Darrin Walsh: It's great what youth can do

Darrin Walsh

On Tuesday night, I was fortunate enough to attend the 2015 Stage Challenge.

Students are involved in every aspect of the performance including set construction, choreography, hair and make-up, and costume design. This is their show and their time to shine. The show consisted of eight high schools from around the region competing against each other. They each performed a dance conveying a theme or message of their choice.

The show itself was fantastic. My congratulations to every school that took part - having two daughters in it myself I knew first-hand the time and effort each student had put in.

They dedicated five hours every Saturday and Sunday for the past few months to ensure the performance was perfect. My congratulations as well to the Rotorua Girls' High team that won first place.

The performances did a lot more than entertain. They reassured me of all the attributes that go into driving success.

Each school was asked why they had competed and what their performances meant to them. We were told of the joy of working as a team and making a commitment to each other.

Many of the teams spoke of compromising within their groups to ensure every voice was heard and of respect for each other. Every team spoke of the dedication and hard work that went into each performance.

All this helped justify why the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce is looking to launch its new "Junior Chamber". I have been kicking around the idea over the past 12 months. Consisting of two representatives from each of the local high schools and three students from Waiariki Institute of Technology, it will bring a new dimension to the chamber's purpose.

The Junior Chamber will be given tasks with a goal of bringing the Rotorua business community and the local schools (youth) closer together. They can play a role in such things as the Young Enterprise Scheme, the BOP Polytechnic Mash Up competition and the local Careers Expo.

More importantly, I have a huge blank page that I want these Junior Chamber reps to fill with their ideas.

As the performances on Tuesday night showed, when you let our local youth express themselves and give them a goal to achieve - wow. What a powerful experience.

Watch this space for more on our Junior Chamber - I hope to have our first scoping out session in the next two weeks.

- Darrin Walsh is chief executive of the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce