Nicholson was tired. That night, in his cell, he cried. <\/p>\n
By the morning he made a decision.<\/p>\n
Reconex was founded by Joel Nicholson, pictured right, after he saw a need to help teens disengaged from mainstream education in Tokoroa. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
Up the spiral stairs of the Tokoroa Club, past the function room where older women play mahjong, there\u2019s a small room where six teens sit.<\/p>\n
Normally these students would be in school, but they are either excluded from either of the two secondaries in town, or just don\u2019t want to be there. <\/p>\n
Like Keion Henderson, 15. <\/p>\n
He was barely attending school in Year 9 \u2013 something like a 4% attendance rate \u2013 so he left in Year 10. \u201cI just didn\u2019t like school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Henderson\u2019s parents weren\u2019t happy but then a mate told him about Reconex \u2013 an alternative education programme for teens like him, started by Tokoroa locals Joel Nicholson and Richard Heke.<\/p>\n
Over three days a week, the Rangitahi course has helped get him on a better track. It includes managing routines, cooking to a budget and goal setting. <\/p>\n
Today is a follow-up for the six in attendance. The focus is on their futures and each student has created their own vision boards.<\/p>\n
A bit of downtime playing pool, the Reconex Rangitahi programme runs three days a week and is solely funded by founders Richard Heke and Joel Richardson. Photo \/ Mike Scott <\/p>\n
Some are bold, some are more humble. It is obvious from the cows, motorbikes and country house that Henderson wants to be a dairy farm worker and maybe even a farmer.<\/p>\n
Other boards show hairstyling, a clothing brand, moving to Australia. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I wasn\u2019t here, to be honest, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if I\u2019d end up in jail … if I wasn\u2019t here,\u201d Henderson remarks.<\/p>\n
Sitting behind the class, Nicholson has a smile on his face because of what he\u2019s hearing \u2013 the Rangitahi programme in action. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like \u2018prehabilitation\u2019 \u2013 rather than going through the system and needing rehabilitation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nicholson and Heke started Reconex<\/a> because they saw a need. The pair met through their own rehabilitation programme and realised they each wanted to help the young people struggling in Tokoroa. <\/p>\n They were once those kids themselves.<\/p>\n At one point they knew of more than 100 local youngsters under 16 who were out of school and had few options.<\/p>\n But at Reconex they could only take eight at a time, mostly because Nicholson and Heke run the programme from their own pockets.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a small town, we don\u2019t have access to as much funding as the large cities but we still have all the same problems and the same issues,\u201d Nicholson said. <\/p>\n Tokoroa has done it tough in recent years with progressive closures <\/a>of the Kinleith Mill.<\/p>\n Last October the plywood plant closed<\/a> with the loss of 119 jobs.<\/p>\n In June paper machine six<\/a> halted production with the loss of more than 150 workers.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s still people that own businesses but it\u2019s a massive hit for the economy,\u201d Nicholson said.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the kids that we work with, a lot of their parents are pushing drugs, a lot of their parents are gang members, a lot of their parents are addicts. <\/p>\n \u201cWe see first-hand what\u2019s going on in our community every day.<\/p>\n \u201cIt can be frustrating because they\u2019re only with us for about four to five hours a day and then they have to go and survive the other 19 hours. And I know what that was like because it was like that for me growing up.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I\u2019ll share my story as long as it helps the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n Whanganui. Poor. Domestic violence. A mum under pressure and an alcoholic dad who left when he was 5. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd it hurt, bro, I felt rejected,\u201d Nicholson said.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to feel acceptance and I guess when you\u2019re young and you\u2019re going through that sort of stuff, you tend to make friends with like-minded people that are going through the same sort of stuff.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the friends that I made were bad people.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a time of survival. Often there was no food in the cupboard. He was drinking and smoking dope.<\/p>\n \u201cMe and my mates were out there shoplifting, robbing cars, stealing cars, committing burglaries, robbing shops and eventually I got caught and I got taken from my mum\u2019s custody.\u201d<\/p>\n First, he was sent to Christchurch, at 15, and then to Moerangi Treks in Te Urewera.<\/p>\n This is where Nicholson stutters and his gaze steels, looking straight through you.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I could picture hell on earth, that was it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve done heaps of jail. None of it was as hard as it was in those bush camps, eh.\u201d<\/p>\n Nicholson recounts being beaten by the instructors, by other boys under direction of the \u201cbrutal, brutal men\u201d running the bush camp. <\/p>\n He had lumps covering his head, lying with his injuries for days.