In the first week of school, a group of year 11 students, accompanied by Mr Parker, travelled to Auckland to take part in the national Brain Bee Challenge. Heidi Beasley, Ashleigh Matheson, Krystal Cook and Braden Davenport reported:
"Nine hours in a car, travelling through all sorts of weather, but it was worth it to take part in the Brain Bee Challenge. The Brain Bee is a neuroscience competition for Year 11 students. To qualify we had to take an online test and rank in the top 5 % of the North Island. We then travelled to Auckland to participate in the North Island final.
At the Brain Bee we also looked around Auckland University laboratories, learned about bionic ears and had a tour of the Anatomy Museum. We had the opportunity to mingle with other Year 11 students that are interested in science. We left the University at about 4:30pm, as we had to drive back to Taupo. This took four hours, as we stopped for food at various places including Burger King, where we convinced the assistant to give us each a King crown. It was a fun event and definitely worth the twenty hours we spent in the car.’

Brain Bee: Where else would ‘The Brain Bee Team’ assemble?

During the last week of the holidays, Year 12 student Anna Arends represented Tararua College at a National Youth Conference in Wellington. Anna reports on the conference:
‘The national Youth Model United Nations conference is a four day conference held in Wellington. High school students from all over New Zealand come to the capital city to attend this event.
Each student selected is given a United Nations member country to represent. I was given South Korea. The conference consists of high profile guest speakers including Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully, and Barry Coates from Oxfam NZ, a ball and lots of debating!
Before the conference I researched as much as I could about South Korea. I was prepared with lots of facts and figures, so I had good arguments for my debates and could represent the South Korean Government’s views properly. There are many different resolution topics and you are put into debates that relate strongly to your country. I was debating the development of military technology, the question of human rights, the development of information and communication technologies and the question of climate change.

From the conference I gained a lot of confidence. As I was the only person from Tararua College, I was forced to meet new people. This was very daunting at first, but I now think it was a good thing as I have made so many new friends! I learned how to debate, and once I knew what to do I really got into it. From MUN I learned so much about current global issues and it opened my eyes to how much poverty is in the world. Most of all, I learnt a lot about South Korea!
I can’t wait to apply for MUN next year so I can improve my debating skills, meet even more new people and broaden my horizons. The conference helped me be sure of my goal to pursue a career in politics, and I encourage students to apply next year so they too can experience this amazing event.’




The United Nations Conference at the Michael Fowler center and Tararua delegate Anna Arends (Bottom left) at the Conference

Last weekend saw some very good sports results. Boys’ Football enjoyed a 5 – 3 win over Awatapu, with Ben and Sam Cotter-Dephoff scoring two each and Vinnie Carroll one.
Netball had a very good weekend, with four out of five teams having wins. The U14 Rugby team travelled to Foxton to gain a solid 53 - 22 victory over Manawatu College. All of our 5 rugby teams are now approaching the end of a successful season.

For further information on this column or about Tararua College events, please contact the School office or email Mr. Mcknight at the College.