Senior Years
The Challenge and Experience of a Lifetime!
Kiara Stevenson, a Year 12 student at Trinity Lutheran College, was selected into the 2018 Kokoda Challenge Youth Program (KCYP). This is an incredibly significant achievement.
KCYP differs from most programs because it’s a long-term, 12 to 14 month
commitment that includes a period of physical training and mentoring in preparation for trekking in Papua New Guinea, where they can visit the Northern Beaches or walk the Kokoda Track (both significant battle sites in the Japanese invasion in
1942), experiencing a physical, mental and cultural journey of a
lifetime. This is followed by a period of community service and forming
community support networks. The KCYP includes 20 weeks of Sunday bushwalks and mid-week training sessions, and personal and team challenges in the 30km Brisbane Kokoda Challenge and The Kokoda Challenge 96km event on the Gold Coast earning the right to participate in a trip to the Kokoda Track in Papua
New Guinea.
Kiara has completed the 96 km Kokoda Challenge three times. The first two times were through the school, and in both she was the only student in her team along with her leader to complete the walk.
Earlier this year she struggled to form a school team for the 96 km Kokoda Challenge Stan Bisset Cup. It is not difficult to understand why people are reluctant to commit to walking 96 kilometres, especially given the wet and muddy conditions of the previous two years but Kiara nevertheless tried hard to rally a team together. After a putting out a call on social media she was contacted by one of the representatives of the Kokoda Youth Foundation. He asked her to look at their program and to contact hi, for an interview if she was interested.
Kiara attended orientation and then met with the organisers of the Kokoda Youth Program. The program had one position left and after meeting with the executive she was selected to be part of the Tweed team.
After joining the team she trained twice a week, every week in preparation for the 96 km Kokoda Challenge. She participated in 6-10 hour hikes every weekend. During the week after school she would join aerobic and cardio sessions as well as the Kokoda education program.
Participants are lovingly nicknamed 'Kokoda Kids' and the program works to develop these 'Kids' into well rounded leaders of the future. This is done by giving them an understanding of the history of our nation and the integrity of the people who helped form it. The Kids learn about the four pillars of the program Mateship, Endurance, Courage and Sacrifice.
The program is definitely not an easy one and demands a great deal of commitment and work. Kiara's team completed the 96km Kokoda Challenge here on the Gold Coast with flying colours. In the Kokoda Youth Program's 15 year history, Kiara's team was the 4th team to ever complete the challenge with all 12 kids still walking. This is due to the strength of the bonds that they formed during training which meant they could encourage each other to keep going when things got really tough.
There was no break from training after completing the 96 km walk on the Gold Coast! The Kids donned hiking backpacks and began filling them with bottles of water to prepare for the Kokoda Track trek in Papua New Guinea. They met up every weekend and continued to add weight to their bags, reaching 20kg by their end of their training. The education continued as they learnt about places of cultural significance that they would actually visit on the track.
The Kids then got to choose between a cultural experience or walking the Kokoda Track. On the 27th of September Kiara departed Brisbane for Port Moresby where she would begin her walk of the 96km Kokoda Trail. She and 11 of her Kokoda peers set out on the journey of a lifetime. There was no downtime, and after arriving in PNG the participants were taken directly to the track to begin their walk.
Kiara arrived home the day before the start of Term 4, after 10 days walking. Remarkably she insisted on attending school for her last, first day of term.
Through the program Kiara will now begin a 6 month community service project with the other Kids.
This incredible 14 month journey will end with their last community service project. The last project is the 96 km Kokoda Challenge on the Gold Coast. The Kids will be hands on in the operations of the 2019 Kokoda Challenge. They will be at every checkpoint to encourage the over 2,000 participants, new Kokoda Kids and support crews involved. Their final task is to welcome teams across the finish as they complete the Challenge.
We are so incredibly proud of Kiara and what she has achieved through her tenacity, passion and strong sense of purpose and commitment.
