Twelve teenagers are getting a taste of volunteering by spending a day with each of the Far North's emergency services.
The teens, aged 16-18, are taking part in the Youth in Emergency Services (YES) programme now under way in Kaikohe. Civil Defence co-ordinator and Kaikohe fire chief Bill Hutchinson said he was impressed by the calibre of the trainees, who included 16-year-old Seshat Edmonds.
Seshat had a head start on the others because she had started her volunteer service as a 12-year-old when she and her sister signed up with the Kawakawa Fire Brigade's cadets.
She continued with the Kaikohe brigade when she transferred from Bay of Islands College to Northland College at the age of 15, and joined the brigade proper as a recruit when she became eligible at 16. Her career goal is to join the police.
The 12 YES participants have already spent time with the Kaikohe Fire Brigade and Coastguard at Opononi; next week it will be St John, then the Red Cross in Kerikeri.
