This week is Youth Week, a time to celebrate our country's young people. Reporter SIMON WONG spoke to some of Marlborough's young people about their futures and what concerns them the most.
Blenheim teen Daisy Boothman-Burrell is pondering a tough decision which many of her contemporaries and even those who are quite a bit older can relate to.
What to do with one's life?
The 17-year-old has to decide about what to do when she leaves Marlborough Girls' College later this year.
Her dream career, would be something that would satisfy her enduring curiosity.
"I'd like to do something where I can keep finding out more about it."
Despite her indecision, there seems to be a recurring theme in career choice in the Boothman-Burrell family.
Daisy's father is a doctor, her mother is a nurse and her sister is studying health science at Otago University.
She said the career choices of her family were not necessarily an indicator of where she might be headed, but she admires what her father does.
"[My dad] doesn't live for his job, it's sort of his life. The joy I've seen him go through as a doctor and just helping people – I think that could be really cool.
"[Growing up] all my other friends had plastic stethoscopes and I had a real one, so you know I'd go play doctors and nurses."
A small-town girl at heart, Daisy believes setting goals allows young people to make "proper decisions" regarding their future.
She said teenagers needed to ask themselves whether they wanted to have "loads of fun" now or look to the future "and really grab hold of that career".
Asking themselves whether they were prepared for a night out was also what teens need do, according to Daisy.
Daisy is a peer supporter at her school, and has been part of a group that launched a Plan to Party campaign recently.
The young people involved have made pocket-sized cards with advice such as remembering to eat before going out and taking money for a taxi to get home.
She said a recent double-fatality car crash near Koromiko had a major effect on teenagers in the wider community, as has the case of a 20-year-old woman who is alleged to have fled a police checkpoint in Blenheim shortly before being involved in a car crash which left a 51-year-old woman dead.
However, she was worried the lessons learnt by the wider community could be forgotten all too quickly.
"You find that all the time something like this happens and for a while you think about it and it's really shocking and then it sort of wears off after a while.
"You kind of forget about it until the next crash happens."
As a peer supporter, Daisy said helping grieving friends was at times difficult.
"We're learning from it and we're trying to help the people who are affected by it."
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