool stories you want

to share or have story ideas then we

want to hear from you.

Email: chloe@youthline.co.nz

CONTRIBUTE

14. YES SEMINARS Three young women have created

a two day seminar to support

young women in the transition from

intermediate school to high school.

WANNABE

08. EYES FOR MARAES Veeran Morar is a young man with a

mission to cure treatable blindness.

10. SWIMMING FOR A CAUSEAbby Armstrong is swimming from

Upola to Savai’l in Samoa on April

7 to raise awareness and funds for

Youthline.

YOUR STORY

17. STEVIE SIKUEA Stevie Sikuea is a long time member

of the Youthline whanau and has just

landed a Masters of Human Rights

Scholarship.

TOPICAL 18. SEEING A NEED A Salvation Army youth group

teamed up to create hygiene

packs for young people

experiencing homelessness.

ROAMING REPORT

4. BRIDGET MCNAMARABridget is a young leader at Youthline

making waves in the youth sector.

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Bridget McNamara Young leader making waves at Youthline

OUR PEOPLE

5

Inspire

2016 is set to be an amazing year for Bridget McNamara who is one of nine New Zealand participants as part of the Global Leaders Development Program (formally named Ship for World Youth).

The last 18 months have been a whirlwind journey for Bridget who became a Helpline volunteer, a Youth Development Worker, and a registered psychologist.

Bridget lived on the ship with 200 young leaders from all over the world. The program is a unique experience for young people to engage with a diverse group of like-minded individuals from Japan, and invited delegations from Bahrain, Brazil, India, Kenya, Oman, Peru, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the United Kingdom and of course New Zealand.

It’s a unique international youth exchange programme funded by the Government of Japan for people aged 18-30.

The program gives participants the opportunity to live in an international environment and get involved in a range of on-board activities including seminars, sports, cultural activities and workshops.

The program includes 24 days in Japan where New Zealand participants will join 110 Japanese youth and 90 delegates from the 9 invited countries. For 12 days aboard the ship they will live and work together and make visits to the Japanese ports of Naha and Ofunato.

This was an amazing opportunity for Bridget and she followed in the footsteps of other Youthline Youth Development Workers Ramon Narayan and Julian Barnett who have both taken this Youthline-sponsored opportunity in the past.

Bridget began her journey with Youthline when she signed up to start her training as a Helpline counsellor.

“I was studying psychology which was really impractical, so I re-ally just wanted to get some more practical experience and had heard some really amazing things about the Youthline volunteer training, so I signed myself up.”

While going through the Helpline training, an opportunity came up at Youthline Auckland Central for a Youth Development

Worker position. Bridget leapt at the opportunity to become involved with Youthline in another way.

At just 24, Bridget is making positive waves in her community and is an important member of the Youthline team.

She became a solo counsellor on the Youthline Helpline in August.

In addition to her role as a volunteer on the Helpline, and her work as a Youth Development Worker at Youthline, Bridget also recently completed her Master’s Degree, an investigation into the challenges and achievements of young working class men navigating high school. She also recently ran the Auckland Half Marathon, raising money for Youthline while squeezing in train-ing runs.

She highly recommends the Youthline volunteer pathway to others, calling it “an awesome opportunity to meet other people and develop.”

If you’d like to know more about our Volunteer training please get in touch with info@actioneducation.co.nz or phone 09 361 4164

YOUTHLINE’S VOLUNTEER PATHWAY:

“An awesome opportunity to meet other people and develop”

SHOOTING FOR SUCCESS

6

Inspire

How Josh turned his life around in the last year

Josh is also a talented artist as you can see from his artwork

7

For more about getting involved with Basketball in NZ:

http://www.basketball.org.nz/About-Us/Contact-Us

Josh is an amazing young guy who has worked hard to turn his life around from drugs to being on the A Team basketball team, winning player of the year, gaining NCEA Level 2 and starting uni this year and being scouted for a basketball league team.

Josh is a normal teenager, at age 18 he has the normal things to think about, school, sport and the girls at school.

But this wasn’t always the case. Just a couple of years ago Josh couldn’t have imagined be-ing named Player of the Year and being in the Birkenhead High School Basketball team after a great season.

Not so long ago, Josh like most young people felt a little lost. School wasn’t a priority and home wasn’t where he spent his time.

