Ashburton Courier: October 24, 2019

Local news at www.starnews.co.nz Ashburton’s The Courier, Thursday 24 October 2019, Page 13
Ashburton College
Individual Excellence in aSupportive Learning Environment
News
Issue 35
24 October 2019
Events
College Tour Parties
Over the September-October holiday break period College had three
tour parties overseas. This week we report on the first two tours to
return.
Japan Tour
Twenty Ashburton College students visited Japan from 25 September-
11 October.
Teacher of Japanese Hiromi Horsley said that, first up, the group visited
AshburtonCollege’s SisterSchool TokorozawaKitaHigh School (TKHS). The
TKHS staff and students welcomed our College students warmly and held a
function after school where the AshColl students met their host brothers/
sisters.
Many TKHS students attended the function, all part ofthe strong bond
between the twoschools and the result of the reciprocal visits. Atthis event
the AshColl group sang three New Zealand songs (pictured below, with
Principal Ross Preecewho accompanied the tour party).
(Pictured right, leftand right):
Ines Forster Lobato de Faria
and Shasha Watagedara.
On the way back to Kyoto
the group also visited
the Fushimi Inari Shrine
(pictured below) with its
many torii (traditional
Japanese gates) that form
tunnels up the hillside.
Aftervisiting amonkey park
in Kyoto all students went
to Universal Studio Japan
on their free day.
Congratulations
NewNational Champion –BlakeFarr
Whilst manyofour students were enjoying arelaxing studentholidaybreak,
many swimmers from throughout New Zealand were hard at work in the
pool.
TheNew Zealand ShortCourse Swimming Championships were held in
Auckland from 01-05 Octoberand AshColl’s twoswimmers at the meet
- BlakeFarr and Hannah King –had greatpersonal achievements.
National Title andBronze Medal
Blake returned with a National Title in the 100m Freestyle and a
Bronze Medal in the 200m Freestyle. Blake also achieved personal best
times in everyracewhich is afantastic achievement.
Blake’sresults in the Boys’15years age group were:
1st - 100m Freestyle; 3rd-200m Freestyle; 4th - 800m Freestyle;
6th - 400m Freestyle; 8th - 50m and 1500m Freestyle.
Friday was school attendance, followed bytime spent with their host
families at the weekend.
The TKHS students held a tea ceremony (pictured below) for AshColl’s
students. Hiromi said that kneeling on the floor was very hard for the
College students but they were allowedtosit in away comfortable to them.
(Pictured above,back row): TokorozawaKita High School students.
(Middle row,lefttoright): GeorgiaMuir, Shasha Watagedara, Madison Brown,
Emma Scammell,Seluvaia Ratoul.
(Front row, lefttoright): Ross Preece, ZoeKenny, EllaMcQuillan, Maisie Looij,
ZoeDiedricks,Alisha Broker.
From Tokorozawathe group then movedtoKyoto,oncethe capital of Japan,
and visited iconic places including the Nijojo castle and Kinkakuji temples.
Kyoto isfamous for its numerous classical Buddhist temples, aswell as
gardens,imperial palaces,Shinto shrines and traditional wooden houses.
On a day trip to Nara, the group visited a Tōdaiji Temple (with a Big Buddha),
once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, where they also fed many
tame deer.
2019 Classics Tour
Students from Ashburton College and Hillmorton High School took
in the sites of ancient Greece and Italy, leaving New Zealand on
20 September and returning 10 October.
Michael Clark, one of College’s
twoteachers with the tour,said
that the 2019 Classical Studies
Tour started with a visit to
neighbouring islands to Athens.
Hydra (pictured right), Porosand
Aegina proved popular with
the students, with each island
holding its ownappeal.
Students were then guided
around the famed siteofthe Acropolis with the Parthenon impressing with
its magnitude and dominance over the capital city. From there students
visited Nauplia, acity steeped in history due to its role as astrategic port
thathas seen various European Empires rule overit.
TheancientsiteofMycenae, home to King Agamemnon of Troy fame,also
proved popular. Sparta was another highlight, before students embarked
on ajourney to Olympia via aclimb to the hillside fortress and monastery
of Mystra. The tour then went to Olympia, the birthplace ofthe Olympic
Games.
Thehillside town of Delphi, regarded as the navelorcentreofthe ancient
world, sawthe students informed about the importantrolethe siteplayed
in determining politics and history. The hillside monasteries of Meteora
were next on the itinerary before students returned to Athens and the
Acropolis Museum.
After completing their trip around Greece, the Classics Tour group
decamped to Naples, Italy. Naples is well known asacreative city and
the home of the pizza, so the visit wasgreatly anticipated. Thetour group
En route toHiroshima, the group visited Himeji Jo, the most beautiful
castle in Japan, then another iconic view at Itsukushima Shrine (by ferry).
