Teens head to international conference

Alex Groos (left) and Abbie Chaytor, who last week won the ‘Change Maker Award – Community Safety’ at the New Zealand Youth Awards. Supplied photo.

Four Bay teenagers will soon be telling the world about their trailblazing success using new technology in search and rescue.

Abbie Chaytor, Alex Groos, Jack Niles and Taylor Peacock from Tauranga-based Youth Search and Rescue, will fly to the Gold Coast next month to present a paper to several hundred delegates attending the annual Australia New Zealand Disaster Management Conference.

YSAR is a three-year youth training and leadership programme, which teaches teenagers to become search and rescue volunteers. The four students will discuss how they are implementing the latest ground-breaking technology in their training exercises.

YSAR has incorporated Eagle Technology Group's Systematic Sitaware command and control system into its programme, and general manager Steve Campbell says the innovative technology will eventually change the way search and rescue operations are conducted.

'The system means we can live-track our students and instructors while they are on exercises in the field and communicate with them at any given time using smart devices. Being able to task and re-task complex instructions to teams in the field using smartphones and tablets has not been possible before and significantly improves the field intelligence capability for Search and Rescue and Civil Defence Emergency Management.”

At the Australian conference the students will give a 30-minute presentation showing examples of how they are using the equipment. Conference participants will include representatives from SAR, Emergency Services, Defence, Government, Health and a number of voluntary organisations from Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands.

YSAR is seeking the community's help to send the four students and two adults to the conference, at a cost of $10,000. They are already half way there, having received $2000 from the recent AMI Community Grants campaign and a generous grant of $3800 from First Sovereign Trust.

'This conference is a brilliant opportunity for these young people to shine on a world stage and we would be grateful for any assistance to help get them there. Our entire programme helps set students up for future STEM careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the conference is another way we can foster that.”

Since YSAR's inception in 2009 more than 225 Western Bay of Plenty teenagers have been through the programme, which includes weekly classroom theory sessions, monthly weekend outdoor exercises and a five-day end-of-year search and rescue exercise.

If any businesses would be keen to help these volunteers, or if anyone would like to make a donation please visit www.ysar.org.nz and scroll down to the donate button. Or to contact them directly, email info@ysar.nz.

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1 comment

Congratulations

Posted on 27-04-2017 09:26 | By Papamoaner

A great path to go down. Bon voyage.


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