"Those who cannot change their minds cannot

change anything"

Kia orana, I am sorry for the 3-week delay. I will try sum up the past 3 weeks as brief as
possible.

It is now week 10 of term 3 and I can’t really say that I have been improving. I have been
letting personal issues affect my studies and my attendance. I am not proud of what I have
allowed myself to become but I will not continue this way any longer. The time of being a
year 13 is getting closer and closer and I have realized that I really need to remain focused for the remainder of the year continuing through to next year.

Recently, I have completed an assessment in Geography based on the public’s knowledge
around the Auckland Volcanic Zone and have been told that it is a definite merit and a
potential excellence. I will be studying for the end of year exam for geo later on in term 4.
I have also completed my statistical inference assessment with the result of an excellence
and am now studying for the maths external. I have finished a creative writing and just need
to do a couple of edits. I have to print off everything for my ICT assessment and I have
passed this class. Seeing my achievements thus far has allowed me to regain my hope. I
have belittle myself for awhile but I have opened my eyes to see reality.

Thinking about the role of Kaitiaki makes me rethink the steps that I have taken and the
process of how I took each step. I have made a lot of bad choices in the past and I can only
live to regret what I have done. If I want to be seen as a leader I have realized the amount of
changes that I need to make, I feel like its too late, but I won’t give up on this chance. I love
empowerment, I love to give motivation to those who give up on themselves and that is
something that I see in a lot of our young students. If there was one passion I love to do, it
is to make people believe in themselves, to overcome every struggle, because it seems that
issues like this holds back on their achievements - other than laziness.

In week 8 - I think, I was given the opportunity to attend a community clean up. I loved it! I
have a high passion in many areas and by decreasing the risks and hazards that lay
through our environment seems to be one of them. We cleaned up behind McDonald’s and
filled up about 7-9 bags of rubbish. We went in he bushes to pick out rubbish, used a spade
to scrape dirt from the kerb and put it back into the grass. In doing this experience, it made
me feel a sense of responsibility with the reward of having a healthy environment.

Overall, I know that I wasn’t at my best, but by talking about next year and everything that
we predict will happen with my friends, I have pulled my head back in the game. I will
change my mindset for term four and prepare myself for anything. I am ready to really
fight for everything that I want and I realize that I can’t achieve something without
putting in my time and effort. As everyone says, there is always a reward to those who work
hard, I would love to make myself feel worth every reward I receive by putting in time and
effort in all that I do. Let’s continue the chain of success.

"Success is the Ability to go from one Failure to another with no loss of Enthusiasm"

Week 6 is now know as my favourite week of term 3 this far. I have gained so much motivation in myself that I’m starting to see a change. I am beginning to use time wisely and since I struggle to sleep at night, I found it useful to complete as much work as I possibly can to make up for the hours I wasted in my classes. I don’t see staying up late to complete assessments as a punishment whatsoever, but another step to achieving my goals that I have set throughout my life. I am proud of the obstacles that I have overcome and all temptations that I can now see right through. I am not going to let anyone take advantage of me and my time of learning anymore, because I’ve seen what the consequences are.

On Tuesday we had the opportunity to support the Kaiawhina with their year 9 classes and it wasn’t as bad as I thought that it was going to be. It was a great experience and by joining them with support, I have found interest in interacting with the junior school. I will be joining a group project with a group from the Employment skills class in order to gain more confidence in communication and to be interactive and supportive with the juniors. Although it was nerve racking, I look forward to seeing them sometime next week. I have matured myself and really want to improve on being seen as a leader so I am able to provide great values in leadership.

So far, I have been writing a lot for most of my subjects - English, Science, Geography… - actually all of my subjects. I have started to see writing as a way that allows me to express myself. If I was to be honest, I didn’t see a purpose in blogging and always wondered why we had to do this, but I have realized that not only does it help you know what I have been improving on and doing wrong during every week but it also helps me think about the things that I have to complete next, what I need to improve. By expressing my achievements of the week I am able to identify what my next steps are and now, I can see a purpose in blogging. I give up on myself a lot through every failure I have presented, but I will persevere until I achieve every goal I have set no matter how unrealistic it is, I am ambitious.

Michelle Vainerere.