As Sir Peter Blake once said: "The hardest part of any big project is to begin."
In April, I was chosen to represent Kaikorai Valley College at the Sir Peter Blake Youth Environmental Forum in Auckland, and one of the highlights was not just getting to experience the forum, but the lesson on how to start big things.
I believe that it will help me, and others, to achieve our dreams.
The forum is run every year and aims to bring young people from around New Zealand to discuss environmental issues and leadership.
One of the highlights of attending the forum was seeing a whole different side to New Zealand.
Although I had been snorkelling and diving in Dunedin, the abundance of life I got to witness first hand at the marine reserves, such as around the pristine Poor Knights Islands, was truly awe-inspiring.
Then to learn that a reserve was set up by students our own age, and seeing exactly how they set about doing it, gave me a lot of motivation to change something that I had never really thought we were missing down here in Otago.
So learning about proactive ways to make huge and vital changes to my own community, meeting forum leaders who have turned their wishes into reality with hard work and perseverance, and also seeing the fruition of this dedication not just by scientific statistics but by seeing the whole thing with my own eyes - that was the best part of the whole Enviro-Forum.
I came home absolutely bursting with enthusiasm.
I realised that I could make a difference and start a change.
Now I have steps to follow and some wonderful new friends.
I do believe there is no stopping us in creating a local marine reserve.
Bringing 50 of New Zealand's young environmental leaders together was fun and also showed how flexible and adaptable leaders have to be.
We were all used to being the leader back in our own communities, but most of us soon realised that when you have a group of people together, all of us had to be as good a follower as a leader.
This made me realise that leadership is not about who has the loudest voice. It is about the people that weigh up the team and see what needs to be done to better help and support the team.
By Injy Johnstone, Year 12, Kaikorai Valley College
