2012 Student vs Wild competition opens

Media release
For immediate release
Wednesday 30 May 2012

2012 Student vs Wild competition opens

Wilderness-savvy young New Zealanders to vie for $50,000 in Genesis Energy OPC scholarships

The search is on for New Zealand’s young answer to Bear Grylls.

Year 9-12 students around the country are being challenged to declare how they’d handle a week living outdoors in their school, in the second annual Genesis Energy/OPC Student vs Wild competition.

Seven winning schools will each get ten fully paid scholarships from Genesis Energy to attend a five-day outdoor adventure challenge at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoors Pursuits Centre of New Zealand (OPC).

“This is a great way to get young Kiwis thinking laterally about wilderness survival skills and respect for the environment,” says Genesis Energy CE Albert Brantley.

“And, even better, it also allows 70 students the opportunity to develop outdoor skills and confidence for real, in the unspoilt natural environments of OPC’s Tongariro or Great Barrier Island bases.”

To enter, students must create a short video showing how they would survive living outdoors for a week, and upload it to the Student vs Wild website (www.studentvswild.co.nz).

The scenario for the 2012 competition is: “What would you do if you had to spend a week living outdoors in your school grounds? What do you do to survive?”

The competition aims to get the students to put to the test all five of the curriculum’s key competencies; thinking, language, managing self, relating to others and participating/contributing. These are also the skills OPC helps students develop on its school programmes.

Genesis Energy is providing seven $7,142 scholarships and will award one scholarship in each region as follows:Northland; Auckland; Waikato / Bay of Plenty; Hawkes Bay / East Coast; Taranaki / Manawatu / Whanganui; Wellington / Wairarapa and South Island.

The videos will be opened up to voting from schools and their communities, and the final decision on winners will be made by a panel of judges from Genesis Energy and OPC.

To find out more students can visit www.studentvswild.co.nz or www.genesisenergy.co.nz

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The Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre of New Zealand has been built on the legacy of Sir Ed and Graeme Dingle nearly 40 years ago. Education is still being valued as OPC’s primary benefit during the rich outdoor learning experiences.
OPC’s school programmes are about ‘seeking summits’ on many levels. OPC develops tomorrow’s leaders by building spirit, a strong sense of group unity, camaraderie and valuable socials skills that last a lifetime in unique and unspoiled New Zealand settings.
Programmes take place at OPC centres in Tongariro and Great Barrier Island, as well as nationwide events including the Genesis Energy Hillary Challenge for senior students (year 12 and 13), the YouthTown Get2Go for junior students (year 9 and 10), and NavQuest for all secondary school level students, their families and interested public.

ENDS

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