Profile of the week
This week we profile Year 13 student, Nicola Death. Being a member of the Forum, and helping to organize events like Relay for Life and the School Ball requires a big commitment of time. Nicola was also involved in the One Act Plays put on by Tararua, and has had recent huge success with her latest speech Family Outings.
Name: Nicola Death
Class/House: 13 NG/Rimu
Home Town: Nireaha
Favourite Subjects: English, Drama, Chemistry and Biology
Sports and Hobbies: Netball, hockey, coaching netball, shopping with friends and baking
Aspirations: Bachelor of Nursing and Midwifery.
The third week of Term was a hive of activity, with the inaugural Spelling Bee Challenge taking place in the Library on Tuesday. Wednesday saw a large group of senior students head across to the Massey University Open Day in Palmerston North, together with our Kapa Haka group and band Efekt, who both performed. On Thursday our chess team competed in the Manawatu Secondary Teams Interschool Chess Championships held in Palmerston North, and on Friday the senior Drama students travelled to Masterton to see All the World's a Stage, a solo Shakespeare performance by Ray Henwood.
The College Senior Speech Competitions were held on Thursday 30th July, in the College cafe. This is a report from Teacher in Charge of Drama, Susanne Richardson:
It was a night of verbose splendour, with an excellent entry rate, great attendance by family and friends, a plethora of well crafted speeches and a delightful array of pithy topics. It was, all in all, a great night for listening, really. The judges' (Mary Zambazos and Rob Moffitt) jobs were made very difficult by the great preparation that the 15 senior students who presented had put in, but as in all competitions, there had to be winners.
This year's top speaker award went to Nicola Death, with her humorous speech on Family Outings. Second place, and the Year 11 Speaker Prize, went to Stephanie Walker with her witty and thought-provoking speech on What Wealth Is. The third place prize was awarded to Sam Cotter-Dephoff for his well researched speech on Dieting.
Nicola went on to represent Tararua College at the Wairarapa Intercollegiate Speech Competition, held last Wednesday at Chanel College, and finished in a very creditable second place amongst very tough competition.
The Senior Speech Finalists 2009. Missing are Year 11's Ken Metekingi and Rebekah O'Hagan
This year the Tararua College Forum has formed a new Academic Committee, which focuses on promoting academia. Mary Mika, Teacher in Charge, tells us about the committee, and their recent Spelling Bee challenge:
The members of this Committee include Head Girl Michelle Bisset, senior students Jesse Wilson and Nathan Usherwood, and junior students Tegan Mabey, Ben Blackwell and Alice Martin. Meetings are held to discuss ways to promote different subjects. These students meet with the Heads of Department before a promotional activity takes place, just to make sure that the activity is reflective of the subject and that it meets all the teachers' approval.
So far the Academic Committee has run a very successful Spelling Bee to promote English, and now they are in the midst of planning other fun activities that students can participate in. In time the Academic Committee hopes to expand its role, such as to become more inclusive in helping teachers to run tutorials, help with open evenings, and become motivational role models in the academic sphere. This Committee is dedicated to promoting and sustaining life-long learning and are showing students that learning can be fun.
Staff and students alike wait with anticipation to see what other fun activities the Academic Committee has in store.
The Spelling Bee:
"First member for Matai, please stand. Spell 'abysmal', the weather was abysmal, 'abysmal'".
The Spelling Bee was an extremely successful event, and that the Tararua College library was jam-packed with raucous and cheering supporters. Each House was represented by three candidates, all vying for house points when they spelled a word correctly. The panel of judges were merciless in their careful critiquing of the words that were spelled aloud, but they were also quick to congratulate or console the competitors for correct and incorrect spelling. The Spelling Bee was the place to be on Tuesday 4 August.
The overall Spelling Bee Champion was Ashleigh Matheson (Year 10), 2nd place was Samuel Keall (Year 11), and 3rd place was Emma Holmes (Year 13). The overall House winner was Kowhai, with an amazing 34 points.
Congratulations must be given to the competitors and judges who gave up their time to participate. Also 'thumbs up' to the great supporters who really made the event so much better with their positive affirmations and cheering.
Given the success of this year's Spelling Bee, it will surely be on the calendar to run again in 2010.
Last week saw some excellent results in the winter sports arena.
Our two Girls' Basketball teams had superb wins last Friday. The U14 Boys' Rugby team beat PNBHS Wanderers 18-17 thanks to a last minute try by captain Dylan Steminger. U15 Boys' Rugby won the first leg of their semifinal 12-0. Senior A Netball beat Turakina Maori Girls College 27-12, and are now leading their competition table. There was outstanding defense by Jess Cooper, Lynelle Foothead and Melissa Blatchford.
For further information on this column, or about Tararua College, please email Mr. Mcknight at the College.
Tararua College, Churchill St, PO Box 94, Pahiatua, 4941.
Phone 06 3768344, email: admin@tararuacollege.school.nz
Content © to Tararua College
Site last updated June 1, 2010