Imagine Better

PICTURED: Gary Hemmings, of the Rotary Club of Ahuriri Napier, presenting pictorial dictionaries at Marewa School.

A visionary Rotary-led initiative in Napier is transforming how young people imagine their futures by pairing opportunity-rich learning with targeted support for dyslexic students, proving that when hidden barriers are addressed, confidence, capability and potential flourish.

The Rotary Club of Ahuriri Napier, NZ, has launched Imagine Better, an exciting, ambitious project created by long-serving Rotarian Gary Hemmings. Its initial purpose was simple but powerful: widen the horizons of local students from two Napier schools by showing them a world far beyond their immediate surroundings. Using the old adage, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ Imagine Better provides an opportunity for the village to rise to this challenge.

Through Rotary Readers, Pictorial Dictionaries, a weekly Kindness Award, robotics, mentoring and hands-on experiences, the program helps students picture futures they may never have otherwise considered and then equips them with the confidence to pursue those futures.

But as the project took shape from an academic viewpoint, one truth became impossible to ignore: no matter how inspiring the opportunities provided, students with dyslexia would struggle to benefit fully unless their dyslexia was recognised and addressed.

The hidden dyslexia challenge

Dyslexia affects an estimated 11–12 per cent of the population, crossing every single demographic line, affecting all aspects of how a person views themselves and the world around them. Yet it remains widely misunderstood, frequently undiagnosed, and too often becomes a silent barrier to learning, often with a crippling effect on a person’s self-esteem and self-belief.

The consequences of unmet dyslexic needs are profound. Studies consistently show that 62 per cent of the prison population has significant dyslexia, not because dyslexic people are more predisposed to offending, but because of the potential far-reaching effects and impact of living with dyslexia in a world that can see it as a deficiency.

For Imagine Better, addressing dyslexia wasn’t an optional extra. It became essential.

Mpowered Ltd: A different way of learning (for dyslexic folk)

Enter Helen Wildbore, founder of Mpowered Ltd – an educator, specialist, and dyslexic person herself. Helen’s unique teaching approach is built around how dyslexic brains are ‘wired’ and process information, turning learning from a source of frustration into something enjoyable, empowering and sustainable.

• The Mpowered program consistently delivers:
• Stronger academic performance – generally above average
• Higher confidence and self-esteem
• Improved mental health
• Reduced classroom disruption
• Enhanced creative and lateral thinking

Perhaps most importantly, it changes how students see themselves. Only four per cent of dyslexic people currently view their dyslexia positively. Mpowered is working to rewrite that narrative.

The Rotary Club of Ahuriri Napier sought some assurances, with the consensus being to run a short Pilot program to gauge the results.

How the Mpowered program works

Mpowered’s model is intensive, structured, and validated by Independent Research Limited.

The program teaches students over two terms and engages them for a full school week of learning. At the completion of each week, students return to their school for three weeks to assimilate their newly acquired skill set. This is repeated over four weeks to complete the full program.

Across 100 hours, students learn how they learn, how their brains work and how to learn for life. Once they complete the program, they typically need no further dyslexia specific remedial support.

Teachers benefit too. Students return to class more confident, more capable and far more engaged.

Voices from the classroom

Even in the short Pilot program, run just before Christmas 2025, the impact was immediate.

Students described the sessions as “fun,” “easier to understand” and “helping me feel more confident.”

One parent wrote: “My son is loving the Mpowered program. He was buzzing after the first session. He can now do times tables easily and spell big words. It was cool to see him so into it.”

For students who had previously disliked school, the shift was dramatic. They began asking when they could return, thus having an immediate impact on attendance.

Results from the Pilot

The Pilot was commissioned specifically to determine whether a full program had any benefit for dyslexic students in the Imagine Better project. The answer was clear. Students reported relief at discovering they were not ‘dumb’, enjoyment in learning and renewed confidence.

Both Principals and parents echoed the enthusiasm. Based on Helen’s past outcomes, students who begin with low achievement, poor self-esteem, behavioural challenges or experiences of bullying often emerge as confident, motivated learners; academically capable; strong ‘out-of-the-box’ thinkers; and potential and emerging leaders.

Funding the future

Mpowered’s program receives no government funding. Families have historically shouldered the cost themselves, leaving some of the most in need without the help that would change so much.

So, the Rotary Club of Ahuriri Napier stepped up, committing to fund two full programs and working to raise additional support. The cost per student is $3,000 for the 100 hours of instruction.

Several members of the Rotary Club of Ahuriri Napier plus some non-Rotarians have committed to funding, but all clubs and charitable trusts are warmly invited to sponsor students, helping expand the program’s reach. Rotarians impact their communities, most will know someone who is dyslexic, contributing can help change the dyslexic narrative.

A path forward

Imagine Better can be more than a local project.

It can be a blueprint for what Rotary can achieve when it tackles a real, tangible and urgent need with practical action.

The hope is that once success is demonstrated other clubs will adopt and scale the program, that new members will be drawn to Rotary’s hands-on approach and that, together, clubs across the region will help rewrite the future for many dyslexic students.

By investing in these young people, Rotary will not just improve academic outcomes. It will be restoring confidence, unlocking creativity and opening doors to futures that once felt out of reach.

Just Imagine Better!

• For more information on Imagine Better, contact the Rotary Club of Ahuriri Napier via enquiries@rotarynapier.org
• For more information on the Mpowered program, visit mpowered.co.nz