Find Your Genius
Kitea Ō Pūmanawa
Skills Section
The Skills Section is your chance to build confidence and grow by learning something new or improving a skill you enjoy. From creative arts to practical life skills, it’s all about committing to your development and achieving a goal that matters to you. You’ll finish this section with new abilities, greater focus, and a real sense of accomplishment. It’s a great opportunity to discover what you’re capable of.
What you'll do
Choose a skill that sparks your interest — something you’re passionate about or a new skill you’ve always wanted to develop. It could be creative, practical, cultural, or career-focused. You can work on it independently or with others, as long as you’re learning and making progress over time.
Your goal should be meaningful to you. Set a SMART goal that reflects what you want to achieve — like learning to play a new song on an instrument, improving your coding skills, or mastering a recipe.
💡 Your Award Leader can help you check that your chosen activity fits the Skills section (and not Physical Recreation or Voluntary Service).
What Counts as Skill?
Your activity should be intellectually or creatively challenging, helping you to think in new ways, express yourself, or build useful knowledge. While participating in physical activity requires skills, your Skills section is for activities that don’t cause you to break a sweat. Sports and physical activities belong in the Physical Recreation section. Here are just a few ideas:
Time Commitment
The Award is designed to encourage good habits, steady commitment, and personal growth over time.
Participants are required to complete 13, 26, or 52 hours (depending on Award level and section requirements) over the minimum timeframe for their Award, with progress recorded in the Online Record Book (ORB).
The ORB counts up to one hour per week per section towards Award hours, so it is important to record the actual date and time spent on each activity.
If you do more hours than required, you do not need to log every activity. For activities that take place fortnightly or monthly, simply record the date and time completed. The ORB can count up to four hours across a 28-day period towards your Award hours.