Rising Hibiscus is a programme which runs every second Wednesday at Tauranga Girls’ College.

This programme has been open to our wāhine at Tauranga Girls College, starting at 7:00 am and finishing at 8:40 am with some delicious kai. Rising Hibiscus is a programme where our wāhine can connect with each other with sports that we do in the gym or dance practices in the dance room. These activities allow us to understand each other's way of thinking and where everyone comes from, such as their background, culture and family.

For the last few Rising Hibiscus programmes, we have been practising a Tuvaluan dance taught by Naema, a well-known helper to our Pasifika group. This Tuvaluan dance will be performed in our Pasifika In The Bay performance, showing we take into consideration our helper’s time. During these practices, we have also been creating costumes for our Tuvaluan dance, ensuring we are investing time in the cultural dances and the costumes.

We have also been lucky enough to get guest speakers to Rising Hibiscus, such as Henry Fa’afili, Wiremu Matthews, Sina Emadi and more! This allowed the students attending Rising Hibiscus to understand different individuals’ perspectives and journeys to success. As each guest speaker shares their story, we enjoy our delicious breakfast served by amazing helpers and well-known individuals in our Pasifika group.

For our last Rising Hibiscus, we were lucky enough to get yummy pancakes for breakfast and copies of Ruby Tui’s book Straight Up, sponsored by Kiri Randall of Legacy Funerals. All students who received a copy were:

• Pauline Hakavalu

• Raelyn Monga

• Lute Takau

• Sylive Hammond

• Shanayah Heremia

• Blessing Pasi

• Sina Nimo

• Kaloni Hammond

• Kay Daniels

• Belinda Lea

• Nancy Filo

• Via Veikoso

All Wāhine who attend Rising Hibiscus are very grateful for the ongoing support and are excited to participate in more of these events in the future.