Project K Student Excellence Awards

Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu,Taloha Ni

To: Dean Ellwood, Chair of the the Foundation for Youth Development and your fellow trustees; Joanne Wilkinson and Lani French, Executive Director and Project K National Manager respectively; Hon Shane Jones, Minister of the Crown; Distinguished Guests, Project K Graduates, Ladies and Gentlemen, my greetings to you all.

As the Patron of the Foundation for Youth Development, I am delighted to welcome you all to Government House in Auckland this evening for the presentation of awards to outstanding graduates of the Project K Programme.

Graeme Dingle and Jo-anne Wilkinson, who set up the Foundation and are both here tonight, often talk about how, through their adventures and their professional lives, they learned the value of having a dream, setting goals, persisting through problems, teamwork - and having sound values to fall back on in difficult times.

Now you know what each of those elements means at first hand because you have had real on-the-ground experience of them.

These are the key elements that form the basis of the foundation's work - and you will now have realised that is because they are some of the most important life skills you can have under your belt. 

Stepping up and taking challenges; being able to make decisions; knowing how to ask for help but ultimately relying on your own sense of integrity; feeling the satisfaction that comes from contributing to a team and helping others....These are things that make you stand tall as a person - and your experience of them will stand you in good stead in the years to come. 

Life is not all smooth sailing. But with this programme behind you, you will have wind in your sails!

You may not yet be aware of just how much you have grown from your experiences of the past year but I am sure that you gradually will be, as you go about your everyday lives - at school, at home, with your friends, and later at work.

You have proved yourselves.

Life is a matter of being prepared to reach out for what is on offer - but it is also a matter of giving back to society.

I think that President John F Kennedy put it so well when he challenged his fellow Americans, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

I am sure you will all find, in the years to come, your own unique way of making a contribution to New Zealand - and I wish you all the best for the future in whatever you undertake.

Tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.