Here we celebrate student achievement and showcase activities our students are involved in around college.

LUMA SCHOOLS PROJECT

The Luma Southern Lights Project is back again this year from 1 to 5 June. The arts, performance and sensory event works with over 500 contributors to transform Queenstown Gardens and the urban nightscape.

The LUMA schools programme is based around what students can do to maintain their resilience and wellbeing at optimal levels. Using research undertaken by the Mental Health Foundation, students review the five ways to wellbeing and reflect on what they do well in each category and which ones they need to focus on and improve.

The theme for this year’s school project is: ‘Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there.’ The process involved designing and prototyping shadow sculptures that look like abstract shapes. When a light is shone at a certain angle, the ‘activity’ that the student has identified as impacting on their wellbeing (based on their analysis of their personal wellbeing) is visible in the shadow the sculpture creates.

Congratulations to Olivia Shore whose creation won the MAC entry for LUMA 2023.

Thank you to MAC teacher Rebecca Hembrow who developed the school programme and guided our students, and to Wai Innovation and Southern Lakes Engineering for donating materials and time to produce the students' prototypes in steel. Elliot from Wai Innovation allowed us to use their wet jet to cut the metal and Kev at Southern Lakes Engineering in Cromwell welded them together.

More information https://luma.nz/

SHOWQUEST 2023

BREAK A LEG to all our fantastic students competing in SHOWQUEST this coming Friday 19 May in Invercargill.

The 37 students, led by Ruby McLachlan and Tayla Doran have created a piece about the legend surrounding Ruby Island. They are excited to present this and will be competing against other Otago and Southland school teams. Haere tū atu, hoki tū mai.

STUDENTS IN THE COMMUNITY - Youth Volunteer Week, 15-21 May

This week is Youth Volunteer week, a week where we celebrate the good our young people are doing by helping out in and around our community.

Any students wanting to know more about volunteering opportunities in our area are welcome to contact our Students in the Community coordinator Jo Hewson-Williams on sic@mtaspiring.school.nz

Our SIC students are out and about this week finding innovative ways to help in our community.

With winter sports underway, many of our senior students have taken on coaching roles with junior netball, football and hockey teams. We have seen some exceptional service from students working with M!nt Charitable Trust, Girl Guides and the Volunteer Fire Service. We continue to help out seniors across the community by providing digital help at the library and at the retirement village.

We have volunteers who have set up student led clubs for coding, robotics and Spanish. This is a great way for our seniors to lend their skills and expertise to younger students who benefit greatly from these relationships.

So far our SIC students have given over 1300 hours to our Upper Clutha community this year. I look forward to seeing what other opportunities you take up!

7BNG STEWART ISLAND CAMP REPORT By Elliot Lovelock

On Tuesday 9 May 7BNG went to Stewart Island. Driving down on a bus was quite chaotic, with car sickness and some crazy talk, but was mostly alright. There was some wind and rain, so not to the gardens, but to the ILT Stadium in Southland to play some basketball and see the Velodrome.

After that, it was down to Bluff to catch the ferry. The ferry was what we call ‘rough’ but the locals call it ‘calm’, with more people getting sick, but then we had done it. We had arrived! After dragging our bags for what seemed like forever, we arrived at the most luxurious school camp accommodation we've ever had! Dinner was nachos, and then into bed it was, for the action packed day that awaited us on Wednesday.

We got up early, had breakfast, and went fishing. It was rough, but everyone survived and caught a good amount of fish, including blue cod, barracuda, and 2 sharks! We went on a walk to Golden Bay and Bathing Beach. It started to rain, so we postponed the walk, and off to the Museum we went which included some great history about the island. Later on, the teachers said “come on guys, get waterproof things on and let’s go on a walk!” Everyone groaned, it was pouring! Ten minutes later, we were dripping wet, and the teachers looked doubtful. So they said “if you want to turn around, then you can, otherwise come with one of us and we will keep on going.” Only seven people went. Later that night, it was freshly caught blue cod, chips and salad for dinner, then off to bed early for our next day.

Thursday morning and we were off to the DOC Centre which was interesting, with native birds, history and ancient artifacts. Next we were on another boat to Ulva Island, the pest free island, with its beautiful wildlife, beaches and more. Then it was free time, and soon it would be the time for glory. The beach olympics. They were crazy, fun, and well interesting to say the least. The winning team was: The Dads! Macaroni and cheese for lunch and it was delicious. Freetime came after that, in the gym and practicing our talents for the talent show. And finally, it was the moment everyone was waiting for, the talent show! Judged by the Year 13’s, there was a mix of talents from rodeos to comedies and even cricket wicket dances! After the most delicious brownie ever, it was time for our last night on Stewart Island.

We were woken at 6:15am so we could be at the ferry by 7:30am. Waving goodbye to Stewart Island we began the rough journey for an hour, and then we made it to the Bluff terminal. We made a quick stop at the end of the South Island with the sign that showed the directions of places, and then we hopped back on the bus, and enjoyed the last moments of camp.

SCHOOL CLUBS

No Magic club this Friday (19 May) - Mr Waddington is away on a journey.  The Gathering Club, Friday lunchtimes, Soc Sci 4 - between the playground and the field. Bring your best commander decks!