After an argument with his mum, she asked him to move out leaving Josh without a place to call home. During this time Josh had started to experiment with drugs.

However, flash forward a couple of years and Josh’s life looks quite different. Last year he got the credits he needed to pass NCEA Level 2 and is now looking towards the future.

At 6.3 he is the perfect build for a basketball player and after being a key player in the Senior A team he has also been scouted to play for Harbour in 2016. He is looking at going to Unitec next year to complete a foundation course for six months before starting a degree in sports and recreation.

The hope is that he is able to move into coaching high school basketball in the future.

He’s amped to move onto University study and continue playing basketball and he has plenty of friends also going to AUT.

your story

WANNA

BE

8

LIVE THE DREAM:HELPLING PEOPLE TO SEE

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24-year-old Veeran Morar has a dream, to put an end to treat-able blindness in New Zealand.

Veeran was one of more than 50 participants from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in the Live the Dream accelerator program backed by the Inspiring Stories Trust.

Live The Dream programme aims to unleash the potential of young people and teach them how to apply social enterprise to their ideas to make real change in their communities.

The nine week intensive accelerator programme aims to give the participants the toolkit to help thousands if not millions of people.

It’s for kiwis aged 18-30 and aims to sharpen your sense of pur-pose, grow your connections, and develop your social entrepre-neurship and enterprise capability.

Veeran is an optometrist and a year after he graduated follow-ing his degree at Auckland University, he became disheartened when he realised how many people were not getting access to eye care they needed.

This is where Veeran had the idea for “Eyes in Maraes”.

His concept, which he is exploring through the Live the Dream program, aims to mobilise eye care so optometrists can go to those in need and give them the treatment they need to ensure their eyes are cared for.

In particular, he hopes to eliminate treatable blindness.

There are lots of reasons why people may not be able to access the care they need – money and time are two big players.

He says vision impairment appears to be twice as high in Maori as non-Maori which is why he decided to hone in on getting a mobile optometrist appointments happening in Maraes.

The plan is to commit half his time to working as an optometrist and the other half to the project.

There are plenty of others doing similar work such as Mr Four eyes in Wellington who donates a pair of glasses to a child in need for every pair he sells, the Blind Foundation and more recently 2015 Live The Dream participant Bonnie Howland who is the brains behind Mascara for Sight – a project that aims to restore vision using the one-for-one charity model. She is now working full-time on her venture Mascara for Sight. She has a goal of curing treatable blindness in the Pacific by 2025.

Inspire

He describes the nine-week intensive course as a miniature MBA and adds they have been exposed to some great business minds through the speakers, lectures, workshops and mentor sessions that have been provided.

Live The Dream creator Guy Ryan is a key resource for partici-pants of the Live The Dream programme.

Inspiring stories was established in 2011 with a vision to see every young New Zealander unleash their potential to change the world. It was originally a suite of film-focused programmes and now the Trust has grown to include programmes that build entrepreneurship and enterprise capability including the flagship national event Festival for the Future, and social enterprise ac-celerator programme, Live the Dream.

He sees a lot of unmet needs here in New Zealand. Veeran wants to mobilise eye care to help people with treatable blindness that are waiting too long in the public system and can’t afford the care they need.

Veeran was also a volunteer on Youthline’s National Helpline. “I really loved it, I learnt so much about people during my time at Youthline.” He also has a passion for high-level competitive hockey and travelling.

THE DREAM:

putting an end to treatable blindness in New Zealand

10

SWIMMING FOR A CAUSE

Topical

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doing it.

“The money I raise through this swim, beyond the entry fee and expenses will go to Youthline. Youthline is a youth development organization offering counselling services, information and devel-opment programmes to benefit and aid those in need, ultimately I am hoping to work with them in the near future.

“I have suffered the effects of mental illness and I have come out the other side. I know how much sport and nutrition helped me in my journey and have changed my career path and study to put me in a place where I can help children and teens in that same position. I am hoping to raise money and awareness for a charity that is already doing great work in this space.”

“I am about to do a world first swim. There are several reasons I’m doing it. It’s a personal challenge, a way for me to draw a line under my own journey with mental illness. It’s a way to inspire young people, and particularly young girls that are in the same space I was. And it’s a way for me to build credentials so that I am able to help others to deal with similar issues through fitness.

She is currently studying a Sport and Exercise Science Degree at Wintec in Hamilton.

