A look back on the transformative moments during term 2.

Posted on Monday, July 31, 2023
in Updates

We’re celebrating the successful term at Zeal. We take pride in our teams across Aotearoa and their achievements and this term has no doubt been one to remember!

We’re excited to share more about the highlights over the term.

Skip to your favourite Zeal

Hamilton • Wellington • Kāpiti • Taranaki • West Auckland

Zeal Hamilton

Zeal Nights is coming to Hamilton

 We are excited to announce funding has been approved by Hamilton City Council to run a six-month trial to help combat the high rates of youth offending.  Based on the successful Wellington Zeal Nights project, we will be opening the doors on Friday nights to provide a safe and supportive drop-in space for young people to attend.

Celebrating programme students

For the first time, we had three showcases for our programme students to show off their new skills. This involved K-pop, Siva Samoa, Barista, Photography and Theatre programmes. In total 70 young people participated in the showcase and 350 attendees came to show their support.

Fostering confidence through dance

We recently introduced a Siva Samoa (Samoan dance) programme at St. Johns College with 30 young men participating. This programme has gone beyond teaching dance by creating opportunities for connections among like-minded young people, fostering confidence, and deepening cultural understanding. It has been a total success.

Introducing Tessa Tangaer as Zeal Hamilton Manager

As Tony O’Rourke steps into the Acting National Manager role, we’re happy to announce Tessa Tangaere, the former Hamilton programme coordinator will be stepping into the role of Manager for Zeal Hamilton. Tessa brings a wealth of experience, and we’re looking forward to seeing her lead the Hamilton team

"I can't wait to lead this awesome team of youth workers and keep empowering them to make a real difference in the lives of young people and their community. It's going to be an exciting journey ahead!"

Tessa Tangaere

Introducing Tony O'Rourke: Zeal Acting National Manager

As Britney Jupp starts her maternity leave, we are delighted to announce that Tony O’Rourke, the former Zeal Hamilton manager, will be stepping into the role of Acting National Manager. We are excited to have Tony on board and look forward to the leadership he will bring to Zeal.

"I'm excited to continue the remarkable work by Britney as I step in as Acting National Manager. Together with the dedicated team across Zeal, I'm looking forward to the opportunities that lie ahead in 2023, as we continue to empower rangatahi in our communities and ensure all young people are living full lives of meaning and purpose."

- Tony O'Rourke

Zeal Wellington

Stories cafe celebrating new baristas

Nine rangatahi successfully completed Wellington’s transformative barista programme, gaining essential employment skills while being mentored by youth workers. Our end-of-term celebration showcased their remarkable success. Everyone was filled with an overwhelming sense of pride. Young people had the freedom to invite anyone they wished, resulting in a buzzing room filled with parents, teachers, loved ones, and Zeal staff celebrating together.

School mentoring programmes

We have expanded our involvement in Wellington schools, including Rongotai College and Te Ara Alternative Education School. At Rongotai College, we are providing mentoring for young people experiencing challenges in their world. Additionally, we collaborated with Te Ara Alternative Education to deliver a photography programme to Pasifika young people. We’re proud of fostering meaningful connections with students at both schools.

Zeal Nights

Every Friday night Zeal Wellington opens its doors to provide a safe and supportive drop-in space for young people to attend. This term a total of 200 attended and connected with youth workers. A special highlight was seeing the young people feel comfortable at Zeal by cooking dinner alongside youth workers, welcoming new young people into the space and contributing to the positive vibes of Zeal Nights.

Zeal Kāpiti

FIFA Women's World Cup is supporting rangatahi

We are excited to have been chosen by Ministry of Youth Development to run a FIFA Women’s World Cup project in our community. Working with a group of year 8 students from Waikanae School, the project is aimed at supporting young people’s personal development, building social connections and developing leadership and communication skills.

Zeal Nights were a massive success

Due to the requests from young people and thanks to funding from Te Korowai Whetū Social Cohesion Community Fund, we were able to extend the afternoon space by launching Zeal Nights. Held every alternate month to Musicians’ Lounge, Zeal Nights offered a live music performance, Zeal’s coffee cart and refreshments, pumping beats, and a variety of games and activities for anyone who wishes to participate. It was an awesome space that opened more opportunities for young people to connect with youth workers.

Zeal Taranaki

New programme connecting rangatahi with their whakapapa

10 – 12 Alternative Education students will start a 10-week programme with Ngāti Maru, which is designed to help rangatahi connect with their whakapapa, marae and guide them through the historical background of Taranaki. We believe this will be an enormous benefit to them and can’t wait to see the awesome things that come out of this ongoing partnership.

Radio New Zealand interview about Alternative Education

Zeal Taranaki Alternative Education teacher Christina Galley spoke with Radio New Zealand’s podcast ‘The Detail’ about an ERO report on alternative education, lack of funding for alternative education providers and the successes of young people within Taranaki’s programme. This was an awesome opportunity to highlight the missed statistics surrounding students’ achievements and Zeal’s input in young people’s growth.

End of term showcase

We had an awesome time celebrating programmes students during our end-of-term showcase. The event featured 11 talented performers showcasing their skills in dance, photography, guitar and art. Additionally, our barista students served hot drinks throughout the night. 55 attendees showed their support for young people, and the entire evening turned out to be an absolute success.

Hear what Christina has to say on the Detail Podcast

Zeal West Auckland

We're Backing You event

Our massive event to launch National Smokefree Month, brought in over 400 attendees and supported a great Kaupapa. The event provided families with free food and information to help them kick smoking. In the same week we were also featured on national television about the effects that vaping has on young people and our community. These media pieces helped influence law changes around vaping.

Strong team culture

It feels like it has been a long time since we have been able to operate without any barriers. All of our programmes are running at full capacity, events are back in full swing and our venue hire is giving more community groups access to our resources. We have the biggest team of youth workers that we have ever had at Zeal West and our impact mirrors that level of resourcing.

Zeal Digital West Tech Expo

In the final week of term 2, our Digital and West teams hosted over 100 rangatahi at our first ever laptop refurbish-a-thon. Here they learned to take apart and repair used laptops. One third of the learners had completed our 7-week programme previously, and their job was to teach their peers what they’d learned through a series of collaborative challenges. The coolest part is every young person who took part either has or will soon receive a free device as part of our programme. We got to see first-hand the leadership skills of West Auckland rangatahi and we were blown away!

Thank you

A huge thank you to all our supporters. With your help, we were able to reach more young people and create transformative experiences for them to enjoy. We’re looking forward to term 3 and everything it will bring.