Help get Bryn to Outward Bound for 21 days of hard out leadership challenges

Kia ora, my name is Bryn Evans and after being on a wait list for Outward Bound a space has recently opened up for me to attend the 21 day Mind Body Soul course on 2-22 December 2020. This is a very exciting opportunity for me but is not a lot of time to do fundraising.

I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. I am currently 15 and will have just turned 16 in time for the start of the course, so I am expecting to be one of the younger people attending. I live with my parents and sister on a sailing vessel and go to Hobsonville Point Secondary School. Why do we live on a boat? Well, in 2018 when I had just finished intermediate and my sister primary school, we decided it was a good time to pack up everything, move onto our (really small) 30ft sailing boat and spend 10 months sailing and living on anchor around the top part of the North Island. This was a really incredible experience for me because I was able to spend almost every day outside surrounded by stunning scenery and beautiful wildlife that some people might only see once in their lifetime. But amongst these amazing spectacles I noticed a lot of disturbing realities. Areas of sea floor laid bare due to an abundance of kina, kina who weren't being eaten because of the lack of big snapper and little snapper unable to grow big because of the lack of cover on the ocean floor. This was, for the most part all we saw, the only major exception of this was the amazing marine reserve around the protected islands of the Poor Knights. I would like to see New Zealand coastal waters teeming with life like that.

I have done a lot to help our marine environment since I was a little kid. I’ve spent hours collecting rubbish off beaches and we are always careful to take only what we need. I’ve rescued sea birds with lines around their feet and helped at a dolphin stranding. When we are out as a family we sail every opportunity we can so we are as kind to the ocean as possible. I don’t know exactly where life will take me, but I hope to keep working to help our environment. I’d like to become a good skipper and do environmental work for D.O.C. or Sea-Clean or maybe come up with a new way to help. People don’t really see what happens in the ocean because most don’t spend much time out there.

There are some people like David Attenbourgh who have been able to get good messages out, but we need to do more. Which brings me back to Outward Bound and my request for sponsorship. I’m quite an introvert by nature, so at the moment I find it hard to stand up and tell people how important our marine environment is and why. I’m hoping that going on Outward Bound will help me build the self confidence I need. I’ve always got lots of ideas of how to make things better in the world and it would be great if I could actually get people to listen and take notice of them, then get them on board to help. My school makes a point to organise students to take leadership roles. This is something I think I could to do, but I need more skills to make it happen.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration, I am grateful for any assistance you can provide with my small window of opportunity to raise the funds. In the meantime I will do my best to raise the funds myself.

Check out the 21 day Mind, Body, Soul course here: https://www.outwardbound.co.nz/courses/mind-body-soul/

The key outcomes of the course include:

- Greater self belief and acknowledgement of own capabilities

- Better social skills and friendships

- More confidence in group situations and better communication skills

- Positive mindset to take on new challenges

- Increased resilience and determination

- A calmer attitude and approach when under pressure

- Appreciation of diversity and the value of others around you

- A better ability to deal with change