Western News: July 12, 2016

WESTERN NEWS Tuesday July 12 2016 9
Brainy students
A RICCARTON High School
student has been named
the overall winner of Otago
University’s Brain Bee South
Island final held recently.
It is New Zealand’s only neuroscience
competition for high
school students.
Riccarton High’s Daniel Wei
(above) was the overall competition
winner.
Villa Maria College students
also came first in the overall team
competition, while Riccarton
High came third.
Daniel will travel to Hobart
in December to compete in the
Brain Bee national final.
South Island Brain Bee organiser
Dr Ruth Napper said the
competition attracted “the best of
the best’’.
Students also had the
opportunity to listen to a
lecture by Otago University
psychology lecturer Dr Kristin
Hillman about “the brains of
slackers’’.
They will also participate
in a laboratory session on the
anatomy of the nervous
system.
Working for children, refugees
and emergency services
A ST Thomas of Canterbury
College student has been
recognised for the contributions
he has made to the community.
Hamish Simpson has volunteered
for the past three years
at St Christopher’s Anglican
Church where he has established
a weekly mentoring programme
called “Oasis”.
The aim behind “Oasis” is for
children to learn values, understand
theology and develop
leadership skills.
Mr Simpson’s other work has
included leading the Te Mapa
Trust holiday camp for children
with challenging backgrounds
in 2014.
He has directed social enterprise
team based at his school
called Chariot Brothers.
The team designed and produced
a light-weight, collapsible
and low-cost ‘chariot’ stretcher
for use in emergency situations.
Mr Simpson was a volunteer
at Calcutta’s Missionaries of
Charity orphanage for six weeks
last year in India along with students
Ben O’Connell and Tim
Marshall.
The trio’s experience in India
inspired them to make a difference
for children globally. The
result was “Tribal”.
The project was an interactive
ACHIEVERS
RECOGNISED: St Thomas of Canterbury College student
Hamish Simpson with Spreydon-Heathcote Community
Board deputy chairwoman Karolin Potter. ​
software app for promoting
literacy and numeracy and
launched in April last year.
Mr Simpson has also acted
for change and helped draft and
present a bill to the Anglican
General Synod asking the Anglican
Church to put pressure
on the government to increase
its annual refugee quota.
His work was recognised
at the Spreydon-Heathcote
Community Service and Youth
Service Awards.
Final countdown for SCIRT programme
SCIRT’s five year programme of repairs to pipes, roads, bridges and retaining walls
is now 91% complete and will finish in December.
Almost 80% of our repair programme is focused on the city’s underground
pipe networks.
SCIRT has replaced 715km of pipes – the distance of a return trip between
Christchurch and Dunedin. These pipes are now invisibly doing their important job
below ground.
Progress in your neighbourhood
• SCIRT crews have been out in force fixing underground pipes and roads this year in the
western suburbs.
• Extensive repairs to the wastewater network in Upper Riccarton and Ilam will be
completed in September.
• Repairs to underground pipes and roading throughout the Hornby area are more than
halfway through and will be complete in October this year.
• Essential wastewater repairs at the western end of Aikmans Road in Merivale have
begun and will be completed in the next month.
• Your support is helping us to get the job done, thank you from the SCIRT team.
Want
more
info?
Email:
info@scirt.co.nz
Phone:
941 8999
Find out about work
in your area:
www.scirt.co.nz
Email us on:
info@scirt.co.nz to get our:
Weekly Traffic Update
Monthly e-Newsletter
Follow us on Twitter:
@SCIRT_info
#chchtraffic
• Greg Bates, Superintendent with SCIRT’s
McConnell Dowell team.
Programme funded by