Aorere BOT Student Rep Noelyn Villamil on the Spirit of Adventure 2011
Each year Aorere College sponsors two Year 12 students to go on the training ship, the Spirit of New Zealand, a sailing vessel which takes around 40 students from all over New Zealand. This year Ofisi Ketu’u and Ashneka Deo were the two lucky students who had 10 day voyages on the Spirit of New Zealand. As well as these 2 Year 12s, the student BOT representative this year, Noelyn Vilamil, also attended a 5 day sponsored voyage at the beginning of the year to help her with her leadership skills.
Student Experience - Noelyn Villamil (BOT Representative 2011)
As part of my training I went on a voyage on the Spirit of Adventure. This voyage gave me an opportunity to learn and ask questions about my role as the school’s student trustee and also gave me a chance to meet other student trustees from around New Zealand. Our mornings on the ship consisted of waking up at 6.30 sharp to the ‘delightful’ sound of the ship’s generator and diving into the ocean for our shower. We did a lot of team building activities and sailing during the day as well as sessions on learning about the Board and goal setting. Highlights were the Burma trail, seeing dolphins, skit night and our evening activities. I didn’t have any lowlights but I did have challenges where my personal barriers were pushed. This included climbing the ship’s mast, dressing up as a boy and waking up at 3 am for my two hour shift when I was on night watch. The voyage was truly an amazing experience. I learned more about my role, all at the same time while making new friends