Otumoetai College raising Stars

Year 9 students Sharna Mashall and Natalia McQuarters build rat traps for Predator Free Bay of Plenty. Photos: Nikki South

Otumoetai College is the first school in the Bay of Plenty who has accepted the challenge of completing the Graeme Dingle Foundation Stars programme.

The programme involves Year 12 and 13 students who provide peer mentorship to Year 9 students throughout the year.

Stars co-ordinator Karyn Winters says term one focused on building relationships between Year 9 students and their peer mentors and students attended an adventure camp in Oteora to do this.

During this term, students are now focussing on carrying out a variety of community service projects.

'The programme goal of Stars is to enhance school culture through positive youth development.

'The Community Service Project helps students to think about how they can contribute to the community and the well-being of others.

'Research has shown that contributing through a volunteer project can increase social connectedness, improve self-concept and develop positive attitudinal change.

'A range of different student-led projects have taken place in the community including delivering afternoon tea to Tauranga Hospital, police and fire departments; cleaning up Kulim and Fergusson parks; building a garden at Brookfield Primary; helping kids do a project at Pillan's Point School; visiting elderly at Matua Aged Care; completing their schoolwide food drive and a few other projects.”

SunLive photographer Nikki South went along to Otumoetai College on Monday, where students built more than 200 traps for Predator Free Bay of Plenty and completed a clean-up at the local reserves.

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