On Thursday 25 June, eleven Year 12 students attended the Annual Explorer Conference, run by New Zealand’s Antarctic Heritage Trust.
The Conference was held at Te Pae in the central city and was attended by over 100 Year 12 students from 11 Canterbury Schools.
The aim of the conference was for students to embrace their ‘Explorer Mindset’ and during the day students attended workshops focused on leadership, innovation, creativity, resilience, curiosity and teamwork. The workshops used examples from Antarctica to illustrate these important characteristics of both early and modern day explorers.
Some of the highlights were a short walk (in the rain and wind) to see some of the local examples of Antarctic creativity including the statue of Robert Falcon Scott (created by his widow Kathleen) on the banks of the Avon, working in groups to put up polar tents (with specific roles assigned to each person in the group) and discussions regarding the most important and effective characteristics of effective leaders.
Students also had the chance to experience what Antarctica is really like (without getting cold) through the use of virtual reality headsets where they were transported to Scott’s Discovery Hut on Antarctica’s Ross Island and learnt more about this iconic Historic site.
The students also heard from two inspiring speakers.
Kelsey Waghorn, who was guiding tourists on Whakaari, White Island, during the devastating volcanic eruption in December 2019, shared her story of recovery after experiencing burns to 45% of her body and how she has gone on to live a life of adventure.
William Pike, who lost his leg in a volcanic eruption on Mt Ruapehu while mountaineering, has since gone on to head up the William Pike Challenge, inspiring 1000s of young people from throughout New Zealand.
It was an awesome day full of interesting and challenging stories and a great opportunity for the students to learn more about leadership, exploration and adventure.
