Tauranga Youth Search and Rescue celebrates a decade

Sophie Wardell saw a bear in Yosemite National Park during her training trip. Photo / Supplied

They started with just 17 Tauranga students a decade ago - and now more than 320 teenagers are part of the local Youth Search and Rescue team.

The Tauranga Youth Search and Rescue group is celebrating 10 years since forming in 2008.

General manager Steve Campbell said students recognised the importance of the youth programme, which aimed to improve their personal and professional development.

He said the primary objectives were to gain confidence, develop leadership skills, learn about the outdoors and gain problem solving skills.

"We encourage students to step outside their comfort zones in a safe environment. They are good problem solvers."

Campbell said the biggest changes in the past decade included the significant outcomes the students had achieved and an increased interest in the past two-to-three years nationally and internationally.

He said there had also been a change in more students involved in project based learning, where children were learning "real world" situations.

Campbell said the organisation had also been working to build credibility in the sector, including speaking at the Australian New Zealand Search and Rescue conference on the Gold Coast and sending teenagers to the United States in July this year.

Four students, aged 15 to 18, took part in a four-day training exercise with the Marin County Search and Rescue team in Yosemite National Park.

Campbell said Youth Search and Rescue had also just signed up as associate members of the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group.

Sophie Wardell, 17, joined the Tauranga Youth Search and Rescue team four years ago.

The teenager has completed the three-year programme and has come back as a student leader in her fourth year with the youth organisation.

Wardell said she joined at age 14 after her sister's best friend recommended it. The Year 13 Te Puke High School student said she was busy during the week with after-school sports and other activities, but her weekends were empty.

Now most of her weekends and Wednesday nights have been spent training with the group.

"If I didn't do YSAR I wouldn't be where I am today. I was quite shy when I was younger. I was always really busy but lacked confidence," she said.

"It has given me leadership opportunities and more confidence. It has pushed me so much both physically and mentally."

Wardell said the programme also helped her gain NCEA credits she needed for school.

The teenager was also part of the group that went to America this year to train alongside the Marin County Search and Rescue team in Yosemite National Park.

To join Tauranga Youth Search and Rescue, visit ysar.org.nz