July 8 2015

Young Maori leaders to attend prestigious event in Washington DC, USA

A small delegation of young Maori leaders to attend the 2015 Tribal Youth Gathering hosted by the Whitehouse

The inaugural event is a component of the Generation Indigenous initial (Gen-I) established by President Obama in 2014

Young leaders Tayla-Rose Campbell from Hato Petera College in Northcote Central, Moerangi Vercoe from Rotorua, Cale Silich from Kaitaia, Ezekial Raui Head Boy from Taipa Area School and Conor O’Sullivan from Auckland flew out to Washington DC USA earlier this week to attend the 2015 Tribal Youth Gathering hosted by the Whitehouse on July 9 2015.

President Obama launched the Gen-I initiative at the 2014 White House Tribal Nations Conference to focus on improving the lives of Native youth by removing the barriers that stand between Native youth and their opportunity to succeed.

The small delegation of young Maori leaders are attending the prestigious event thanks to the MOKO Foundation, Flight Centre NZ and Air New Zealand.

While in Washington Tayla-Rose, Ezekial and Connor will be attending a dinner held in their honor at the NZ Embassy, the group will also be attending the 2015 UNITY Conference.

UNITY is a national network organization promoting personal development, citizenship, and leadership among Native American youth.

Chris Greive, General Manager Flight Centre NZ, was at the airport to see the group of and said he was honoured to have met such a wonderful group of young people and to have been able to assist them with this once in a lifetime opportunity.

“They are an amazing group of young people who have really embraced this opportunity and Flight Centre NZ is honoured to have been able to assist in sending them to such a prestigious event.”

Last year Tayla-Rose and Ezekial were both awarded the Hawea Vercoe Scholarship. A scholarship set up by Dr Lance O’Sullivan through the MOKO Foundation in honor of his late friend Hawea Vercoe.

The scholarship was set up to contribute to the development of a pool of young talented Maori Leaders in NZ by providing inspiration, mentoring and connections to leadership role models. The scholarship programme seeks to strengthen future Maori prosperity at all levels; health, wealth, culture and overall wellbeing and in time contribute to a better New Zealand.

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