SADD – Latest News

Safe Summer 2009 / 2010

 Keep an eye out this summer for some of our team.  We’ll be hitting some pretty awesome events with some freebies to keep the safe partying / safe driving message going over the summer months.  Some of the events we will be at are:

• Jan 15: Big Day Out, Auckland
• 29 Jan: Bayfest, Hawke’s Bay
• 30 Jan: Sounday, Christchurch
• 27 Feb: Safer Christchurch, CHCH
  

Student of the Year 2009

With so many awesome students doing such great work around the country we wanted to recognise their work by awarding a new annual prize - our Student of the Year. This will be an annual award so if you have someone in mind in 2010 make sure you let us know.

This year's nominees are from all over NZ:

• Hazel Swanson from New Plymouth Girls High School
• Briar Hanley from Gore High School
• Harry Riley-Smith from Timaru Boys High School
• Jessica Bester from Coromandel Area School
• Nicky Lucas from Makoura College
• Marie Purchase from Mt Maunganui College

With our grand winner, Nicky Lucas, from the Wairarapa.

Nicky has been involved with SADD in her school for four years, the last two as the lead student. She has taken on the lead in organising a variety of SADD events including:

• Mocktail competitions
• A mock crash involving a local radio celebrity and emergency services
• Cream pie fest including staff and students
• Guess the number of cans in the car
• Fatal vision goggles
• Helping to organise the Police games involving students, a great way for students to interact with the Police in a positive way
• As one of four committee members at her school a focus has been on ensuring that SADD continues long after she has gone
• Recruiting new students
• Fundraising activities to support future SADD promotion within the school

Nicky has also been a valued member of the Wairarapa Regional Committee for two years and is the current Treasurer. She is a motivated and willing member and her assistance has proven vital for Wairarapa Committee initiatives.

As a small sign of our appreciation for the great work that these students have done this year we have sent each of them a SADD pack of merchandise (and they are among the first to receive some of our Safe Summer resources which will be distributed at selected events over summer). In addition to this Nicky has also received a $70 music voucher and $20 Whitcoulls voucher.

It is thanks to students just like these (and the many more around the country that we can't list here) that SADD has been going for 23 years in NZ.

Congratulations to you all and keep up the great work!

Regional Committee of the Year, 2009

The WBOP workshop held in March 2009 was a stepping stone for what has developed into a very strong and motivated regional committee.  There is consistently 7 out of the 8 schools in the region represented at these meetings; of which 4 were represented at the Auckland conference and 3 at the Upper North Island SADD Workshop.

These students share ideas, motivate and support each other to run events at their schools and in the community.

They were a driving force behind ensuring that each of their schools attended the ‘Anti Drink Drive Expo’ held in there region and each of the students attended themselves. Dom (our Upper North Island Regional Coordinator) was at ease leaving this group of students in charge of the SADD stall for a day and evening session because of the maturity and passion for the cause that they demonstrate.  The feedback received from fellow stakeholders was that they did a wonderful job.

The students understand that their area is a summer ‘hot spot’ for young people;  and therefore wanted to work collaboratively to promote SADD’s messages on a wider community scale. The group has been working on a special project launching in December and it’s going to be BIG!  We can’t spoil it by telling you too much now so keep an eye out for activity from these guys over summer!

Well done to the Western BOP Regional Committee on being awarded our first ever committee of the year!  We’ve sent out packs to the committee with some SADD merchandise and they’ll be getting together for a farewell meeting with Pizza on us!

2009 Ambassadors

Our 2009 Ambassadors have been appointed!  Congratulations to:

• Bethany Cross (Blue Mountain College)
• Sean Lewis (Bethlehem College)
• Annalise Stewart (New Plymouth Girls High School)
• Courtney Phillips (Taradale High School)
• Mani Tuki (Taita College)
• Kyle Newton (Kings High School)