St Catherine’s Tū Wahine leader Mila Moriarty (Ngāti Toa Rangatira/Ngāti Koata/Ngāti Kahungunu) proudly represented our school on the day, competing in the Korimako Senior English section.

On Friday, 12 May, the Ngā Manu Kōrero Regional Secondary Schools Speech competition was held at Takapūwāhia Marae in Porirua. Kura (schools) from throughout the Te Whanganui-a-Tara region participated in this prestigious event to see who would take out the top spots to represent our region at the national competition in September.

St Catherine’s Tū Wahine leader Mila Moriarty (Ngāti Toa Rangatira/Ngāti Koata/Ngāti Kahungunu) proudly represented our school on the day, competing in the Korimako Senior English section. She wowed the audience with her topic, “I am unapologetically Māori.” She says she took a personal approach in order to honour her whakapapa. “It is in my DNA to be unapologetically Maori. My whakapapa is unapologetically Maori. And so is yours.”

Te Reo Māori teacher Whaea Chez O’Donnell (Te Ātiawa/Taranaki Tūturu/Rongowhakaata) says it was inspiring to have our brother and sister schools St Patrick’s College and St Mary’s College coming together to support Mila. “All schools represented us proudly in our waiata tautoko for Mila, and we felt so proud representing our kura Katorika, our Catholic schools.”

Ngā Manu Kōrero is regarded as the most significant event on the Māori education calendar for nurturing oratory skills and providing the stage for young people to express their views and to lay down their challenges to an admiring and critical audience of peers, parents, whānau and judges.

The speech contests are intended to encourage the development of skills and confidence of Māori students in spoken English and te reo Māori. All secondary schools are invited to participate in this wonderful event, noting that the Māori section is open to all students as part of a strategy to support everyone to learn and to speak in te reo Māori.

Whaea Chez says, while Mila did not make it through to nationals, it was a good starting point to get our school back into the speech competition.

“We’ll be back next year, even more eager to show the region what we can do.”