Retreats
School Retreats 2007
Hato Paora College Year 13
Leadership Retreat…
Helping others to find their dream…
On a sunny day in Wellington last week, the Year 13 of Hato Paora came to Challenge to take part in a two day Leadership Development Retreat.
The theme of the Retreat was based around our looking at our Ancestors, both in family and faith, and what they have gifted us. ‘We must look back, to look forward.” As the students are preparing to leave secondary schooling in a number of weeks, this was a really important opportunity to look at living the future.
The couple of days consisted of a number of adventures; team building in the local park, trust games and taking risks, visiting the graves of some of the founders of Hato Paora at Karori cemetery, inspirational talks by Luke Crawford, an HP old boy, dinner with many people who are part of the Challenge community, late night adventures up Mount Victoria and touch on the beach at Oriental parade…and that was just day one! Day Two begun with an early morning swim and PT session led by Turbos Hooker Ged Robinson after which we went to the Home of Compassion site in Island Bay. More team activities and conversations around overcoming obstacles, fulfilling your potential, and how to get the support you need to get there. Each participant in the end, had to stand in front of everyone, and to speak their name and their dream. It was a truly inspirational hour.
We all at Challenge wish these young men well in living their dreams.
Photos coming soon - Watch this space!!!
Odyssey Camp 07
We had a great Odyssey Camp at Paraparaumu last term. Great youth participants (around 40 which was great) - great programme - great leaders - great volunteers!! Great graduation. Feedback from our participants said it all:
"Odyssey was awesome. When's the next one?"
"I looked forward to the Odyssey sessions every week - they were the highlight of the week - better than anything else."
"The leaders were great. They would listen - like really listen and taught me heaps about myself."
"I really enjoyed the whole programme - it came at a good time for me when Ii was trying to sort out a lot of stuff in my life. It really helped me."
Watch this space for details about next years programme.
Campion College Retreats in Gisborne
It's not everyday that one gets to visit Whangara on the East Coast (the Marae where "Whale Rider" was filmed) but for four Challenge staff this was part of their working week. With a venue as remarkable as this, the Year 13 Leadership retreat at Campion College was bound to be a success. Four Challenge staff members travelled up to Gisborne in February to help run retreats with Campion College. The focus for the first two days of retreats was "Leadership." There was lots of team building games and a successful "Leadership Survivor" Challenge was issued to, and accepted by the leaders of Campion College. There were also three days of retreats with Year 11 Campion College students. The theme for Year 11 was : Making Good Choices. Gisborne welcomed the Challenge team with fantastic weather, awesome beaches and wonderful people. Check out these photos:
Leadership Retreat
During the year, 16 potential and existing leaders had an overnight leadership experience at 'Number 2' to prepare and refresh them for the different programmes that we are offering in a range of Parishes and communities.
We looked at images of God, had general discussions on the importance of leadership and role modelling, and then worked to present two dramas, one that showed the importance of action and one that tapped into the history of St Dominic and the Dominican Family in the Church. A huge bonfire on the beach till the wee hours of the morning provided a great opportunity for all the participants to get to know each other better and to share deeply about where they were at in their lives at the moment. Everyone left Otaki tired but ready to serve as a leader in the next term.
"All it takes for evil to succeed is that good people do nothing" -Burke