Page 1-3 - Eunice High School

For most, the two long
weekends’ this term were
mini holidays, but not for
the precious bus load of
multitalented Eunice girls
who represented their
school in the various disciplines at
the National Girls’ Schools’ Sport and
Cultural Festival held in Pretoria from
30 April to 3 May. 23 Girls’ schools from
throughout the country participated
in hockey, netball, tennis, squash,
chess, debating, public speaking and
orchestra.
Their performance enabled this vertically and gender challenged principal to
walk tall in the company of many genuinely formidable headmistresses. Eunice
was the talk of the festival with its star performers featuring in the business end
of all the disciplines. Each of our teams was either placed first or second. When one
considers that each competition included 20 or so schools one appreciates the quality
of sporting and cultural opportunities and the dedication and expertise of our coaches
and managers.
The festival itself was not only a series of competitive tournaments but a celebration
of educational opportunities. 900 Girls responded warmly and enthusiastically to
the blade runner – Oscar Pistorius – guest speaker at the opening assembly. A
remarkable world class opportunity was the four pieces presented by the 75
member orchestra made up from 5 schools who spent 3 days in a stimulating
and cooperative workshop. Another plus was the exposure provided to
younger talent included because of injury or unavailability.
To place our girls performance into perspective it is
interesting to note that in all the finals we were
up against different schools. That means
that no school, except Eunice,
made more than one final
whereas Eunice made
them all. Nogal
goed.
Academically, Eunice was honoured as one of SA’s top
Mathematics and Physical Science Schools at the annual National
Science and Technology Forum Awards dinner at Emperor’s
Palace in Gauteng. Attended by 600 guests the dinner highlights
the country’s major award winning research projects and pays
tribute to the country’s top Maths and Science schools based
on performance in the 2008 NSC exam.
Another highlight is Mrs Sarietjie Musgrave – Eunice’s award
winning computer teacher. . Last year she was a finalist
and eventual runner up in Microsoft’s partners in Learning
Innovative Teachers’ Forum 2008 held in Hong Kong. This
international achievement earned her substantial press
coverage and national recognition in South Africa.
XPOZURE 051 448 9231
The most visible highlight of all this year has been the
opening of our state of the art Astroturf. Another much
awaited and appreciated weekend was the train derby in
Pretoria with a very favourable set of overall results on the
fields and many memorable moments on the train. On
the cultural front all our Gr 8 – 10 girls will have seen Dr
van Niekerk’s production of The Cage Birds which was a
serious, beautifully performed and thought provoking
one act play. One busload even had the chance of
attending High School Musical at Montecasino, while the
exploits of our sports girls tour to Argentina can
be witnessed in the pages to come. Just a
few highlights of 2009. Many more
to come.

Abandoning shoes and socks, and waiting excitedly for the
announcements, the Grade 8s prepared themselves to face the
opposition - the Grade12s and some teachers. Inhibitions forgotten,
everyone had lots of fun trying to keep their eggs on their spoons
inbetween tripping and cheating. The matrics were the undisputed
winners, but the Grade 8s had the most fun!
On Saturday 17th January the Grade 8s learned their first lesson
in endurance on the infamous Hike. The trip to Thaba Nchu was
pleasant, but no-one realised that their stamina would soon be
put to a gruelling test in the 5,5km hike up the steep mountain.
Dehydration was, in some cases, exacerbated by having
to carry a fagmistress’ bag. Nevertheless, the determination to
have fun prevailed. The girls ignored their aching limbs and
focussed instead on taking photos of the breathtaking scenery
and enjoying the company of new friends. Reaching the
top of the mountain reminded us of our school motto: ‘she
conquers who conquers herself.”
Orientation week for the 2009 Grade
8s culminated in a ceremony at which
each grade 8 presented her fag-mistress
with a thank you gift and received
a crown in return. After much fun and
laughter the grade 8s left with the
motto from the Grade 12s:
“Talent isn’t a prerequisite
for success - hard work is.”
After a usual
nervous start to the year the Grade 8s have
settled in well, mainly as a result of their eager participation in the many
events with the Grade 12s. Highlights were the sleepover (which included
serenading the Grey boys) and the Thaba Nchu hike. We matrics cannot
believe that this is our last year and we have done much to impress upon the
Grade 8s how quickly one’s time at EHS flies by, and how much they need to
make use of all the opportunities that this fine school offers them.
The purpose of the grade 8 sleepover was to allow
the Grade 8s to make new acquaintances with their
peers and to help them bond with the matrics.
Everyone entered the gym hall in high spirits
and speaking at even higher volume. After being
assigned to groups, each group was given a
number of tasks (e.g. to entertain our classmates
by being funny or scary), and after Taebo at the
crack of dawn the boys at Grey were serenaded.
After a long night of fun we returned home
exhausted and looking forward to a good day’s
sleep.
Action at the
Grade 8 Gala

debating
Amy Williamson - Best Speaker
Eunice debaters have proven that they are forces to be reckoned with in
2009. In the SACEE Provincial Debating League both our junior and senior
teams are thus far undefeated and in 7 of their 8 debates Best Speaker
Award went to a Eunice debater.
Our girls have also proven their mettle at national level; senior debaters
Amy Williamson, Bojosi Morule and Nnete Malebo competed against
15 top debating schools at the National Girls’ Schools’ Festival in Pretoria
and won all five of their preliminary rounds, as well as the semi-finals
against Pretoria Girls High. They came up against last year’s champions,
Rustenburg, in the final round and in a very close debate they finished in
second place with Amy Williamson winning the title of Best Speaker of the
tournament.
Bojosi Morule
Bojosi Morule competed in the Provincial finals of
the Anglo-American Young Communicators Award
(Public Speaking) on the 16 th of May. She fared very
well, impressing the adjudicators in both the Prepared
and the Impromptu sections of the competition. She
finished second overall.
17-19 April. A weekend of Mathematics and Mathematics but there
was enough time to make new acquintances and strengthen bonds with
friends and our Maths teacher Mrs Lanelle Kleinhans.
Moeggeploeg
The first term’s Staff Family Outing to Moeggeploeg Coffee Shop was well supported by staff who were
moeggemerk and whose kids were, after the enjoyable outing, moeggespeel. Even though the tractor is going
nowhere slowly, the drivers’ and co-drivers’ determination illustrates that these teachers’ children are aspiring
and determined movers and shakers of tomorrow. As usual, boys are in the minority. Ever loyal to our girls’
school, the staff members have surely made their contribution to future Eunice pupil numbers.
To 154 Grade 9 Eunice girls Zastron is not only the name of a
small town in the Southern Free State - it refers to a whole week
of excitement, laughter, fun and more fun. Just getting away from
school, routine and the busy city life for five days promised to be an
adventure, and what an adventure it was! We did very challenging
activities, like getting one’s entire team over the nerve-wracking
high ropes and through the claustrophobic otter hole, while
keeping in mind all the different personalities, talents, shapes and
sizes and the ever-present drama queens.
We learnt to overcome our fears in many different ways. We took
action, encouraged and motivated each other, we dried a few tears
and we used lots of humour to overcome every obstacle put in our
way. Our creativity was put to the test with plays, songs, war cries
and much more.
The Zastron adventure took every girl out of her comfort zone
and made each of us realize that we can cope with many different
challenges especially when we work together; there is no “I” in team!