Last week the Tauhara College 2026 Cactus Crew officially conquered its ‘longest day’, culminating in the traditional final challenge of pulling a fire truck together as one.
Tauhara College physical education teacher Jenny Harrington who has been coordinating the programme at the school since the first one over 10 years ago is still enjoying all it brings.
“I think, to be honest, I'd prefer it to be my day job. I just love it,” she says.
Even though, she says, this year’s cohort had its challenges.
“I think it demonstrated the complexities of our youth today and we lost a few on the way, but not because we didn't try. I think there are definitely some issues with society and our kids today and what they're faced with out in the big wide world… we've got an amazing team of obviously police, volunteers, teachers, Bluelight, working so hard to try and give these kids some different tools in their toolbox to be the best version of themselves.”
The programme isn’t just about physical fitness and the discipline of an early morning start, she says.
“The physical sessions in the morning are backed up with breakfast sessions, with speakers from the community… We have really important people from our community come in and talk at the breakfast sessions and the students keep journals. So it's all Hauora. It's not just the physical side. We're tapping into their mental, their social, their spiritual…”
Cactus as an organisation does a great job of pulling in people from the community who have important roles to play, she says.
“So, we're really thankful to them for all their support as well.”
And once students have been on the programme they become a part of the Cactus Whanau, she says.
“There's always open communication for them to talk with any of the Cactus team, but you do talk about the Cactus blues. It's a very real thing. You didn't just hang out with people for nine weeks to then go, ‘Whew, thank God, we're done’. I think there really is that sense of, well, what now?”
To counter this the Cactus team tries hard to have the students set goals for life after the programme, she says.
“And part of that is accountability and we talk to the kids about that. You need to be accountable for your well-being. Yes, you can reach for support in all the right places, but you've got to drive it because that’s what our youth is missing, that driving force from within themselves to make themselves their best version… I'm speaking generically here because we've got amazing youth here. But they need to put their best foot forward and get over that start line.”
And there are people in Taupō helping to make that happen, Harrington says.
“We've got an amazing community. So, the students, and parents need to make that first step, but they've always got Cactus to come back to and say, hey, I'm thinking about this. Should I look at this?”
Harrington says an overarching problem is that the current generation of young people are prey to some very seductive distractions.
“Social media and the smartphone have created massive challenges. COVID didn't help, but I believe from what I've researched and what I've read, smartphones have been one of the biggest game changers for youth… And that's why these programmes are so vital. School can do something, but honestly, these programmes outside of school are just vital. So, thank you to all the sponsors. Long may these sorts of programmes last.”
The achievements of this year’s Tauhara College Cactus Crew will be celebrated at a formal graduation in July.
