Young Totara, and Pride of Workmanship, awards presented at Hornby Rotary awards dinner

At the awards dinner for the Hornby Rotary 'Pride of Workmanship' awards dinner tonight, two of the Hornby team received awards.

Shardey Harris, Head Girl, received the 'Young Totara Award', while Nicole Sowman, Learning Commons supervisor, received the 'Pride of Workmanship' award.

Nicole's citation read:

"Nicole joined the Hornby High School team in 2017 in the role that had traditionally been labelled 'librarian'. She joined us at the time when we were determined to refocus the role and the title under the name Learning Commons Supervisor to fit the dramatic change in facilities embodied in our school rebuild. This was more than a change in words. It was a genuine change in the work to be carried out in that new space. The new role demanded a person highly skilled in understanding people, and change, while also bringing knowledge of how people learn. In addition at the time the school had just re-imagined itself with its new vision to be 'a centre of creative excellence'.

Nicole met every single one of these desired attributes to our kura. She is an extraordinarily enthusiastic and professional person able to see the good and the great in every human being. The students adore her, and justifiably so, as she offers no judgement of them, but simply offers kindness and compassion along with a highly professional approach to supporting their learning. She embodies our school vision with her own creativity, an outstanding example to all with whom she works."

The citation submitted for Shardey read:

"Shardey is an extraordinary young woman. Shardey has committed her life over recent years to supporting other young people in her own selfless way. As Head Girl of Hornby High School she works tirelessly to support her school community. She works to provide a great role model for younger students, and also commits herself to seeing that the kura supports its wider community, being one of the several key players in organising and fronting the student lead concert that raised funds for local whānau affected by the 15 March Mosque shootings.

Shardey carries her own Māori heritage with pride, and works to support other young Māori students in their own journeys of discovery and self belief. In this also she is an outstanding role model. She retains a sense of optimism about the world around her, shows compassion and kindness to all, and carries immense pride in Hornby High School and her Hornby community. She is a fantastic example of what we have come to term #manahoromaka #hornbypride. Shardey would be an outstanding recipient of the Young Totara award, growing strong, straight, and proud, as an example of the potential that our young people offer to the world today."

Both of these worthy recipients reflect our school values in their lives and their daily work.

The awards have been run by the Hornby Rotary Club for over twenty years now, celebrating some of the outstanding work, some of the many, outstanding people that live and work in our community. Thank you Hornby Rotary Club.

#manahoromaka #hornbypride