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“Being taken through more life skills feels more important to us instead of math and geography stuff, it’s like we are getting to understand how to actually keep up with a more adult lifestyle”
Our mission is simple yet powerful: to equip young adults with the tools and mindset needed to thrive in any direction they choose. We believe that everyone deserves a chance to discover their passions, develop essential skills and build a solid foundation for their future success. Through our sport & health base self-improvement service, we strive to supply our local schools with a 10 week youth development programme that provides a supportive environment, expert guidance, a wide range of self development based knowledge/skills, challenges, habit building and goal setting. Our goal is to help those seeking that spark needed to unlock that full potential inside!
Being a young person without inspiration can be tough. It’s like feeling stuck in a never ending loop, not knowing which way to go or what path to take. It can leave many feeling unmotivated, unsure of themselves and lacking the drive to chase their dreams. Youth can be heavily impacted by the world around them. If this environment for them is less than encouraging it can lead to many personal development issues in the future such as, drug dependence, self isolation, lack of confidence, mental health issues. For many students, school is not their first interest, however, it is also evident that many believe they are not getting the desired life skills required to advance their life into the next stage, this can be very unmotivating when there is no access to such resources.
So how can we combat this issue and inspire our rangitahi to continue their educational journey, and be ready for the outside world? This is where Ignite Ākonga comes in! Ignite Ākonga builds a Rangatahi’s mana, ignites that spark, shows them the endless possibilities and provides the guidance and skills to turn their aspirations into reality. Due to the wide diversity of ages, backgrounds and genders of students facing this issue, our team approaches local schools for sessions as a part of our efforts to reach them before it’s too late.
Regardless of the students’ desired direction in life, our team at IGNITE Ākonga have made significant impacts since starting this programme in 2021.
In Hawkes Bay we currently we support education providers including:
In 2024-2025 our goal is to continue adding further schools to this list.
