Prizegiving recognises top students
Success celebrated with their friends and wha¯ nau
Te Puke High School’s 2022 senior prizegiving was a more traditional event than it has been for the past two years.
The prizegiving returned to The Orchard, providing the chance to celebrate students’ success with wha¯nau, family and friends.
It was special to have our MP, Todd Mcclay, there along with the Western Bay of Plenty Mayor James Denyer and councillors and the senior deputy vice-chancellor of Waikato University, Professor Alister Jones, as well as other guests.
The evening began with head students Faith Eru and Takabwebwe Kabuati welcoming the crowd and then performing a traditional Kiribati dance.
They hosted the prizegiving in a relaxed and jovial manner that was enjoyed by the people attending.
Our first awards went to the many students who had provided extraordinary service to staff and learning areas within the school.
They are some of our school’s essential workers who help keep things running, and their contributions are highly valued.
The evening celebrated the cultural diversity within the school with a Samoan Dance Group performance and a number of haka being performed as we acknowledged the successes of some of our students.
The first group of academic award recipients were the Year 11 students.
Despite the challenges faced over the year, we celebrated a record number of students who have already earned a Level 1 excellence endorsement having gained 46 or more excellence credits.
The Year 12 and 13 best student awards were presented before we headed to the special awards and the premier awards.
Within the special awards we recognised the 2022 student leaders and house captains for their roles as well as Faith Eru and Jasrose Mallhi as the major service cup winners.
Louie Te Hiini won the Hei Waka Matauranga Trophy created and gifted by former Western Bay of Plenty District Council mayor Garry Webber.
At the end of this section the house cup was presented to the jubilant Ngata House captains, Miah
Hammond and Cory Murray.
Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated part of the evening followed, with the announcement of the 2023 student leaders. The dilemma here is that we have more amazing candidates than positions available and this year was no different. After much deliberation by principal Alan Liddle and nerves from the candidates, the decision was made that the 2023 head students are Evie Gibney and Harrison Hennell.
This year was particularly special with the school able to award over $230,000 in scholarships to students going on to further studies.
It is always memorable to be able to invite representatives onto the stage to hand over a scholarship they are connected with. We were fortunate in that we welcomed some new awards this year as well as some regular scholarships.
Some of the major winners include Raman Torr who won a $10,000 scholarship as well as mentoring and holiday work internship with Sharp Tudhope Law Firm, Emma Howie who won the Bob and Joy Owens Scholarship valued at $15,000, Takabwebwe Kabuati, Jasmine Day and Paige Williams who each won a $15,000 Waikato University, Faith Eru and Ben Parsons who won a $28,000 Waikato University scholarship each and Ruby Willis who won the Acorn Foundation George and Jill Butler Scholarship to the value of $30,000. Otago University also awarded scholarships worth $15,000 and $18,000 to Achaia Smith and Lila Cookson respectively.
These scholarships are a massive boost to helping some of our students overcome many of the challenges they will face on their learning journeys.
The climax to the evening came with the announcement of our highest academic achievements, the Dux for 2023. This year we had a Dux of Humanities, Lila Cookson, and a Dux of Sciences, Aaron Shin. The Dux Awards are hard earned after five years of effort.
It was fitting that they were both acknowledged with a rousing haka and standing ovation from the crowd. ■ There will be a list of prize winners in next week’s Te Puke Times.