Former Silver Fern Bernice Mene has been leading an outdoor experience course for eight years to help youth reach their potential and realise they don't have to have it all figured out right away.
Mene says she sees the parallel between her life as a young athlete thrown in the spotlight and the students coming through the Hyundai Pinnacle Programme, which was initially set up as a sports sponsorship programme in 2005.
Photo: c Hyundai Pinnacle Programme
Bernice Mene Photo: Bernice Mene/Profile Photograph
In the age of social media, Mene tells Kathryn Ryan there's a lot more external pressure facing youth today.
"They have this perfectionist trait often where they don't want to get things wrong and so I think that's what's great with Spirit of Adventure and Outward Bound, it gives them that courage to say it's okay to fail, it's okay as long as you're having a crack and you learn from it then that takes you to the next level to being able to cope with anything that's thrown at you."
Outward Bound and Spirit of Adventure are two stages of the course, with the third and final being Kai Waho. The course can take anywhere from one year and up to six, depending on what the student wants.
Only five people a year are accepted into Kai Waho - where the students look at their whakapapa, share their goals and stay connected during the year.
"Within that stage, they look at building their own personal board of directives, so people they bounce things off of, mentors, and look at those relationship-building skills as well."
But applicants don't have to be the 'best of the best', Mene says.
"We're looking for students and youth that we can add value to - the main thing is that they have a passion and that they're motivated, that they want to improve or learn new skills.
"We have a lot of students that come in that are talented in many areas across the board and they need support in deciding which avenue they're going down.
"We've had quite a few applications, because we're short-listing at the moment, from students that are looking for something that they feel a bit different in their schools or that they are a bit of diamond in the rough or that they haven't had the support they need."
And the programme's reach goes far beyond the big centres in Aotearoa.
"Those small town ones have been prevalent as well, because for example I remember meeting one of our aspiring actors [Richard Crouchley]. He was only 15 or 16 at the time in Southland and he had driven all the way from Te Anau and he wanted to hear about the programme and what it could offer," Mene says.
"He had seen stage shows only online, he had never seen one in Te Anau. What he was looking for was some support and so Richard [Crouchley] went on to do Toi Whakaari, the performing arts school, even though we told him it was a pretty tough gig out there in the arts, and then he graduated and his first role out of Toi Whakaari was as David Bain actually in the Black Hands series."
Richard Crouchley (right) rehearsing for the TVNZ series Black Hands Photo: supplied
Most graduates note they've gained self-confidence, but another thing they maintain beyond the course is the bond, she says.
"We've also found that the students within the programme, they find the benefit of being within a network of motivated people, but also like a family, so able to support through the ups and downs.
"We've got students that have graduated or have done only or two stages but want to come back and support other students coming through and I think that's almost that brother-sister relationship, that support network coming in."
One of those who has kept her connections after graduating from the programme is Aimee Elliott, who signed up from Methven, Canterbury with an interest in triathlon.
"I felt quite isolated where I was, I definitely had the support of my family but in terms of other coaching and facilities and all that, it was quite isolating.
"I heard about the Pinnacle programme through another person at my school, and then I reached out and applied and I guess the rest is history."
Elliott says it was a life-changing experience, where she learnt to embrace her vulnerabilities.
"With Outward Bounds, I felt quite vulnerable in some situations, I had strangers that I met 24 hours ago, holding my harness while I did rock climbing or I had to trust them with my pack and all my warm clothes and food.
"One point in the Pinnacle Programme, we had to do this cliff jump and I'm terrible with heights so I had to do a lot of learning how to trust myself and just simplify the process and I feel like that's helped me later on in life is learning just to take things one step at a time."
Her new-found self-trust helped her make the courageous decision to leave her familiar setting for studies at Waikato University, she says.
Elliott is now in her 20s and still uses the skills she attained from Pinnacle in Fonterra's graduate programme.
Applicants should be between 15 and 18 years old and can submit their interest via the programme's website.
