Last Thursday, four of our Year 13 leaders attended the OnBeingBold Youth Day in Auckland, joining around 90 students from schools across the region for an inspiring day centred on the theme Dreaming Big. Hosted at Fonterra, the event brought together a remarkable group of New Zealand's leading women from business and governance, who shared their personal journeys, leadership experiences, and the challenges they have overcome throughout their careers.

The day was designed to encourage young women with leadership potential to think confidently about their future and the positive impact they can have in their communities. Through hearing from successful female leaders and engaging in discussions throughout the day, our students gained valuable insights into leadership, resilience, and the importance of believing in themselves as they pursue their goals.

Some keynote speakers:

• Dame Therese Walsh - Chair of Air New Zealand and ASB Bank, and Director for Antarctic New Zealand.
• Dame Joan Withers - Chair of The Warehouse Group
• Jolie Hodson - CEO and Executive Director of Spark
• Silvana Schenone - Co-Head Investment Banking at Jarden
• Aditi Gorasia - Founder and CEO of Ads on Pads
• Frances Valintine - Founder and Board Director of academyEX
• Cathy Quinn - Director of Fonterra, Director of Fletcher Building, Chair of Tourism Holdings, Chair of Fertility Associates, Director of Rangatira

Lucy Sinclair - Last week I had the pleasure of attending the On Being Bold, Dreaming Big event, which aimed to inspire girls to set high goals for themselves and build confidence and self-worth, especially in unrepresented career paths. There were many other girls from schools all around Auckland who attended this event. Overall, I was very grateful to be able to attend, and some of the speakers were very inspirational. The main thing I got out of it was understanding that future paths are usually not linear, and even though right now feels like a lot of pressure in picking what I want to do in the future, everything will work out if you have the right mindset and put in effort. By listening to speakers, I understood even very successful women have moments where they doubt or think less of themselves, and this event showed me ways to comfort these feelings.  

Peyton Nathan - The Bold Dream Big event, organised by Fonterra, was designed to inspire and empower young women to think more broadly about their future pathways. Female students from a range of different schools came together to hear from influential leaders, including CEOs, Chief Executives, professional directors, and Ministers in Parliament. This created an environment that encouraged ambition and showed the wide variety of opportunities available beyond school. Many of the speakers shared their personal journeys through tertiary education and into leadership roles within their respective fields. The most impactful speakers to me were those who spoke honestly about the challenges they faced and the risks they took to achieve their goals. Hearing these real-life experiences made their success feel more realistic and highlighted that setbacks can be an important part of growth. The most important lesson I took from the event was that success is not always linear, and being open to new opportunities is essential. Overall, the Bold Dream Big event helped me to reflect on my own future and motivated me to aim higher, take initiative, and make the most of the opportunities available to me.