William Pike Challenge Award

Sometimes it pays to ask.... During the school holidays I often volunteer on church camps for young people aged 10 - 16 years old. In April we spent a day at Tree Adventures in Woodhill Forest. It was a FANTASTIC day of climbing trees, maneuvering through obstacles suspended many metres above the ground, encouraging and supporting girls through the courses... and facing some physical and mental challenges of my own (after hours of clambering and climbing, Level 8 felt significantly high for my now slightly-quivering muscles, headache, and mometary feelings of dizziness). Of course, the entire time I'm thinking,   " this would be GREAT for the WPCA program! " So I touched base with the Tree Adventures team and discovered they had a great package for schools. It was exciting to be able to offer this to the Pikelets, and we were in much anticipation for Friday 14 June. The day turned out to be even better than we expected :) Highlights for me were... Hav...

We received an exciting email yesterday.... If not for the 14 years age restriction the teachers and I would have been submitting applications in a heart beat! WPCA have partnered up with the Antarctic Heritage Trust (AHT) to give all WPCA students in New Zealand the opportunity to apply for an epic experience. In September 20 WPCA students from across New Zealand will participate in something new for WPCA - the Young Inspiring Explorers' Summit in Christchurch (Christchurch, not Antarctica....) The summit includes:  - Antarctic virtual reality - Penguin encounters - Camping out overnight - Interacting with and learning about the role of husky dogs in Antarctic exploration - Seeing Antarctic artefacts before they are returned to Antarctica! - Stepping outside one's comfort zone - Drawing inspiration from Antarctica's exploration legacies - Connecting with other WPCA students from around NZ  - Spending the weekend with William Pike Fingers crossed to see ...

There have been soooo many highlights for me in this first WPCA year. Yes,  it has been challenging and a lot of work, but also so much fun!!  This photo captures one of my most favourite moments so far.  Over the months I had come to know William through second-hand accounts from his friends, and was looking forward to an opportunity to meet him in person. A generous invitation from St Thomas School to attend a presentation by William provided the opportunity, and I turned it into a "Mystery Event" for the Pikelets. What fun I had watching their distress at "not knowing"!  They did their utmost to find out what the surprise event was.... and a great shout out to the parents and students that kept the secret! I realise that I will never get to walk through a "first year" of WPCA at Wesley Int again. Next year our photos and stories will give away to future students what is going to happen, so I'm planning to make the most of the opportunity to...

For our inaugural year we are trialing a mix of group and independent community service. The group service is an opportunity for us to bond as a group, to work out the WPCA values together, and to set the expectation of what community service looks like. The group service projects will extend outwards over the year: Term 1 -Wesley Intermediate community Term 2 - Wesley community Term 3 - Wider Auckland community For the past two years the student library teams at WIS have sought to establish a reading room in the back section of the library. Both groups came close to achieving the goal, but lacked the manpower to make the plans reality. In comes the 2019 WPCA team.... Using the design created by the 2018 Library Team the Pikelets spent a few hours after school setting up the reading room.  Although work was getting done, it definitely sounded like a displaced slumber party was going on! The result of the group's efforts has been fantastic - an open space with a NZ bu...