The senior oral tapestries final was held last night in E block. This second evening hosted speakers from Years 10 - 13. The judges, Melissa Jebson and Nikki Ferguson Brown, were wowed by the calibre of our senior speakers. The speakers had a vast variety of topics; with Years 11 and 12 being particularly outstanding, the crowd was left wondering who the judges would choose as the winner.

Firstly a massive thank you to our MC for both evenings, Tierlina Payne our Head of Cultural.

At the conclusion of the judging, Melissa Jebson spoke to the audience, explaining they had great difficulty deciding on the placings for some of the year levels. However, she was impressed by the variety of topics and how the speakers all delivered from the heart with excellent use of oral language features.

An enormous congratulations to the following students for their participation and placings in the oral tapestries competition:

Year 10

First Place - Trae Davis, with his speech on Martin Luther King Junior.

Second Place - Brooke Ebdon-Collings with her speech on why her hockey stick is important to her.

Third Place - Annabella Rooney, her speech is on why her necklace holds value to her.

Year 11

First Place - Maurine Basu with her speech on how isolation can affect your mental health and how this was shown in the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’.

Second Equal - Kyan Simon, with his speech on the economic connection between the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ and New Zealand today.

Caitlin Smith, with her speech on how women were treated in the 1930s compared to today and the effects of negative comments towards women.

Year 12

First Place - Shimee Araguas, with her speech on racism towards Asians.

Second Place - Ruben Serra with his speech on what toxic masculinity in the media teaches young males.

Third Place - MacKenzie Butler, with her speech on what I would tell my younger self.

Year 13

First Place - Darcy Tiede with their speech on representation and diversity in media.

Finally, the overall winner of the whole competition was announced. A massive congratulations to Shimee Araguas. Her speech was truly captivating and confronting about the impact of casual racism toward Asians in New Zealand. She spoke from her own experience, the comments made to her, and the effect of racism is an important message for all to hear. She presented with rhythm and pace, at times entering slam poetry territory. An emotionally charged speech made from the heart. Well done.

Mrs Rudman

HOD English