{"id":283101,"date":"2026-02-14T01:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/283101\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T01:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T01:42:08","slug":"on-the-up-northland-teen-temawe-patira-wins-top-award-at-blue-light-life-skills-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/283101\/","title":{"rendered":"On The Up: Northland teen Temawe Patira wins top award at Blue Light Life Skills Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt helped me grow in confidence and showed me that I\u2019m capable of more than I sometimes think.<\/p>\n

\u201cI built strong friendships with people from different backgrounds, which made the experience even more meaningful. The camp challenged me physically and mentally, but it was also a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy toughest challenge at the camp was marching and staying in sync with everyone while working as a team. That showed me the importance of teamwork, patience, and perseverance,\u201d Mawe said.<\/p>\n

Being announced as the Overall Excellence Award Winner took Mawe by surprise, he said. \u201cI felt shocked and really excited. I honestly didn\u2019t expect it. Receiving the award made me feel proud of the effort I put in and reminded me that hard work, commitment, and positive attitude don\u2019t go unnoticed.\u201d<\/p>\n

For anyone considering the Blue Light Life Skills Camp<\/a>, Whang\u0101rei Boxing Academy chairwoman Andrea Snowdon said, \u201cWe wanted our young people to understand what resilience looks like beyond the gym.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing the growth, confidence, and pride he [Mawe] returned with has reinforced how powerful these programmes are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Mawe plans to continue his journey with Blue Light<\/a>. \u201cMy next goal is to attend the Blue Light Leadership Programme later this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoxing is my biggest passion, and at school, my main focus is achieving both NCEA Level 1 and Level 2.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blue Light\u2019s Life Skills Camps are run in partnership with the New Zealand Defence Force, with adventure-based experiential learning as a key part of the programme.<\/p>\n

The programme is designed to provide 14-17-year-olds with critical life skills such as self-development, self-control, and teamwork, intended to help young people achieve success at home, school, in communities, and in employment.<\/p>\n

\"ThereThere were great friendships to be made and great experiences to be had at January’s Blue Light Life Skills Camp in Whenuapai.<\/p>\n

Up to 12 courses are held each year in Auckland, Trentham, Waiouru and Burnham.<\/p>\n

More information is available at www.bluelight.co.nz.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Blue Light is a not\u2011for\u2011profit charity that partners with police<\/a> to help young people build confidence, life skills, leadership, and a sense of belonging.<\/p>\n

A major focus is on empowering disadvantaged youth by removing barriers to positive participation in their communities through national and locally delivered programmes.<\/p>\n

With more than 70 branches, Blue Light offers cultural, sporting, and educational activities that are alcohol, drug, and violence\u2011free.<\/p>\n

While supported by police, it operates independently, providing young people with positive role models and safe experiences that reduce the risk of offending or victimisation. Founded as a community policing initiative in Australia, Blue Light now also operates in the Solomon Islands, the Cook Islands, and Scotland.<\/p>\n

Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, covering a wide range of issues. She has 20 years\u2019 experience in journalism, mostly as a court reporter in Gisborne and on the East Coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt helped me grow in confidence and showed me that I\u2019m capable of more than I sometimes think.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1975,2346,1567,1558,15497,10040,16417,424,6804,111,43,139,1067,69,90,428,158060,16708,5163,4054,158059,223,3010,810,158061,6202],"class_list":["post-283101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-at","tag-award","tag-awarded","tag-been","tag-blue","tag-camp","tag-excellence","tag-life","tag-light","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-overall","tag-patira","tag-skills","tag-teen","tag-teenager","tag-temawe","tag-the","tag-top","tag-up","tag-whenuapai","tag-wins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}