Source: NZ Department of Conservation
What does it look like for a community to ‘always be naturing’? After 10 years of Kids Greening Taupō, Media and Communications Advisor Krysia Nowak finds out.
Kids Greening Taupō (KGT) is something of a behemoth. I don’t want to body-shame an environmental education programme, but it has enough arms to mimic a benevolent octopus. I don’t mean the staff – because they run on the smell of an oily rag – but their many avenues of environmental education and community connection. They’re as flexible as an octopus, too, with their adaptability being a key factor allowing this collaborative community education programme to thrive over the past ten years.
A blog cannot do justice to what Kids Greening Taupō is, but damn it, I’m going to try.
Inspiration
It all began with the Department of Conservation’s Outreach and Education team identifying an environmental education winner.
A group headed down to Fiordland to see what was happening at ‘Kids Restore the Kepler’, an innovative education programme connecting schools with community and giving students real life context for learning. They returned inspired, and ready to pilot a Taupō version.
Development and implementation was – and continues to be – a team effort, with representatives from Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board, DOC, Project Tongariro/Greening Taupō, and Taupō District Council working with local kindergartens and schools. The pilot was a resounding success, paving the way for the official launch of Kids Greening Taupō in 2015.
Tania Wells, a DOC community ranger at the time, says a key part of Kids Greening Taupō was professional development for teachers.
“A highlight for me was at Waipahihi Marae, where a group of senior students taught the teachers the process of pōwhiri,” says Tania. “The teachers were so proud to be learning from their own students. That was one of hundreds of different examples of what Kids Greening Taupō was about.”
Lead KGT Coordinator Rachel Thompson says Kids Greening Taupō was set up to involve the tamariki and rangatahi in Taupō with the work of parent project Greening Taupō, itself a part of influential environmental organisation Project Tongariro.
“So that’s mostly restoration work, but actually our core mahi is connecting our tamariki with nature. When we connect our young people with nature, and they can experience the beauty and wonder of it, then that’s something they want to protect in the future.”
Kids in charge
Thea DePetris was a long-term coordinator of Kids Greening Taupō and completed her master’s on the collaborative community education model. She says it was all about giving kids real-life opportunities to make the world a better place.
“It was all about putting those young people in the driver’s seat, to become leaders in their own communities.”
So, we have students organising planting days, leading school restoration projects, teaching other students, and even applying for funding. These students will grow up interested and invested in conservation and enter the world with the skills to make things happen.
A community of caring
Thea says Kids Greening Taupō is also about collaboration with the wider community.
“It ranges from government organisations, to individuals, to businesses. To see everyone get behind the programme at so many levels – they’re critical to its survival.”
Local business owner Shawn Vennell of Quality Print Taupō says it’s a privilege to be involved with Greening Taupō and Kids Greening Taupō.
“We decided to get involved for conservation reasons, and also to be involved in the community. We want, as a business, to show that we were putting something back.”
The impact
You could look at the impact by the numbers: 45 schools and early childhood education centres, more than 250,000 trees planted, 50,000+ volunteer hours, more than 100 students engaged in extracurricular conservation…. But these are just numbers.
You could look at the individual stories. Past students like Sian Moffit, who says KGT completely changed her career path.
“The opportunities, connections, and inspiration I found in KGT set me on a career rooted in environmental education.”
Sian followed the path from student to coordinator, and continues to be focused on environmental conservation in her new home of Christchurch.
You could look at Greening Taupō Day, where more than 2000 people turn up annually to celebrate conservation, Kids Greening Taupō, and their umbrella project Greening Taupō.
You could look at the way Kids Greening Taupō was a fundamental player in the establishment of the Taupō Environmental Education Collaborative.
You could look at all the businesses and organisations who donate kai, expertise, and time to the cause.
You could look at the supportive tuakana-teina relationship between older student leaders and younger aspiring conservationists.
And then you might start to get the picture – this is truly a community naturing.
The last word
Rachel says she’s really proud of how Kids Greening Taupō has grown and changed over time.
“It’s such a cool programme to be part of because it’s not prescriptive, we can make it work for any situation, for any teachers, for any students, to really meet the needs of our community.”
Learn more about Kids Greening Taupō and access the catalogue of free educational resources and activities: Kids Greening Taupō | Learning Through Nature
Nature is what we love. Naturing is how we protect it: Always be naturing.
