PEO Leadership Camp
Friday, 11th November 2022 at 10:30am
Year 12 students are learning how to become a leaders as part of their NCEA assessment ‘Evaluate leadership strategies that contribute to the effective functioning of a group’ - worth 4 credits.
As part of the Level 2 Physical Education Outdoor course, 02PEO students are required to teach and lead the class in a range of outdoor activities. Students participate in camping, camp cooking, swimming, rafting, day tramp, adventure based learning tasks, night activities, and overall running of their Leadership camp.
The following article was written by our intrepid 02PEO reporter, Scott Morgan-Smith:
Individually, we all waited for that bell that signalled our release and the start of the 2022 PEO Leadership Camp. At the end of the fourth period, we all made our way to the pre-packed and loaded bus that would be our chariot for the days ahead. With Mr James at the wheel and summer tunes filling the bus we were off; first stop, Abbey Caves in Whangārei. A steep drop signalled the start of the cave, but the first waist-high puddle told us we were truly caving. With squeaky wet shoes, we continued past the stalagmites, stalactites and friendly glow worms until we reached the end. From here we headed further north to our campsite in Otamure Bay with an obligatory supermarket and Maccas stop along the way and just as the sun was saying goodbye for the day we pulled into the campsite. A quick team talk was followed by the setting up of tents in the dim light of dusk and before we knew it we were in bed, the sound of crashing waves soothing us to sleep.
We had no time to be sleepy in the morning as we had a big day of activities planned. A less-than-warm morning swim woke everyone up and prepared us for the day. What followed was us being taught how to tie various knots and make paracord bracelets by some very knowledgeable students while the teachers set up a survivor activity. The survivor activity was a team race involving leadership and interpersonal skills to complete activities like archery or find which egg was the boiled one. With no kitchen utensils around, we were forced to use our heads to see if the egg was boiled or not, very messy! After this came a fitting lunch for this camp, sausages on bread. This prepared us for the afternoon which involved beach fishing, a bridge walk and paddle boarding where we found our animal friend of day two, a very friendly stingray. A relaxed afternoon followed this which involved some dinner, successful night fishing and smores before we all hit the hay to prepare ourselves for the final day.
Another early morning was immediately followed by morning swim number two. Refreshing! We quickly packed up our camp, searching the dewy grass to ensure there was no trace that we had been there. We had breakfast on the road as we made our way to Tree Adventures. Exploring the tops of trees came with its challenges from the frightening heights to the upper body straining obstacles standing between us and the zipline that led safely to the ground. We had time to rest later though because before we went home Parakai Pools was calling us. The calming hot pools contrasted with the adrenaline-inducing waterslide but they added together to a fitting end to our trip. All that was left was to drive home and give the bus a good cleaning to thank it for taking us on this trip. A hot shower and sleep in our beds were what everyone was looking forward to but even the dreams of that deep sleep would not be as eventful as the 2022 PEO Leadership camp.
