Hazel Kersel-Stubbs with new friends Maddison Lynch and Natalie McCall, on the Blake Inspire challenge.
A Waitomo student who aspires to be an architect took a deep dive into the latest environmental thinking, thanks to the Blake Inspire Challenge, a programme set up in the memory of Kiwi sailor, explorer and Antarctic conservationist Sir Peter Blake.
Hazel Kersel-Stubbs, 16, a Year 11 at Waikato Diocesan School for Girls, was the only King Country youngster to win a scholarship to attend the 32-student programme in mid-July. The programme runs four times a year around New Zealand.
The course was based at St Peters School, Cambridge, and delegates spent a week visiting sites at Raglan and Rotorua, plus predator free zone Maungatautari, and Dennley Farms, the Ballance environmental award-winning dairy operation run by Tīrau farmers Adrian and Pauline Ball.
“I’ve always loved looking after the environment, and it was so cool to learn more about that and meet new people,” Hazel said.
At one point, Hazel and her new friends donned virtual reality headsets to explore the clear waters of a marine reserve, before visiting Raglan Harbour.
They learned from the programme’s marine biologists about how sea creatures like mussels and cockles keep the water sparkling.
“It was amazing to see how many little animals live inside the mud. In a handful, there are probably thousands,” she said.
Hazel’s highlight was going to Te Puia – the Rotorua geothermal park and Māori cultural tourism business – to see how they earned their many environmental ticks. One example was encouraging visitors to plant seeds, using a disposable cup in which they had been served kawakawa tea; the seeds would later grow into native trees.
While the Stubbs family are also passionate about the environment, it was helping to restore Kukutaaruhe Gully in Hamilton’s Fairfield with her Dio schoolmates (her year 9 and 10 science cohort) that was her most immediate inspiration.
Hazel’s school groups planted trees and helped control pests, in a series of school camps.
The 12 ha Fairfield Project is an urban biodiversity and gully restoration project centred around Kukutaaruhe Gully responsible for planting nearly 30,000 trees.
Although Hazel had to go home, the Blake Inspire Challenge did not really end on July 19 – instead, the environmental experts on staff will help the youngsters if they start their own projects.
Her mum Biddy Stubbs was pleased the “very special programme,” offered scholarships, making it a realistic option for any student in the King Country.
Before his death in 2001, when he was shot by pirates on the Amazon River, Sir Peter Blake was passionate about helping the community care for the environment – through “adventure, participation, education and employment.”
