On Monday it was my pleasure to accompany our Deputy Principal Maria Lemalie and students Olivia Ionita, Charley Campbell and Melika Hamedi to the National Council of Women celebration of Women's Suffrage Day in New Zealand. Today I am handing over the article to Melika who was one of the students attending.

On Monday the 18th of September, Olivia Ionita, Charley Campbell and Melika Hamedi were invited to a Christchurch Girls' High School / Te Kura O Hine Waiora Ambassadors meeting at Kate Sheppard Memorial, accompanied by Mrs O’Neill and Mrs Lemalie in the city centre.

It was a beautiful outside ceremony beside the Kate Sheppard Memorial, appreciating and recognising all her hard work. The ceremony was presented by the Women's Suffrage Group and had supported funding by the Christchurch City Council. Some people presenting at the event included the Christchurch Mayor, Lianne Dalziel and some other great cultural representatives.

The event, while also being held in honour of Kate Sheppard, was held in honour of women all around the world to appreciate all that they have done to make it a better environment for the women of the 21st century. One of those people being Queen Elizabeth II herself, honouring all she has done in her past 72 years of service as that was the day of her official funeral. From this, we learnt the importance of women and women from different cultural rights, and also the courage of Kate Sheppard and her team to get us where we are today.

This was a very great experience and all three of us are very grateful for this opportunity. We would also love to be more exposed to these types of opportunities as they are extremely useful and empowering for young women. To give everyone in our school further exposure there will be a meeting held on Wednesday 28th of September regarding the National Council of Women. 

The flowers you see us holding are White Camellias that are known as the Kate Sheppard flower. They were given this name on the 100th year anniversary of women having the right to vote in New Zealand.         

Melika Hamedi