Recently, Kelvin Weston attended the Dunedin Secondary School’s “Talkfest”, an overnight camp where students from all over Dunedin meet and talk only German. Little did he know when he signed up that he would be setting himself up for an even bigger adventure!

At the camp, students met Heike Papenthin, the National Advisor in German. She asked to come to the school and interview some boys, explaining that she felt they could be eligible candidates for Goethe Institut Scholarships to Germany. Heike spends most of Term 1 and 2 visiting schools around New Zealand and narrowing down the candidate pool from sixty to fifteen.

We are proud to announce that Kelvin has been selected as one of the final fifteen New Zealand students who will be flown to Wellington and given overnight accommodation in order to attend a day of German workshops and interviews. If he is successful, he could be in the running to win a scholarship of up to $10,000 and spend an extended period in Germany.

This is a real feather in Kelvin’s cap and testimony to his willingness to have the courage to enter a high stakes competition such as this and the perseverance to improve his German. Upon finding out about this award Kelvin said “I'm proud of the effort that I and the rest of the class put in at German Camp and look forward to representing OBHS in Wellington.” He truly demonstrates the values of Otago Boys’ High School and will be a great ambassador for us.