WelCom May 2024
St Peter’s College student Bindi Rolton has been invited on a trip to Mexico for the ‘LatAm Biz: Globalista – Entrepreneurship in Mexico’ programme. LatAm Biz: Mexico is a joint programme between the Latin American Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence (LatAm CAPE) and Young Enterprise (YES). Bindi wrote this article before she left for Mexico last month.
Bindi Rolton
New Zealand’s Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) has partnered with Latin America Centre of Asia-Pacific Excellence (LatAm CAPE) to give eight New Zealand students the experience of a lifetime: an all-expenses-paid 10-day trip to Mexico!
LatAm CAPE and YES have been running joint programmes to Latin America since 2017. But due to Covid-19, the programme was held in New Zealand during 2020–2023.
I am so grateful to have been chosen out of the 140 students across New Zealand who applied for the ‘Latam Biz: Globalista – Entrepreneurship in Mexico’ programme, once again being held in Mexico. Students flew out during the term one holidays to attend the programme, 12–22 April.
Over the week, we’ll be exploring Mexico City and taking part in business challenges with a team. The team will consist of three students, two from New Zealand and one from Mexico. We will also be taking language and cultural lessons, engaging in cultural activities, and visiting businesses.
In the application for the trip, I had to send in a video, which discussed why I was applying, what I would contribute to the team, and the relationship between Mexico and New Zealand. I also had to write about a time I was in a challenging or unknown environment, and how I navigated it. I wrote about when I led my Relay For Life team in 2023 and raised $1,800 for Cancer Society. In my YES class, I’m starting my own hair oil business called Shammi Haircare, which I developed with my Nani.
I’m very excited to have the opportunity to go on this trip, and I can’t wait to learn all there is to know about Mexico, its people and their culture.