<\/p>\n He remembers broken noses and eye sockets. They were served rotten meat with maggots.<\/p>\n Evidence about Moerangi Treks was later given to the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were in the middle of nowhere and they were literally torturing us in those places.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it changed me, how I saw authorities and that included police and others, because they were the ones who sent me there.\u201d<\/p>\n When he did get out, it was with embarrassment and shame.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I couldn\u2019t talk about it and the only time I felt at peace was when I was stoned. <\/p>\n \u201cI just leaned into drugs to cope. And of course when you\u2019re using a lot of drugs every day to cope, your tolerance gets more and more and so you start having to support that addiction.\u201d<\/p>\n From this point, Nicholson\u2019s life was a spiral into drug use, dealing and violence.<\/p>\n He would eventually get a seven-year sentence for aggravated robbery.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent my entire 20s in prison.<\/p>\n \u201cI was meeting, like, high ranking gangsters and people like that, that would give me their contact details and tell me to look them up when I got out. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd when I got out, I contacted the right people \u2013 or people that I thought were the right people \u2013 and I just started selling meth.\u201d <\/p>\n Nicholson was recruited into a well-known gang because he could sell drugs and make money for them. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd so me and a good mate of mine, we pretty much controlled the meth game around here in South Waikato for a long time \u2013 for about four or five years.\u201d<\/p>\n During yet another jail term, Nicholson\u2019s wife, who\u2019d stuck by him through turbulent times, laid it on the line \u2013 if he was to continue his life of crime, he would lose her and his family. <\/p>\n \u201cI just caught a glimpse of myself one night in the mirror and I didn\u2019t like the man that I saw looking back at me. I looked like a skeleton, I looked deformed.\u201d<\/p>\n After a night of contemplation, he knew what he had to do. <\/p>\n He went to a prison yard in front of his fellow gang members and told them he wanted to get out \u2013 he was choosing his family. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was one of the most intense things I\u2019ve ever done. I could\u2019ve got wiped in the yard there and then.\u201d<\/p>\n Nicholson\u2019s mind was made up and the gang could see it and they let him leave. <\/p>\n Later that day he got bail and went home.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s when my new journey started and I haven\u2019t looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n On a chilly Wednesday late afternoon Tokoroa High School principal Willie Ford watched the girls\u2019 under-15 team make a comeback against a visiting Hamilton side.<\/p>\n Low cloud greyed the town. A few homes across the school fence puffed lazy smoke to beat the chill.<\/p>\n In the final minute, a Tokoroa player broke through the defences to score the winning try.<\/p>\n Ford turns with a gentle smile. \u201cHer uncle is Kevin Mealamu.\u201d <\/p>\n In front of a small but loud crowd, the team won 34-33.<\/p>\n In his office, turning on the heat, Ford explained how school wasn\u2019t for him as a youngster.<\/p>\n \u201cI came to school to play sport, I didn\u2019t come to learn.<\/p>\n \u201cI had two and a half years here and then I got a job. That was 1972 and they were crying out for workers.\u201d<\/p>\n The job was at Kinleith \u2013 the pulp and paper mill, south of town. Back then it employed 5500, Ford said, and to get the work he told them he was 18, when he was really 16 but looked 14.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I left school they were crying out for employment, there was employment everywhere. You could just walk out of here and get a job straight away.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the situation has changed now. You can\u2019t get a job so you\u2019ve got to stay at school as long as you can to get a qualification to become employable \u2013 that\u2019s the difference now with Tokoroa.\u201d<\/p>\n So, expelling or excluding a student from the school was almost always the final act of a long attempt to rectify a situation, he said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the same across town at Forest View, the other high school in Tokoroa, where Andrew Bramston has been principal for six months.<\/p>\n \u201cWe try everything first. So for them to actually get excluded from the school, they\u2019ve had to have done something quite serious here at kura.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s often lots of other background things going on, whether it\u2019s poverty, whether it\u2019s anxiety, stress, low confidence, those sort of things.\u201d<\/p>\n Before exclusion, the school will link to support programmes, counselling services and access mentors.<\/p>\n \u201cDo we have enough support services? Well, the obvious answer is probably not \u2013 it\u2019s a resourcing thing obviously.<\/p>\n \u201cOur challenge always is balancing accountability with safety for everyone. And that\u2019s sort of what we do. But we\u2019re definitely not a school that\u2019ll just, \u2018Oh well, you\u2019ve done this, you\u2019re out\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Once a student is gone from mainstream education before 16, they are not lost. They still need to be accounted for and have other options provided. <\/p>\n In Tokoroa, the YMCA Youth Academy is the main provider schools refer to because it offers an education programme for young people who have been removed from mainstream before 16 years.