The @ces weekly buzz

Warm Autumn greetings!

Our first Amazing Race for the year was an amazing success at Cornwall Park yesterday! Featuring all seven roopu from our Maungawhau and Maungarei campuses competing for value certificates.

Event organiser Thelo Meleisea said, "Today was about Whakawhanaungatanga and intentional connection with our professional peers, ACES Rangatahi and Staff". Roopu (form classes) raced around seven locations, challenging their knowledge of Auckland and areas outside of their comfort zone. One student even shared that, 'I had never been to the top of One Tree Hill before'."

Teams had to use team work, lateral thinking and creative problem solving in order to win. We would like to congratulate the three winning roopu:

!st Place - Team Jones $150

2nd Place - Team Adams $100

3rd Place - Team Ko $75

Reflections from Campus Leader Salome (Leader of Team Jones)

Celebrating Effort, Growth, and Presence

"Today was a day filled with emotions—overcoming challenges, celebrating small efforts and victories, and demonstrating respect both on and off the road. It wasn’t about speed; it was about perseverance, commitment, and completing the journey together. Seeing the team give their maximum effort and embrace, the experience was truly inspiring. During our end-of-day debrief, I took a moment to look around and smile. For the first time in a long while, Maungarei had an outstanding attendance rate—99% of students were present, with 19 out of 20 in school. That is true success: young people engaged, involved, and showing up for their future. Mālo 'aupito to everyone who continues to support and uplift our students!"

Marshall Hall, Manager from Oranga Tamariki commented, "It was great to connect and meet both ACES students and staff in such a fun and creative way. We look forward to supporting ACES and Thelo in future events and connecting at a campus level."

A huge thank you also to Doug, TYLA, Dora and the Community Approach teams, John Tuitama, Brandon, Rachel and the Oranga Tamariki crew, plus Lute and the beautiful people from Turuki Healthcare, our wonderful friends at Youth Aid and Amy and Grace from our RTLB connections set up by Damien Fogarty, ACES Pedagogical leader. We also had Damien, Shontaal, Samer, Samina and Malcolm helping with marshalling to free up Tutors to compete with their roopu.

We spoke to new Maungawhau Campus Leader, Reuben Feetau, and we asked him five fun questions. He's a busy guy, but here's what he had to share:

• If you could swap jobs with any ACES teacher for a day, who’d it be and why?

• If ACES had a mascot, what would it be – and would it beat a Kiwi in a race?

• What song gets you dancing when no one’s watching?

My My My - Johnny Gill.

• If you could teleport anywhere right now, where would you go – and would you take us with you?

I would travel to my bed and leai fa'afetai (no thank you).

• Which of the 5 ACES Values resonates with you most in your day to day work with Rangatahi?

Relationships! There is nothing to build upon if we do not prioritise the relationships we have with our whānau, students, and support networks. Something that I truly believe in is that it is much better to do life together rather than alone. And doing it Kanohi ki te Kanohi - it's always better face to face.

ACES Welcomes new Kaiako Mark Pomare to Team Maungawhau. In keeping with our Term theme of Identity, we caught up with him to learn a little more about his background with Air NZ, love for Hyrox and training and excitement in his new journey with ACES Rangatahi. Mauri Ora