Think tank workshop @ Kristin School

By 2021, Kristin School, in Albany on Auckland’s North Shore, could be sporting eco-friendly rooftop gardens and check-in classrooms says Year 10 student, Christian Silver, the driving force behind Kristin School’s recent Futures@Kristin conference.
Over a recent weekend in September, Christian brought together more than 40 Kristin students from Year seven – 11 for a think-tank workshop which asked “What could Kristin School be like in 2021?”. The idea originated at the ‘StrategyNZ – Mapping Our Future’ conference which was held in Wellington in March.
Christian attended this conference along with his Kristin Robotics team and was so inspired by the event that – in consultation with Middle School Principal, Mr Heath – he decided to apply the concept to Kristin.
“My goal is to take the ideas of students from all over the school and put them down on paper”, said Christian as he set about organising several weeks of ‘working lunches’ leading up to the main event. Inspirational speakers from the school community were invited to talk to students about the key factors they should consider when developing a school strategy.
When the main event arrived, Futures@Kristin was opened by guest speaker Wendy McGuiness of Wellington’s Sustainable Futures Institute, the organisation behind the original StrategyNZ conference. Wendy delivered an inspirational presentation on ways to plan for the future, before the 40 eager students were assembled into groups and set out on their two day task.
Each group followed four steps as they developed their strategies, starting with determining their vision in a group brainstorming session. They then formalised their ideas and outlined the requirements to reach their vision and a strategy map was created to determine the specific steps required. The groups then transformed their work into a presentation of what Kristin could look like in 2021.
From these presentations, the guest judges selected two groups who will go on to present their vision to Kristin’s Principals and Board of Governors later this year.
It is an amazing accomplishment for one student to bring together an event such as this, and it is no wonder that the conference left him full of pride in his fellow students. “The atmosphere at the conference was a constant buzz of excitement and the students who took part left feeling very fulfilled. There is even word of the concept being applied to other schools through the Sustainable Futures Institute.”