On 5 July the Wellington Girls' College and Wellington College Kapa Haka group, Te Haeata Awatea, competed at Wellington ki Ōtaki’s Regional College Kapa Haka competition.
The day was tiring, as students performed their bracket second to last at 3:45pm in the afternoon. However it was rewarding, as the rōpū placed 6th overall out of the 12 schools who performed.
As well as their overall placing, Te Haeata Awatea placed 3rd in the whakaeke, 3rd in the mōteatea and the kaitātaki tāne, Te Okanga Huata Wagner placed 2nd as kaitātaki tāne. Rebekah Raihania, the kaitātaki wāhine, also lead the group extremely well and all students did the school proud.
The group's items spoke on a range of topics, with a poi about Matariki, a waiata-ā-ringa about the benefits of mainstream schools such as WGC, and a haka surrounding racism.
Throughout the lead up to this whakataetae-ā-rohe, the rōpū had many wānanga, noho marae and after school practices, relying on the incredible support from their whānau, as well as help and items from their tutors Krystal Clark, Ben Mcgee, Jono Belczacki and teachers Whaea Mitchel and Ms Wilson among others to complete their 25 minute bracket of waiata and haka.
The next competition is to be held in 2021, and the group are excited to continue working towards this, and making a name for themselves in our region's Kapa Haka.