Otago Girls’ were runners up in Secondary Schools’ Arts section at the 2019 Tournament of Minds Competition held in Christchurch on Saturday 31 August.

Tournament of Minds (TOM) is an educational programme developed for talented and creative students across all sectors of primary and secondary school education. It provides a dynamic approach to learning, whilst developing students’ enthusiasm for experimentation, problem-finding and problem-solving. Students are formed into vertically grouped teams at Primary and Secondary levels, and undertake one of the four discipline groups: STEM; The Arts; Language Literature; and Social Sciences. The team members work together for six weeks - without assistance from teachers, parents or peers - to develop a creative way to communicate their solution to a panel of judges and an audience, working within predetermined parameters, complex criteria and the deadline of Tournament Day. They have 10 minutes to share their presentation. The teams must also participate in an unseen Spontaneous Challenge® on the day.

This year’s team of Emma Henderson (Year 9), Emily Olsen (Year 9), Amber Kingham (Year 9), Tessa Hinch (Year 9), Charlotte Aiken (Year10), Andrea Austin (Year 10) and Ellie Thompson-Lee (Year 10) worked for six weeks on their challenge which was titled “Wizard of Aus”.

They were required to rewrite the “Wizard of Oz” story and change the setting to a New Zealand location. The characters were required to overcome a personal challenge, yet be connected by a common concept. The students had to design their own set (using at least two backdrops), make all their own costumes and compose two original songs that supported the development of the story line. The common concept they chose was overcoming self-doubt. This was the first year that an OGHS team has taken part in TOM, so being named as runners up in their section was a great achievement. Special thanks to Mrs Jane Craig-Pearson for accompanying the team on their trip to Christchurch.