The main reason is to gain the knowledge and experience needed to inspire and enable athletes, especially children, is to be the best that they can be, she says.

I am currently working with two top swimming clubs within my region, including some of NZ’s best up-and-coming swimmers, to develop dry-land strength training and injury prevention. I get great satisfaction in coaching individual athletes/swimmers that give everything they do 100%, whether it be competing in a Triathlon or in a 200m swimming race for the first time.

My motto is, ‘everything is life is achievable, if you’re prepared to put in the hard work’, hence the name ‘the average swimmer’. I’m just an ordinary kiwi girl that works incredibly hard to be the best that I can be in all areas of life. I want to inspire people and prove that anything is possible with the right attitude and a little determination.

If you’d like to help Abby raise some money go to her givealittle page : http://givealittle.co.nz/cause/theaverageswimmer

Hamilton woman Abby Armstrong is set to take part in a world first race – 22.3 km in the open sea between Upolu and Savai’’i in Samoa on April 7.

The 29-year-old swim coach is raising funds and awareness for youth development organisation Youthline.

She says she trains six days a week which includes an open water swim and swimming sesions in her local pool.

It is the longest open sea race in the Southern Hemisphere.

“I used to swim competitively when I was younger but once I finished school I stopped swimming and went into a bit of a hole with depression post school,” she says.

Then she began to swim again and loves it.

“I’m training hard to attempt a world first swimming race; 22.3km between Upolu and Savai’i in Samoa. There are a couple of reasons why I am determined to complete this challenge. One is that it is a personal goal and the other is to raise awareness for mental health, specifically young girls.

“Not many people are aware that I was a sufferer of mental ill-ness for many years and exercise particularly swimming helped me beat my issues. This Samoa swim is the start of a career to inspire and help young people cope with mental illness through exercise and nutrition. The money I raise will be donated to Youthline.”

She has competed in the NZ Ocean Swim Series and found she loved training for it. This spurred her on and led to her compete in the Taupo 10K Swim – she came home first and won $500 for

Topical

12

CHECKOUT

www.gemsto

nenz.c

om

Sometimes it can be hard to know what you want to do or want to be. It’s hard enough trying to decide what clothes to wear, how to style your hair or even what to eat for breakfast. We spend a lifetime surrounded by a stream of voices telling us what we are to be; to then pursue a life that we never even wanted. We aim and sometimes miss our targets and settle for something without realising our true desire and what originally inspired us. To 16 year old businessman Eathan Robson “if you don’t work for your own dream, you’ll end up supporting an-other’s dream” which is so true in its many layers.

At the age of 14 Eathan was uninspired by the range of apparel tech that was being sold which got him thinking about how the market would react to a more fashion forward take on tech ap-parel.

This was the beginning of what has come to be known as Gem-stone NZ.

After almost four years of research, Gemstone NZ was created in 2012. The focus of the business is to offer a quality collection of products that stand out in the crowd.

It took a lot of research and refining to find the culture and style of the business but after 3-4 years of research, designing and going back and forth from the drawing board his brand “Gemstone NZ” was created.

Gemstone NZ is now being sold online and in stores throughout New Zealand which is no easy feat.

As the constant demand for the latest devices rise, so does the business’s creativity to make their products more personalised and more sentimental to the person who uses their products.

For Eathan “devices are an extension of ourselves”, we use them in our everyday lives, at work and in our personal lives; so to make a design that is reflective of a person’s personality and the things that they like is a huge deal to the business.

This year the business is big on marketing with hopes of becom-ing a “solid and polished brand” by the end of the year. It has been rather difficult being in a world that is dominated by well-known brands and with the brand being student led it has raised some doubts to retailers.

Age is by no means a barrier for this entrepreneur. In the next 5 years Eathan hopes that the brand will still be around and going strong. “I would like Gemstone NZ to be a well-recognised brand and for people to be hyped up about the release of our latest products,” he adds.

Eathan’s drive to be successful was inspired by his mother who always made an effort to do more and be more than what was expected of her. Although Eathan says a lot of his inspiration has come from fashion and other exterior resources in terms of design; to Eathan “My mum is my primary inspiration”.

It took a lot of effort to get to where Eathan is which meant being open to criticism, advice and suggestions that contributed to the overall growth of the business. Eathan is a strong minded young person who has already and will continue to go far.

