Roncalli College has been pleased to be part of this prestigious contest and we are delighted that two of our Roncalli College students have been successful, in 2017 Anne Newmarch and in 2018 Abhirami Bharathan.

In the first weekend of the holidays, Abhi Bharathan travelled to Dunedin to represent Roncalli College in the EDICM and NPO FutureSchool Speech Contest.  

EDICM (Educational Information, Consulting and Mentoring from Japan) have more than 18,000 students studying abroad and they established  NPO FutureSchool in 2002 to support, among other objectives,  international students who want to visit Japan. The competition is offered to students from Roncalli College, Craighead Diocesan School, Otago Boys’ High School, John McGlashan College, St Hilda’s Collegiate School and Columba College.

Two winners of the EDICM/NPO Future Schools Speech Contest each receive a 10 day trip to Japan in December (including homestay, sightseeing and visiting a Japanese high school).

The topic for this years speech was 'A life less ordinary' and Abhi's speech was titled 'In Limbo'   focussing on what it was like growing up as a Christchurch-born New Zealander with Sri Lankan and Indian heritage. Abhi was accompanied by Cathy Shearer our International Student Director who stated that the emotion behind Abhi's speech and Abhi's wonderful personality made her speech come alive and really stand out from the others.  

Anne Newmarch, the 2017 winner also travelled to Dunedin to support Abhi and report about her experience in Japan. A copy of Anne's amazing presentation is attached to this article. 

Abhi acknowledged Miss Allan, who teachers her Drama and English, for the help she received. 

We would like to congratulate Abhi and thank Makiko Kashikura, EDICM & NPO FutureSchools President  for their continued support.

If you would like to read the Timaru Herald article about Abhi's success, please follow this link.