Scout Tristan hones his skills
Date: 12 Jun 2025
The 14-year-old Cambridge High School pupil and senior team leader at Kirikiriroa & St Peter’s Scout Group worked alongside adult scout kaiarahi, or leaders, to run the Scouts Aotearoa Waikato Zone Sandford Scout Leadership Course.
Around 40 scouts attended from across the Waipā district, Waikato region and beyond.
The course, named after scouting in New Zealand’s first national training commissioner Major Frederick Sandford, is run for new and upcoming team (or patrol) leaders and assistants every year at the Epworth Retreat and Recreation Centre near Cambridge. Participants are typically picked by their peers from their group’s youth leadership team.
It mixes theoretical and practical sessions on the team leaders’ job, training other scouts, teamwork, planning, communication, and team meetings.
“Through scouts, I’ve gained two types of abilities: practical skills and social skills,” said Tristan.
He joined scouts three years ago, one year after moving from China with his parents.