“You really need to have faith in what you are doing and eventu-ally you will strike gold!”

What is Gemstone NZ?

Gemstone NZ was established in 2012 and since the begin-ning our primary focus has been to offer a quality collection of products that stand out in the crowd. Gemstone is home to young and dedicated creative designers who continue to look for opportunities to expand the audience we cater to. We are very passionate about offering a collection of products to everybody who seeks out style, functionality and affordability.

Find out more: www.gemstonenz.com

Check out the lookbook for more styles: www.gemstonenz.com/lookbook.html

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YOUNG BUSINESSMAN STRIKES GOLD

Inspire

Shakaiah Perez

14

from left: Wendy Lee, Winnie Hsu and Annie Han

SEMINAR SUCCESS

15

Your story

The Youth Empowerment Seminar (YES) series is the brainchild of three former Year 13 Macleans College students Annie Han, 18, Wendy Lee, 18 and Winnie Hsu, 17.

The trio are passionate about making a difference in their com-munities by supporting other young people through the tumultu-ous phase between intermediate and high school.

Wendy says in 2014 she attended the YMCA Youth Camp and got to experience what it was like to work alongside young people aged 13-14.

She says it was a really fun experience. “I was a leader but also a friend too.” It made her feel like she had somewhere to belong.

Then during the course of the camp one girl disclosed that she self-harmed and this was something that Wendy had never antici-pated happening.

Winnie says organising the whole two day event was a little crazy at times but it was also really awesome and a really great feeling to see it all comes together.

The sessions covered fun interactive stuff like sushi making and let’s talk sessions which delved into relationships, social media use and advertising and how it all affects girls.

Annie says it was fulfilling to see the girls take the topic and develop it further.

The whole thing was enjoyable and I have never worked this closely with intermediate aged girls so that was a new thing for me.

She didn’t realise that someone so young could do that and it was her first experience with self-harm.

She began thinking about what could be done to help and then someone suggested the Auckland Homegrown Change makers event where you get to pitch and idea or project infront of a panel and if they like it then you get to get some funding.

So this is where their idea comes in.

They chose to organise a two day female youth empower-ment seminar for intermediate schoolers at Howick Recreation Centre on April 16 and 17. The event was completely free and food was provided.

They say : “We are offering all intermediate school aged females around the Auckland area an opportunity to attend a free two day youth empowerment seminars.

On day one, we discussed how to use social media effectively, what to do if you don’t feel safe online, and provide the girls with some real life tips and advice about how to have a healthy online experience, alongside discussing the unrealistic beauty expectations of the 21st century. On day two, we will be focussing on what healthy relationships look like, how to make friends at high school, and help the girls prepare for their transition into high school.

The aim is to ensure the seminar series remains fun, and en-gaging as possible, through using a wide variety of games and confidence building activities.

image designed by freepix

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Your

Story

Long-time Youthline staff member Stevie Sikuea just landed an AUT Scholarship to study a Masters in Human Rights in 2016.

The 21-year-old has a lot of accolades to her name, including organisational and admin wiz, which led to a part-time role working for Action Education. Stevie also recently completed her co-op education term as Youth Development and Projects intern at Youth-line.

Stevie has just completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at AUT studying a double major in Maori Development and Social Sciences. At her recent graduation Stevie received the Dean’s Award and a Maori student achievement award.

It was one of her lecturer’s who suggested she look into the scholarship. Stevie says she’d like to focus her studies on the right all young people to have an education.

Stevie joined Youthline’s Waitemata District Health Board Youth Advisory Group when she was 14. Stevie’s personal experience of positive youth development, and her outstanding leadership skill led to her paid co-op term at Youthline where she spent six months supporting the redevelopment of Youthline’s National Youth Advisory group now named National Youth Collective.

She is now working part time as the Youth Development Administrator for Youthline’s sister organisation Action Education.

Stevie says she is stoked to have got the scholarship and is looking forward to studying Human Rights.

YOUTHLINE STAFF MEMBER LANDS AUT MASTERS OF HUMAN RIGHTS SCHOLARSHIP

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Youthline National Youth Collective member Kinanti Desyanandini, 18, has been awarded the AUT Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship for 2016. She will be studying Bachelor of Design at AUT starting in February.

