Southern View: December 14, 2023
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
4<br />
Thursday <strong>December</strong> <strong>14</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
Te Aratai College:<br />
Te tua o Paerangi<br />
Above the entrance to Te Puna, our kura<br />
auditorium, we have the Whakataukī relevant<br />
to this time of year: Titiro whakamuri, kia anga<br />
whakamua: Look to the past in order to move<br />
forward. It is an exciting new year for us to<br />
look forward to as our kura turns 70 years old.<br />
But before we move into all the iterations and<br />
innovations the new year will bring us, we would<br />
like to appreciate some of the wonderful things<br />
our ākonga have accomplished this year.<br />
Scholarship recipients Mark Lemon, Destiny<br />
Martin, Connor Armstrong, Jason Prakash,<br />
Imogen Donnelly and Mae Ibo<br />
At our Senior Prizegiving, we celebrated<br />
the extraordinary achievement of our senior<br />
scholarship winners. These deserving students<br />
demonstrated the values of the scholarship<br />
requirements across several universities:<br />
academic achievement, resilience, leadership,<br />
excellence, cultural contributions, social<br />
engagement, overcoming adversity, and many<br />
other indicators. Our students were thoroughly<br />
deserving of financial and personal support, and<br />
these scholarships will provide an amazing boost<br />
as they kickstart their tertiary journey. With the<br />
fees, cash, catered accommodation, summer<br />
school programmes and mentoring support, the<br />
photo from our Prizegiving Evening represents<br />
over $70,000 that universities have invested in Te<br />
Aratai College students for their future pathways -<br />
an amazing achievement.<br />
Kindness Collective, a volunteer group of ākonga<br />
who collected litter around the school grounds,<br />
oversaw positive affirmations written by students<br />
for their peers and acknowledged school staff<br />
for their hard mihi. The group was also featured<br />
in national news media for their initiative at the<br />
Aldwins House retirement home, regularly visiting<br />
residents to kōrero or play pool, embracing the<br />
goodwill in their community.<br />
This year we also saw five learners participate<br />
in “Word: The Front Line Ōtautahi,” a spoken<br />
word poetry slam. This was the first time the<br />
competition was held in the South Island, held at<br />
The Piano Event Center in August. The night was<br />
full of amazing orator-performers from 5 different<br />
schools who explored a variety of topics like<br />
identity, diversity, rugby and Shakespeare. The Te<br />
Aratai team performers practised hard, attending<br />
weekend workshops to make sure their poems<br />
were interesting, catchy, and most importantly<br />
“felt.” It was an extraordinary night to be part of<br />
with incredibly moving and provocative poetry<br />
performed by so many young, talented poets from<br />
across Ōtautahi-Christchurch.<br />
Blake Williams, Connor Armstrong and<br />
Thomas Rhoades in the YES Dragon’s Den<br />
In our business school, we saw the success of<br />
an inspiring business venture, spearheaded by<br />
a group of Te Aratai College students. “Decalify”<br />
was an entrepreneurial endeavour that made an<br />
impressive impact with its cultural window decal<br />
designs and fully youth-run business model.<br />
Throughout the year the business team were<br />
placed 1st in the Canterbury Young Enterprise<br />
Dragon’s Den event, successfully awarded<br />
the contract to place all the window decals on<br />
Kindness Foundation’s (Previously YMCA) new<br />
$44 million building on Rolleston Avenue, and<br />
awarded 1st Place Finance, 1st Place Enterprise<br />
Technology, and 2nd Place Rangatahi New<br />
Zealand Young Enterprise in the In Canterbury<br />
Young Enterprise Competition.<br />
On the sports field, Te Aratai and the Under <strong>14</strong><br />
Boys’ Rugby team had a historic season in <strong>2023</strong>.<br />
This group of young men ended up being graded<br />
in the top division of Under <strong>14</strong> Boys’ Rugby,<br />
Division One, Section One. From there, the group<br />
did two special things; beating Christ’s College<br />
to win the Challenge Cup which is essentially<br />
the Ranfurly Shield of the Under <strong>14</strong> division, and<br />
then defending this until the end of the season<br />
and earning the right to have Te Aratai College<br />
engraved on it for the first time. They also then<br />
finished top of the table after the round robin<br />
and beat Christchurch Boys’ High and Christ’s<br />
College on the way to winning the final of Division<br />
One, Section One. Te Aratai College is the first<br />
co-educational school to achieve this.<br />
To us all, whatever 2024 brings for each one of<br />
us, and it will be different for me too, ngā mihi<br />
nui and best wishes for the festive season and<br />
summer ahead. I leave this school so enriched<br />
by everything that I have been able to learn from<br />
you all over the years on my own pathway to the<br />
sea at Linwood HS - Linwood College - Te Aratai<br />
College.<br />
Richard Edmundson<br />
Leaving Tumuaki-Principal<br />
Tyrek Kohu<br />
Smriti Parajuli at Aldwins House<br />
At our Senior Prizegiving, we were also able to<br />
celebrate the inspiring effort of Smriti Parajuli with<br />
the Te Aratai College Community Service Award.<br />
Smriti was part of the AKC: the Te Aratai Acts of<br />
Ad: 85 Aldwins Road, Phillipstown | Ph: 03 9820100 | Em: office@tearatai.school.nz | Wb: tearatai.school.nz
Change language