The clashes are established by the New Zealand Rural Games Trust to support youth studying horticulture and agriculture and to create unique opportunities for partnership and connection within the education and employment sectors.
The Clash of the Colleges will be the first in the Otago and Southland area and organisers hope to have a successful day and make it an annual event.
"We’re partnering with Telford (SIT) to make Clash of the Colleges an annual event on the calendar for schools in Southland and Otago," general manager Daniel O’Regan announced recently.
"We aim to motivate, support, and empower rangatahi to pursue rewarding food and fibre careers. We do this by bringing experts and tools to the table and a bit of celeb with our emcee and Southland local, Tangaroa Walker."
The first southern Clash of the Colleges event will be held on September 13 at the Telford campus near Balclutha and rural secondary schoolers will be able to participate.
Clash of the Colleges was not just about fun and games, he said. It was about encouraging teenagers to improve their skills and have a lot of fun doing it.
It was an opportunity to bring together teens focused on a food and fibre career path, providing them with a unique platform to learn, compete, and network, Mr O’Regan said.
Clash of the Colleges is a fast-paced, amazing race-style competition that offers students hands-on experience in various aspects of the rural sector.
Students work in teams of four to complete 16 hands-on modules within one and a-half hours.
The modules are run by experts in their field and members of local Young Farmer Clubs. Modules include Artificial Insemination, ATV safety and wheel change, Tree Identification, Attaching an Insulator, Break Fencing, Irrigation Offal Identification, Feeds and Weeds, Drenching, Handpiece Setup, Wool Identification through to Gumboot Throwing, Sulky Racing, Thoroughbred Racing Springer Horse riding and more.
Businesses from the Otago and Southland areas will be stepping in to host the various modules.
Tangaroa Walker from Farm 4 Life, an agri-edutainment creator with a massive following of over 340,000, will emcee the event.
Later this month, Agri Futures will offer scholarships to support the next generation as they head into study after school.
These scholarships are aimed at rural students looking to study food and fibre post school and rural sporting athletes.
