Nor'West News: July 24, 2018

10 Tuesday July 24 2018
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
NOR’WEST NEWS
Global recognition for Burnside student
SCHOOLS
• By Sophie Cornish
BURNSIDE HIGH student
E Wen Wong continues to show
her talents to the world, finishing
fifth at the Future Problem
Solving world championships in
the United States.
When she saw her result at the
championships in Wisconsin, she
got a “complete shock”.
“It took me a while to comprehend,”
she said.
E Wen previously competed in
the competition in 2016, finishing
sixth. She said this year’s competition
was more challenging.
When E Wen returned from
the championships last month,
she started up a community
problem-solving group at her
school. She is training a group of
year 9 students so they can qualify
for the national competition
HAPPY RESULT: E Wen Wong
said she was in “complete
shock” when she heard
she had finished fifth at the
Future Problem Solving world
championships.
next year. The year 11 student is
familiar with international relations,
recently attending a New
Zealand Model United Nations
event in Wellington.
The event involved four days
of workshops, debates, guest
speakers and a taste of life as a
diplomat.
E Wen is in her second year as
one of 10 UN youth high school
ambassadors for the Canterbury
region.
However, her talents aren’t
just limited to competitions and
conferences. Earlier this year
she started designing a robot to
detect plastic in beaches, rivers
and the ocean.
She has received support from
experts at NIWA, ThisDesign
and Limitless who have shown
AWARDS:
E Wen
Wong on
stage at
the closing
ceremony
in the
United
States.
interest in the project. The robot
is called BIRD – which stands for
Biomimicry Identification Robot
Device – and is also shaped like
a bird.
The plastic can be tagged
and linked to a crowd-sourced
clean-up app that guides rubbish
collectors to dispose of it.
E Wen has been working on
the designs for her robot through
the advocacy organisation she set
up at school, P.S Our Beaches,
which is spreading awareness
about the environment and climate
change.
After school, she wants to
attend university and study a
combination of subjects she is
passionate about, including meteorology,
international law and
environmental law.
Allenvale School
knits together to help
newborn babies
ALLENVALE School students
are doing their part for the
community – helping newborn
babies stay warm.
Members of the student council
visited Christchurch Hospital’s
neonatal unit recently with a
basket of knitted clothing.
More than 100 booties, hats
and tops were knitted by staff
members and donated.
Assistant principal Linda King
said students were required to
gather the knitting and take it to
the hospital as part of their community
work.
“It teaches the students one
of our values of generosity. It
teaches them that there’s always
other people out there who need
a hand and some help.”
Allenvale is a special school
in Bryndwr which caters for 120
young people with disabilities.
DELIVERY: Allenvale School
students Emelia Guthrie,
Andy Chen, Harrison Stevens,
and Wiremu Manahi helped
deliver the knitted items
to Christchurch Hospital’s
neonatal unit.
ADVERTISEMENT