Rolleston students experience Hauroa
by Mike Isle
Hauroa is the Maori term for well-being. It has been a big topic at Rolleston College this year. This month, the year nines at the college had the opportunity to experience Hauroa first-hand. Year nine student, Jacinda Tucker, recounts her experience.
“Hauroa is made up of four parts: taha tinana (physical), taha hinengaro (mental/emotional), taha whanua (social), and taha wairua (social). We have learnt that it is important to look after Hauroa to keep ourselves healthy and to improve our outcome in school work.
“On May 10, the year nines at Rolleston College had the opportunity to learn more about Hauroa. Our day began in the auditorium where we got an introduction to the four parts of the brain.
“We learnt that the flash brain is what makes humans so special. It allows us to make good decisions and to think about the consequences of our actions. Unfortunately, teenagers have not fully developed this part of the brain yet, so that’s why they seem to take a lot of risks and make a lot of bad decisions.
We also learnt that teens only use 10% of their flash brain and use 90% of their emotional brain, so there is actually a scientific reason for teens being so moody.
“For the rest of the day, we participated in workshops based around the four dimensions of Hauora.
This involved writing reflections on the brain talk, learning about a positive well-being framework called PERMA-V, looking at how music can affect our physical well-being, and finally attending a presentation by Constable Megan about cyber safety and how this connects to our social well-being.
“I think that this was a really cool day and I definitely learnt a lot. Our teachers did a great job to organise the whole day and make sure it was enjoyable and educational.”