<\/p>\n Reconex is now another option \u2013 albeit a small one.<\/p>\n Ana Ngatai has three children who used to be at Forest View High School, but are now excluded.<\/p>\n The reason was chronic absenteeism, she said.<\/p>\n Ngatai would get the kids to school but they wouldn\u2019t go to class. Their attendance rate was under 30%, she reckoned.<\/p>\n \u201cThey really regret it now because they really wish they were still at school but they can\u2019t, they\u2019re not allowed back up there.\u201d<\/p>\n Sending them to Tokoroa High School wasn\u2019t on the cards because of issues or conflicts with other students.<\/p>\n When Ngatai\u2019s niece was enrolled in the first Reconex, she saw it as a choice for her children.<\/p>\n \u201cThey go, so that\u2019s a difference from school to Reconex.<\/p>\n \u201cI always ask them what they\u2019ve done today and for my son Kydash, he\u2019s quiet but he came home the other day with his goals and what he wants to do. That is something I\u2019ve not seen of him.\u201d<\/p>\n Ngatai\u2019s niece hadn\u2019t attended school since finishing primary, yet enrolling with Reconex had given her direction.<\/p>\n \u201cThe tutors, they\u2019ve helped me like get a clear mind. They\u2019ve helped me in a lot of things . . like going to the gym and just get out of my bad habits.<\/p>\n \u201cI would like to go back to school but I don\u2019t think I\u2019d be able to … I\u2019ve been out of school for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if knowing about Nicholson\u2019s own experiences with drugs, gangs and violence had an impact, she replied it was like her own backstory.<\/p>\n \u201cMy father\u2019s been in jail my whole life, I wouldn\u2019t want to go down that path. I\u2019m not looking to go down that kind of path.<\/p>\n Many applications to the Rangitahi course come from parents, so Nicholson and Heke hui with the wh\u0101nau.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to know what\u2019s going on and figure out if they \u2013 the young person \u2013 are suitable for the programme.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they are forced they won\u2019t want to come.\u201d<\/p>\n They expect equal effort in return \u2013 \u201cit\u2019s 50\/50\u201d, Heke said.<\/p>\n Reconex was built on their own time and money, plus goodwill within the community, but they don\u2019t want to exploit that generosity indefinitely.<\/p>\n Last year they managed to secure funding through applications to sources like the Tindall Foundation and Community Organisation Grants Scheme. <\/p>\n It allowed them to run out of more modern rooms and pay for resources like fuel and cooking ingredients. Nicholson and Heke still worked for free.<\/p>\n However, in 2026 all funding applications have been unsuccessful.<\/p>\n To run the course, Nicholson and Heke pay about $5000 a term from their own pockets. <\/p>\n They also give three days a week of their time and are constantly upskilling to improve their teaching. <\/p>\n Reconex is now a registered charity with a Givealittle<\/a> page to help with fundraising.<\/p>\n Ideally, they want Ministry of Education recognition and sustainable funding.<\/p>\n Marcus Freke, Director of Education for Waikato, said the ministry was aware of the Reconex programme.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have not undertaken any work with or had any formal collaboration with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the setback, the two men are on a mission.<\/p>\n \u201cHope with direction is better than just hope,\u201d Heke said.<\/p>\n Upstairs at the Tokoroa Club, the session is wrapping up. The kai has been eaten and the wash-up done.<\/p>\n The group gathers, hats removed, and a karakia is said.<\/p>\n Nicholson watches and smiles as he receives goodbye fist bumps and hugs.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess my story can go to dark places,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it actually has a happy ending.\u201d<\/p>\nIn 2025, closures of some operations at Kinleith Mill resulted in the loss of 100s of jobs. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
Joel Nicholson co-founded Reconex after his own experience with gangs, drugs and prison. Now he uses that story to steer at-risk youth toward a different path. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
South Waikato town Tokoroa, with a population of 14,500, has two high schools. Photo \/ Mike Scott <\/p>\n
Tokoroa has done it tough since the progressive closure of the Kinleith Mill, with the loss of hundreds of jobs in a town of 14,500. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
Tokoroa High School principal Willie Ford watches a girls’ rugby game. Ford left school at 16 to work at Kinleith \u2013 a path no longer available to young people in the town. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
For Forest View High School principal Andrew Bramston, excluding a student is always a last resort. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
The Reconex Rangatahi programme covers goal-setting, budgeting, cooking, fitness, anger management, tikanga M\u0101ori and mental wellbeing. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
Richard Heke co-founded Reconex with Joel Richardson. Physical fitness and training is part of the programme but funding constraints mean gym access is no longer possible. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n