Mentor Juliette Brawn with Te Puke High school student Te Aratea Tupaea who Juilette mentored in 2022. Photo / Supplied
Mentor Juliette Brawn with Te Puke High school student Te Aratea Tupaea who Juilette mentored in 2022. Photo / Supplied
Not everyone sees teenagers this way, but Maketū's Juliette Brawn reckons they are an untapped resource.
Last year Juliette was a mentor for Te Puke High School student Te Aratea Tupaea as part of the Graeme Dingle Foundations He Ara Akonga programme.
The programme, similar to, but funded separately from, the foundation’s Project K programme, sees selected rangatahi undertake a wilderness challenge, community work and meet regularly one-on-one with a mentor.
Juliette says she put her hand up to be a mentor because she is passionate about teenagers.
“I’m also passionate about the Graeme Dingle Foundation and really like what they are about and what their commitment is to teenagers.”
“If you can steer teenagers on to the right paths, they are just going to make awesome adults.”
Juliette doesn’t subscribe to the view that teens are not ready to be a valuable part of the community.
“Youth may not have the experience of their adult peers, but they certainly have fresh ideas, they can contribute in all sorts of ways.”
She says there is often a disconnect between the community and its young people, and being a mentor can help create a link.
“Their elders can contribute so much of their experience to teenagers, but they are not often matched up.”
When they are, it can highlight the teens’ potential.
“Often we can see the greatness in them that they can’t see themselves, so it’s about acknowledging that really.”
Mentors and teens meet up once a week for around two hours.
“Maybe to some people two hours sounds like a horrendous commitment, but it isn’t - two hours goes by like a flash. Tea and I just worked out what would work for us, it was completely directed by ourselves and there were often activities organised as well that we would go and do.”
Mentoring isn’t just a one-way street - there are benefits to the mentor as well.
“I’ve had Tea come with me to scrapbooking events and she calls me and my ladies the ‘old ladies squad’. But she’s actually getting to make a difference in all our lives as well by being connected to the ‘old lady squad’ who might not necessarily come into contact with someone her age.”
Mentor Juliette Brawn with Graeme Dingle Foundation's Bay of Plenty manager Dan Allen-Gordon. Photo / Stuart Whitaker
The foundation’s Bay of Plenty manager Dan Allen-Gordon says being a mentor is not about changing young people, but helping them be their best selves.
“A lot of our kids on He Ara Akonga and Project K – they don’t have a lot of self belief but they are all quite intelligent, they just don’t know it in many ways.
“Someone’s told them they are dumb or something like that and they just carry it – and that’s why they ditch classes - they say to themselves ‘why should I try?’”
Dan says the start point is the wilderness experience.
“That helps them reflect and also helps them learn how resilient they can be and then meeting the mentors and having that support network is really quite critical.”
He says mentors come from all walks of life.
“Some people say to me ‘what about my age, am I too old?’. But for the young people that isn’t really a barrier. We’ve had retirees who have been amazing mentors and the kids get on really well with them.
“We’ve had amazing mentors, from CEOs to plumbers, it doesn’t really matter.”
Dan says in terms of qualifications, there are no requirements.
“Just people who care about making a difference for kids.”
This year in Te Puke there will be 38 young people on the He Ara Akonga and Project K programmes - each one needing a mentor.
The students are in Year 10.
Anyone wanting to find out more about becoming a mentor can contact Leah Nesbit on 027 528 1420 or by emailing her at leah.nesbit@dinglefoundation.org.nz.
