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National | Youth

From stealing to Sir Edmund Hillary Award nominations

Acer Ah-Chee Wilson is an arborist who almost dropped out of school which also led down an ugly path is now nominated for the Sir Edmund Hillary Award. It recognises individuals for their courage and determination to turn their life around.

He's a product of Project K. It's a 14-month programme designed for young people to improve their social skills, reduce negative behaviour and improve motivation.

“The programme was about children that had difficulty learning at school, so we went on to camp and did activities, team bonding which builds up our social skills”, he said.

The 21-year-old was only 14 when he was wanting to drop out of school and rampaged homes stealing to survive.

“Since then I've progressed with life. There's a better path than doing down the road.”

Currently working as a fulltime arborist for Treescape Limited, Wilson saw the benefits in the job.

“I've been at three companies so far. So yeah we just climb trees like this, use chainsaws and ropes, rigging gear. Just to make the public safe.”

He's nominated for the Sir Edmund Hillary achievement award for his second year in a row.

“I was nominated but I lost to someone who works for Government.”

With plenty of motivation, 2019 looks pretty bright for Wilson.

“I'm planning to go overseas next year I’ll be going to Aussie because they have taller trees up to 100m.”

The awards will be held in Auckland tomorrow night.

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Youth