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Limitless – Inspirations and aspirations

Limitless is a programme available for secondary students to understand their strengths and passions and to help them explore options for their futures. Founder April McLennan, completed her secondary education in 2015 and decided to set up Limitless to connect young secondary school aged students with others who have shown passion and purpose in their career choices.

Two day conferences provide a platform for participating students to experience a range of inspirational speakers and workshop facilitators.

Vision and goals

April works with a range of trustees and sponsors who share a vision to empower Year 10 students with the awareness, confidence, and opportunities to discover and follow their aspirations.

The learning and inspiration that occurs during the conferences shows that education can be an authentic social enterprise that is not confined by what has traditionally occurred within many educational contexts. Limitless vision and goals relate to the ability to inspire in attendees:

Passion
Purpose
Empowerment
Optimism
Responsibility

Limitless conferences

A pilot conference of two half day sessions was held in 2016 followed by a longer conference of two full days in October of that year. Due to demand two 2 day conferences were needed in 2017 to cater for the number of schools and students wanting to be part of this student centred initiative.

Workshops are facilitated by a wide range of people and cover themes such as:

Finding your passion
StrengthsFinder
Goal setting
Specific career focussed workshops.

Connections between participants continue long after the completion of the conferences as students can sign up via a closed online portal as part of the Limitless website for networking, mentoring, work opportunities, and discussions.

Student voice

“Across the two days I was confronted with a fresh perspective on strengths, passions, values, and the courses our lives may follow. It gave me a clearer holistic view of who I can be instead of what I can do, but above all, I learnt that by building this self awareness, you have the power to not only transform your life, but the lives of the people around you.”

“I arrived having no clue about what I was passionate about but left feeling confident ... that I will be able to find a career where I will enjoy what I do.”

“Limitless opened my mind to my strengths and built a clearer understanding of my passion and what makes me stir and think.”

Conclusion

Limitless has joined the growing number of youth mentoring programmes designed to provide focus and direction for students. April demonstrates the power of youth leading youth in this field, telling her story and the stories of others.

"We'll each work about 80 000 hours in our lifetimes – imagine what we could achieve in that time if we were really passionate about our jobs, and had a greater sense of purpose.”

April firmly believes that with purpose, an awareness of your personal strengths, values, and passions that anyone can live a more meaningful life through meaningful work.

April received one of only four 2017 Minister of Youth International Leadership Awards in recognition of her creation of Limitless. Her goal to inspire the youth of Canterbury and beyond is truly limitless. Watch out 2018!

Additional resources

Limitless website

No limit for April McLennan – Article from The Press

Inspiring Stories - April McLennan

NZ Youth Mentoring Network