Nor'West News: November 16, 2023

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Thursday November 16 2023
Leaders in Learning
Sportsman of the Year 2023
Ari Leckie – Sportsman of the Year 2023
Ari was the Captain of the Burnside High Senior Boys Volleyball
team this year. He Lead his team to win the Canterbury
Secondary Schools’ Division 1 Boys title, coming a best-ever 6th
place in Division 1 at the NZ Secondary Schools’ Championships
in Palmerston North in Term 1. He was also a member of
the Canterbury team who placed 1st at the Inter Provincial
Championships and is in
the NZ Junior Mens Training
Squad. Ari also played Beach
Volleyball in Term 1, partnering
with Jova Waqa to place 3rd
in the Senior Boys division at
the NZ Secondary Schools’
Championships in Mount
Maunganui.
Sportswoman of the Year 2023
Penelope Yang –
Sportswoman of the Year
2023
Penny’s sport is Powerlifting
and she has had an incredible
year of results. She is currently
the top Powerlifter in NZ in
her weight and age class. She
currently holds the NZ squat
record for U72kg lifters of 130kg which she broke earlier this year
at the National Championships.
She has been selected to attend the World Powerlifting
Championships in Rome in November and it’s her last opportunity
to break the World Youth record squat, which has been held
for over eight years. Penny has been invaluable with her help in
coaching and managing the new members of the Powerlifting
group at school this year, either training in the school weights
room, or at competitions.
Dux of the school
Dux of the School
The PETER BRYANT MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP is awarded to
the Dux of the school. This is an annual award, established by the
Board of Trustees, to acknowledge the outstanding contribution
to Burnside High School of the late Dr Peter Bryant, in his role as
the chairperson of the Board.
2023 Dux Recipient
2023 Dux recipient is Johnny Lawrey
Johnny is a quietly confident
student who has developed a
style of learning where he fully
engages in the content and extends
his knowledge into every aspect
possible. An example of this is his
interest in Halley’s Comet – which
came as a result of a comets
lesson in Mathematics. Johnny has
arranged to meet other students
in 2061 when the comet next passes by Earth. His humble and
quiet demeanour are somewhat a cloak to the genius of the
academic excellence that lies beneath, with classmates and
teachers alike, fully aware of his capabilities. He is described as
being dedicated, diligent, thoughtful, determined and thorough.
This year Johnny has been an Academic Leader and Mentor
and an active organiser of Gifted and Talented activities. He has
also successfully participated in numerous competitions with
his passion for success and solving problems hugely evident.
His internal results this year are exclusively at Excellence level to
form part of the 264 Excellence credits he has earned in NCEA.
This year he is holding an A+ average in his Computer Science
and Mathematics papers at Canterbury University where he
plans to continue his studies in 2024 with in excess of $15 000
of scholarships. At our awards evening he placed First Place
in Physics, First Place in Calculus, Excellence in Chemistry and
Excellence in Mathematics with Statistics, as well as a Noeline
Clark Scholarship to UC.
The Peter Rowe Cup for
Musicianship
William Kao - the Peter Rowe
Cup for Musicianship 2023
William is an outstanding multiinstrumentalist
and composer
who has been a member of the
Specialist Music Programme and has
contributed to the department at the
highest level for five years.
He has achieved great success in
the chamber music contest, being a
member of the winning brass group
on two occasions, but it is in the field
of Jazz that he is most focused. He
has won numerous awards as the
most outstanding trombonist, pianist
and best overall musician at the ARA Jazz Quest competition, as
well as being a member of the winning combo in that event on
three occasions. William has picked up similar awards at both the
Southern Jam and Tauranga Jazz Festival.
He has been a member of the Burnside Big Band for five years,
leading the trombone section with energy and flair for the last
three years, inspiring his peers with his exciting and inventive
improvisation, and winning numerous awards along the way. He is
also the trombone section leader for the CYJO.
William has enjoyed further success in the last two years, winning
hotly contested prizes for both improvisation and composition at
the national Young Jazz Band-it competition.
2023 Proxime Accessit
2023 Proxime Accessit Devin Lin
Devan is an exceptional student
who is PASSIONATE about learning,
is confident and forthright, and
is massively respected by fellow
students and staff for his academic
rigour. This student’s love of
problem solving and learning spills
over to his hobbies which include
Chess and Strategy games. Devin
has been an amazing Academic Leader and Tutor and is hugely
generous in his sharing of his time and knowledge. He is the
Captain of the Chess club and has been involved in co-leading
several gifted and talented activities and events. Devin has
amassed nine Course Endorsements at Excellence Level, Level 1
and 2 Certificates endorsed with Excellence and he has already
passed two NZQA Scholarship exams last year. At this point, he
already has 80 Level 3 credits - at Excellence level and has five
scholarship entries in the upcoming examinations. This is on
top of the 100 level university papers he has sat this year where
grades of 97-98% can pose some level of disappointment. In
2024, his plans are to go on to the University of Canterbury where
he has been offered scholarships to study Financial Engineering.
The future looks bright indeed for this young person as they
embark on life beyond Secondary School. Throughout his time at
Burnside Devin has won numerous awards and competitions and
at our awards evening he won Excellence Awards in Calculus and
Physics, and has placed first in both Mathematics with Statistics
and in Economics.
Office Hours 7am-5pm weekdays. Please telephone (03) 358 8383 for all enquiries. www.burnside.school.nz