NZ Students End High School with Bungy Off Historic Bridge

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AJ Hackett Bungy NZ Co-Founder and Managing Director Henry van Asch and Wakatipu High School student Steph Arrowsmith

NZ STUDENTS END HIGH SCHOOL WITH BUNGY OFF HISTORIC BRIDGE

School leavers in Queenstown, New Zealand, will end high school with a Bungy off the Kawarau Bridge this week through AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand’s JumpStart programme.

Fifty Year 13 Wakatipu High School students will make the jump for free off the 43m historic bridge, as a rite of passage that the company offers annually to local Queenstown school leavers.

“We know Bungy gives these students an incredible boost to their confidence – knowing that if they can do this, they can do anything,” says Henry van Asch, AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand co-founder and managing director.

“In other parts of the world, school leavers celebrate in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways but here in Queenstown, there’s nothing more fitting than a Bungy jump. It’s our gift of an iconic Kiwi experience to the local students who have grown up in the home of Bungy and a taste of the attitude that will see them through into the next stage of their lives.”

In October, AJ Hackett Bungy NZ extended JumpStart into its Auckland Harbour Bridge Bungy site, offering all school leavers who were part of the city’s InZone Education Programme for Maori and Pacific Island youth a jump for free off the 40m bridge.

This week, the 50 jumpers will take the plunge over three days at the Kawarau Bungy Centre – some choosing to jump in tandem with another classmate.

Henry van Asch and Steph Arrowsmith

Wakatipu High School principal Steve Hall says the students are excited about making the jump – most for the first time.

The majority of Queenstown school leavers head on to tertiary education, apprenticeships and jobs outside Queenstown, the reason the company launched JumpStart initially, says Mr van Asch.

Close to 700 school leavers have jumped since the company first offered JumpStart in 2005 to coincide with the school graduation of those local kids born in 1988 when Bungy first began.

ENDS

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