School House News
By Matthew Markham | Posted: Sunday March 18, 2018
A bow and arrow and Biology makes for an interesting week in School House.
It is hard to believe that week eight has already rolled around and with two long weekends coming up we are rapidly approaching the end of term. It has certainly been a busy term for School House and one that will not be forgotten by the new members of the house!
Saturday night saw us head off to the Highlanders vs Crusaders. This was a eagerly anticipated game in School House and the match did not disappoint. With a big crowd, a great game and of course a Highlanders win, the boys had a very enjoyable time. This will be our last visit to the stadium this term with the Highlanders not due to play there again (in term time) until the middle of May.
As many of you would know, last weekend Jack Light (Yr9) attended a South Island Archery competition. Jack won two gold medals and a bronze, an amazing achievement considering that he hadn’t picked up a bow for eight weeks prior to the event, as he had a broken arm and only came out of plaster/sling the Thursday before the event. What makes this story even more remarkable was that the following day there was a New Zealand qualifying event. To be eligible to enter Jack had to step out of his junior division and move into the intermediate grade above him. Therefore, Jack was shooting against 16-20 year olds and proved he has considerable potential by winning selection for the New Zealand team to compete at the Oceania games in New Caledonia in July this year. Well done Jack!!
Deputy Head of Hostel Nic Sinnott has been selected to represent the Otago region at a selection camp in Auckland, for the opportunity to represent New Zealand in the New Zealand International Biology Olympiad (NZIBO). This has required Nic to complete extensive online tutorials with study for up to 20 hours per week throughout the last school holidays. This diligence has already seen Nic gain a place on the prestigious 2017 “Powering Potential” residential camp for talented secondary students, and a cross-school program sponsored by Untouched World – a ten day program called Water Wise. Nic will travel to Auckland in the April school holidays and spend ten days at the fully residential camp, completing practical laboratories and field work before he is challenged by some more selection exams, hoping for that top spot to represent New Zealand. Well done Nic, best of luck for the selection camp in April. A big thank you to Nic's teacher Mrs Casey for all her help and support.
This week we have the rowers at Twizel competing at the Maadi Cup. After a very successful South Island's the boys are full of confidence, but know that they will need to step it up this week as they face off against some excellent North Island crews.
On the weekend a small team of School House boys are representing the school at the South Island Schools Athletic Championship in Timaru. We have some seriously talented athletes in the hostel this year and hopes are high that we have a great deal of success in this prestigious event. Good luck boys!!
We have a special formal dinner on Thursday where former hostel managers messers Ashwin, Rust and McGarry will talk to the boys about their experiences in School House. It will be interesting to hear how things have changed in the last 20 years.
Have a great long weekend.
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