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Tiare, 17, is one of eight New Zealand students selected for the fully paid trip in October, arranged as part of a partnership between the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) and the Latin America Centre for Asia Pacific Excellence.

Another 16 students are set to visit either Brazil in December or Colombia in January.

Tiare’s selection came after a two-day Entrepreneurs in Action (EIA) business competition at Wellington, involving 80 participants. The attendees were chosen after 246 of the 3800-plus YES participants nationally applied for a spot at the event.

Tiare, who is a year 13 student at Garin College, said the 80 EIA participants were put into teams of eight to tackle two business challenges during the Wellington competition. She did not know any of her teammates.

‘‘It was really full on,’’ she said. ‘‘I think the first one was a bit rough because we didn’t really know each other. The second one went way better.’’

The eight members of the winning team in the second challenge were awarded the trip to Brazil. The 16 participants heading to either Colombia or Chile were selected as individuals, based on their performance over the two-day event and a supplementary video application.

Tiare said it felt ‘‘really good’’ to be one of two members of her team put forward to be considered for a trip. The pending visit to Chile was exciting, she said.

Students on the trips to Brazil, Chile and Colombia are set to learn about Latin American culture and business. They are scheduled to meet local entrepreneurs, including those involved in trade relationships with New Zealand. As well as visits to companies and startups, the students will meet some of their Latin American peers.

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