Girls’ Brigade New Zealand – Awesome Leadership Course 2019On the 17th-21st July, Awesome Leadership was held at the Hunua Falls Camp in Auckland. This year the course was a combined North and South Island course. A total of 35 girls attended the course from across New Zealand and leaders from Auckland and Christchurch. Our theme for camp this year was “Choose Real” the Choose Real Campaign is all about taking a stand to transform our culture and the way girls (and everyone) see themselves and the world - as whole, complete, not lacking, beautiful, so worthy and more!The course kicked off on Wednesday night with an evening of speed gaming, much like speed dating the girls moved around the tables playing a board game for 3 minutes before moving onto the next game and a new partner picking up the game where the previous pair had finished. Everyone had a great time learning new games and playing some they hadn’t played in a long time whilst meeting other camp attendees.On Thursday we began our level sessions, we were excited to launch a new syllabus for Awesome Leadership this year based on a similar programme run by GB Australia. Thursday evening we had a craft night, we painted and decorated wooden inspirational words and made macramé key chains while waiting for the paint to dry. The craft night was a hit and some amazing artworks were created.Friday was a busy day. Level 2 girls braved the weather and went tree planting in the Waitawa Regional Park for their community service activity. They were joined by Charlotte Saunders (GBNZ National Commissioner) and Priscilla Penny (GB International President) and managed to plant around 200 trees. After a morning of planting, they came back to camp quite wet and rather muddy but very excited about what they had achieved. Whilst level 2 were playing outside in the rain the level 1 girls took part in a warmer community service activity learning how to knit and crochet peggy squares beside a warm fire as part of the little squares for little sprouts project set up but the organisation little sprouts. With the help of our two cooks Judith Martin and Lynne Prior, the girls were all knitting and crocheting in no time. In the afternoon, level 1 and 3 were also privileged to spend some time talking and sharing with Priscilla and Charlotte joining us for our afternoon sessions. Friday evening we relaxed with a movie night complete with ice cream sundaes and popcorn. The girls decided on the movie Brave, hoping to get some tips for their archery session on Saturday.Saturday was an exciting day, the morning was level time then after lunch the girls were split into three groups for an hour archery lesson each at the Kokako lodge. It was just a short walk from our camp past the Hunua falls that were spectacular given the amount of rain we had had over the last few days. Everyone had a great time testing out their archery skills and a couple of girls even managed to hit the bullseye. The excitement continued into the evening as the level 3 group was in charge of preparing and hosting the awards night and dinner. The evening was a fantastic way to end the camp, the level 3 girls had decorated the dining hall beautifully as well as set up an amazing photo booth and dance floor for after dinner. Everyone was buzzing but eventually, we all got to bed. Sunday was a beautiful sunny day but sadly our last day at camp, after our final debrief level session we cleaned up camp in record time meaning we could make the most of the sunny weather and try out the team activity challenge obstacle course at camp. This was a fun way to end camp before everyone headed home to get ready for school on Monday.It was a privilege to work with such an amazing group of young ladies who will be our future leaders. A special thank you also to our level facilitators and assistants this year, the course would not have been able to run without your dedication and willingness to encourage and support our young leaders.Michelle MartinAwesome Leadership Course Convenor 2019

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