Unfortunately, the gate was covered with a white curtain because of
repainting which was disappointing, but the beautiful scenery was still
enjoyed.
Thevisit to the Hiroshima PeaceMemorial Museum and PeaceParkwas sad
andmoving,but the students learned much about the atomic bomb and its
victims. Thatnightitwas Hiroshima-yaki fordinner,asavourypancake with
ahuge amountofcabbage.
Lastly, the group went up to Tokyo and visited Meiji Shrine, the Sky Tree
which is the tallest tower in Japan, and Tokyo Disneyland. Hiromi said
the students did very well at crossing the biggest intersection in the world
where3000 people cross at atime!
On their free days the students were able to experience various other
aspects of Japan, seeing very traditional as well as very modern parts, and
learning much about Japanese cultureonthis tour.
If youare interested in reading moreabout this tour,
please check ‘AshburtonCollege Japan Tour 2019’ on Facebook.
(Pictured left):inthe
Shinkansen (Bullet Train).
(Left, front to back):
Shasha Watagedara,
Ines Forster Lobato de Faria.
(Right, front to back):
Victoria Lovett,
Emma Scammell,
ZoeKenny.
wasbased in Sorrento near Naples foracouple of nights,fromwhich they
visited the archaeological siteand ruins of Pompei as well as the impressive
Archaeological Museum in Naples. The site ofPompei impressed the
travellers, both in scale as well as features, particularly with avisit to
the famed House of Faun. The house was once home to awealthy and
influential Pompeian family and is notable not only for its bronze statue
of afaun, now housed in the Archaeological Museum, but also the sheer
sizeofthe property.The Archaeological Museum contains manyartifacts,
frescoes and mosaics from Pompei, including the renowned mosaic of
Alexander the Greatinbattle with Darius III, dating from 100BC.
From Naples, the group went to Rome for afew days, where pavements
were pounded as the travellers explored the ancient sites such as the
Colosseum (pictured below), the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Ofcourse,
avisit to Rome wouldn’t
be completewithout a
visit to the Capitoline
Museum. Other
attractions included
the Trevi Fountain,
Trajan’s Column and the
Pantheon.
With The Vatican in
Rome, naturally the tour
group took in avisit to St Peter’s Square and the Vatican Museum, home
to the Sistine Chapel as well as other notableexhibits such as the intricate
and impressive Laocoon sculpture. From Rome the group departed to
Venice, the final stop of the tour.
AVenice highlight included atour of the Doges Palace, the historical
home forthe oncedemocratically-electedDukewho previously governed
the city state. The trip to Venice put into perspective how influential the
Venetians were in global trade and culturethroughout the Mediterranean
region, both in classicaland renaissance periods.
Photocourtesy of PeterJenca
(Pictured above): Blake Farr (centre) with his Gold Medal. Blake is flankedby
second-placed Braydon Meuli (left) and third-placed Louis Fitzjohn (right),
both North Island swimmers.
Hannah King also had agreat meet at her first appearanceatthe National
ShortCourse Championships. She swam personal best times in all but one
race and wasunluckynot to come away with amedal.
CanterburyRecord
Hannah also achieved anew CanterburyRecordinthe Girls’13Years 1500m
Freestyle,smashing the previous record by an impressive19seconds.
Hannah’s top 10 results in the Girls’13YearOld Age Group were:
4th - 200m Breaststroke and 400m Individual Medley; 5th - 800m Freestyle;
6th - 1500m Freestyle; 7th - 100m Breaststroke and 400m Freestyle.
Cycling NewZealand Schools’
2019 National Track Championships
TheCycling New Zealand Schools 2019 National Track Championships
was held at the SIT Zero Fees Velodrome in Invercargill on Tuesday 08
and Wednesday09October.
Ethan Titheridge and Maddi Lowry (pictured below, left and right)
representedAshburtonCollege,contesting the individual events.
Points were accumulated over
three races -the Keirin, Scratch
and Points Races -togive an
overall place.
Results
Maddi, in the Under 16 Girls’
event, hadtocompleteanextra
qualifying points race where
she placed 5th, as only the top
twelve out of the twenty riders
would race forNational Titles.
Maddi raced hard and
competitively in all events
finishingin10th place, overall.
Ethan in the Under 17 Boys’
category raced well, was
competitiveinall events,and finished in 11th placeoverall.
(Pictured above): The Grand Canal in Venice, approaching the Rialto
Bridge.
The tour was led by Greta Hampton and Michael Clark ofAshburton
College and Kylie Coulbeck from HillmortonHighSchool.