Opportunity key theme of Rotary conference in Whangarei

Rotary District 9910 governor Peter Smith.

Creating social opportunities by investing time and effort into youth was a key theme at
the Rotary District 9910 Conference.

Almost 200 Rotarians attended the conference in Whangarei at the weekend.

Governor of Whangarei Rotary Club, Peter Smith, said after two years hard work by organisers "everything just fell into place".

Before the event, as governor of the Whangarei Rotary club Mr Smith had travelled to 42 other clubs promoting a video of Whangarei - Love it here, "showing where Whangarei is and why it is so good".

Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai opened the conference and an extraordinary kapa haka performance by charter school Te Kapehu Whetu was also a highlight.

Mr Smith found it "rather humbling" that the group gave up time in their school holidays to perform for Rotary.

A key theme of the Rotary conference was opportunity and its importance in pushing Northland forward. Mr Smith said the conference was "not focused on economic opportunity, but social opportunity".

A key theme had been investing time and effort in youth, showing them opportunities and setting them up with the life skills to make good decisions.

Mr Smith said Rotarians believed in investing time in the early stages of a young person's life, rather than "trying to correct mistakes down the track".

There were many young speakers at the conference who had completed or were currently completing Rotary Youth Exchange Programmes, available for 15-18-year-olds, who had been of "huge importance" to the conference.