“The scholarship is for my tuition at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), and it pays for $6000 a year for 3 years, totalling at $18,000, as I will be studying a Bachelor of Design (BDes) majoring in Product Design at AUT. I got it from a nomination from my school, as my secondary school (Auckland Girls’ Grammar School) is one of AUT’s partners for secondary schools in Auckland.”

In addition to this, she will have access to a student advisor for mentoring in her first year at university.

“I can’t believe that I got this scholarship - I’m very grateful and feel quite blessed and lucky.”

“My advice for other people trying to apply for scholarships would be to just give every opportunity a shot; some scholarships may have a low amount of competition and also don’t be afraid to show your skills, capability, and academic achievements - it’s not bragging, the scholarship board won’t know how awesome you are if you don’t tell them, ”she says.

Youthline was proud to support Kinanti’s application for this scholarship, and looks forward to working with her as she takes this next step in her journey.

Kinanti is a highly active Youthline volunteer. She recently produced a publication for Youthline called Holiday 101: your guide to living #holidaylife to the fullest. The guide offered young people advice about communicating, feelings, dealing with relationships, dealing with family, dealing with relationships and self-care.

NATIONAL YOUTH COLLECTIVE MEMBER SCORES AUT VICE-CHANCELLOR’S SCHOLARSHIP

18

Inspire

A Salvation Army youth group has created backpacks full of essentials for young people experiencing homelessness in Auckland.

The group was prompted to help after seeing Youthline’s Hygiene products appeal at the end of last year.

The group led by Children’s Ministry Coordinator Olivia Huszak.

Group member Ethan Consterdine said “its mint that there are young people being cared for by the community.

Jordan Aroha McDonald said “I didn’t realise how many young homeless people there were. I’m so glad I’ve been able to help them and hope they can stay strong… it’s been a real eye opening experience. And Northcross Intermediate helped by buying sausages for a sausage sizzle that we sold to raise money to buy the backpacks.”

Melissa Godbehere said I’m really glad I was able to experience this opportunity to help the homeless young people on the North Shore.”

Devying Kaye said “I did not realise that young boys and girls who are the same age as me were in this position. After giving Youth-line these packs of things that are needed daily, I hope it helps them.”

SEEING A NEED

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TED TALKSOver 1900+ informative and

interesting talks on topic from politics

to art, there something there for

everyone.

FRANK STATIONARY This awesome social enterprise will

give an item of stationery to a child in

need for every item sold.

NZGIRL This site allows you to create, find

and share your favourite things faster!

Check it out!

SPOTTEDHere’s some very cool causes / initiatives and organisations Heyday has spotted this month.

MASHABLE Check out Mashable NZ for everything

from social media to tech to videos

and so much more!

STUMBLEUPON This website is a hive of information

with is catergorised by topic and

interest.

A BIT ON THE SIDEFOTORYouTube banner maker. Bring your

youtube channel to life, Fotor’s

amazing YouTube cover designer

will let you maximise your youtube

experience in new and exciting ways.

www.fotor.com/features/youtube.html?pageid=2

www.ted.com/talks

www.stumbleupon.com

BurdaStyle

BurdaStyle is a DIY fashion and

sewing community. Heaps of

free sewing patterns and make

your own fashion inspiration.

www.burdastyle.com

www.nzgirl.co.nz www.frankstationery.com

mashable.com/category/new-zealand/

Rookie

Rookie is a website and book

series for teenagers. There’s

new content everyday and its

a great place to submit art and

stories you might want to share.

www.rookiemag.com

InstructablesEver seen a

Instructables is a place that lets

you explore, document, and

share your DIY creations. You

can learn to make just about

anything!

www.instructables.com/

GoodReads

Meet your next favourite book.

See which books your friends

are reading, track the books

you’re reading or want to read

and connect with other people.

www.goodreads.com

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A big THANKS to all the people who contributed:

So here’s to everyone who contributed!!!

Do you enjoy writing? Are you doing something you think other young

people would like to know about? Know of someone we should interview?

If you are interested in contributing in any way, please email

chloe@youthline.co.nz

About Youthline:

Since 1970 Youthline has helped youth, families, individuals and

communities through counselling, information, youth work, training

and leadership development programmes, best practice and advocacy.

Youthline is an NZQA registered Private Training Establishment.

Phone: 0800 37 66 33

Free Text: 234

Email: talk@youthline.co.nz

Website: www.youthline.co.nz