Inspirational Day

This morning we got a visit by an inspirational speaker who wrote the poem “Brown Brother.” Joshua Iosefo and his parents came to visit our senior school to recite and talk about his poem. Joshua is a prefect at Mt. Roskill Grammar School. His culture is Samoan and Niuean.

Before he got to speak us year 7 and 8’s did a Mihi (Maori Speech), Karakia (Maori Prayer) and Waiata (Maori Song). Finally we got to hear Joshua reply. Instead of him doing his speech in Samoan or Maori he did it in a surprisingly did it in Japanese.  He did it in this language because he couldn’t speak any of his languages.

Have you heard his “Brown Brother Speech?” 63,000 viewers saw this inspirational spoken word on the web/internet. Was even on the “Campbell Live News.” When he re-recorded his poem many viewers then commented on this very performance.

His inspirations are God, his parents and especially his grandparents. When ever he went and visited his grandparents all he wanted to do is interview them. What I mean by “interview them” is that he always wanted to know more about his grandad and his grandma. He also wanted to know when they emigrated to New Zealand.

After he’d finished his speech then he had to answer our questions that we asked him. The questions we asked him were awesome and the answers he gave us were also awesome. It was an amazing and inspirational day.

Olympic Day

“Let’s go Scotland, let’s go (clap clap clap),” Matthew (our leader) yelled. We were playing a game against Italy. The game we played was called 3-legged soccer. Today was our second “Olympic Day.” Instead of just us seniors, it was the whole school.

A sea of multi-coloured t-shirts were hubbed in excitement. Talking and yelling from one side to another, we were getting ready to start off our olympic rotation. Before we did anything we had to do our procession. For our procession we made chants and we cheered.

After a while we started our rotation of various activities. The activity that my team and I first had was 3-legged soccer. The rules were to tie your legs with a pair. It was actually hard to maneuver. Trying to get away from my opponents was hard as well because we had our legs tied up and we also wanted to get a score for our team. Winning to us was important because if we won we would win the big prize.

After all 6 rotations we came across to our last rotation. I was disappointed because I didn’t get to play. This rotation was actually my favourite rotation of them all. The game we played was Basketball. I was energetic to play but when I heard that wasn’t allowed to play I went and sat down with my heart full of sadness. I was even looking forward to playing against my own brother. He was the leader of the Jamaican team.

In 3rd place there were equals, and those 2 countries were Sweden and Argentina. In 2nd place it was Spain. The winner was Ireland.

Sports Rotation

“Yay!” most people said walking towards the hall. Unfortunately the sky was grey and it was pouring with rain but this didn’t dampen our enthusiasm. Today all senior teachers were going to wander around the junior area.  So we were going to have our very own “Mini Olympics” with the theme  “Go For Gold.” It was going to be very different however because the weather meant the mini olympics were going to be indoors. I was in Takitimu 4 and our captain was Vanilla.

We had a lot of activities, Singstar, Jump Jam, Cyber Coach, Movie Watching,  Cookie/Shell Decorating, Obstacle  Course and many more. Our first rotation was the obstacle course. Dribbling the ball around the cone was difficult to maneuver. Walking on the balance beam was also challenging as well. 2nd rotation was the cyber coach. All you needed to do is repeat the same moves as the teacher on the screen.

And last but not least, our 3rd rotation. It wasn’t like an activity session but like a movie watching session. We watched our last production that happened a few years ago. It was called the Toy Shop. It was about a storekeeper who doesn’t know that her store is magical. The storekeepers name was Angela. Anyway whenever she locked the door after her shift all the toys that were in the shop came alive. Some of the characters that starred in the show left our school.

At the end of our rotations we all headed back to the hall to watch PENN. It was a fun circumrotation, even though it was our first time. It was amazing. I hope you enjoyed!

The Netball Tournament

On a wonderful and beautiful sunny Tuesday morning, Pt England netball girls went downto the courts. We were going to compete against different schools. Some of our girls had to play and fill in for other schools. Yr8 Team1 and Yr7 Team1 were the only teams that competed because they were in higher groups than others.

For netball we had to be commited and win all our games. I filled in for the Yr7 Team1. They expected me to play well like how I played during the trainings. For the first game we played against Bailey Road Intermeidiate. Mary L was my position first. On the second half I was WD (Wing Defence). We beat them by 10 points. We won most of our games.

When it came to the finals our team were one of the teams that were first annouced. As we were walking to our court we were feeling the confidence and the huge presure we were going to put on this team that we were going to play against. The team that we were going to challenge for this last and I think final was Baradene. they were very easy at first, but when it came to the last half every one started to lose their pace.

When I got on I was shivering with fear and I felt very scared because I thought that we were going to lose this tournament. I tried my best to defend my partner but she kept on running away and catching the ball. She started to lose her pace so then when ever she got the ball I would always, well not ALWAYS defend her but just sometimes she got the chance to hold the ball.

After all that running and passing and catching balls, this tournament was over. We lost by one point. We came runners up and our coaches were not impressed. They thought that we were going to take this team out.

I've learnt many things in this netball tournament. I've learnt to always stick with my partner and don't be too rough on them. I've also learnt to pay attention to my team and coaches and most importantly my team captains.

SMOKING!

Smoking is bad. The only safe way of smoking is not to start in the first place. If you do start, here are some of the effects it causes. Your health is at risk, it is not good for your appearance and many more. If you don’t believe me, well... Just hear me out.

One reason why I think smoking is bad, is because of the effects that it causes for your health. This happens because cigarettes contain 4000 chemicals. Today, I am only going to name 3 of them. Nicotine, Tar and Carbon Monoxide. You may of heard of them and if you haven’t then the easiest way to describe them is dangerous. Not only do you have a higher chance of dying but your limbs start to fall off. Yeap! You heard me. Your body parts can fall off.

Second reason is your appearance. When you smoke your teeth and nails become yellow and you start to get wrinkles. Another thing you get from smoking is a TERRIBLE breath.

Lots of people start smoking when they are teenagers. Why start so young? Well I think they start because they think it is cool and because their friends are doing. Another reason why they start is probably because they are influenced by their family and friends. This is why you have to be determined and stand up for yourself.

What I told you is just the start about smoking. There are a lot more reasons on why you shouldn’t smoke. Just think about it, do you want your health to be fine when you are an old age, or have a good appearance? I would. That’s why smoking is not my future. It’s your choice, your future!
Thank you to Vivienne for finishing this post!

Mahe Drysdale

 Many New Zealand supporters waited for this much. To anticipate and watch this stunning race. Hoping to witness Mahe Drysdale to become successful in the men’s single scull. A single skull is a rower who rows by them self.
 During the previous Olympics, Mahe Drysdale was denied a gold medal through illness. So for the last four years he has been training to become even better. His goal was to make sure he won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics.
 It was the last 100 meter during the final of the men’s single scull, when it became a nail biting race. As Mahe Drysdale gave it his  all to hold off his challengers, Ondrej Synek of Czech and Alan Campbell from Great Britain.
 After Drysdale's awesome competition he crawled out of his canoe and just collapsed onto the pontoon completely shattered. Mahe was feeling really elated at the same time because he had just won himself an Olympic gold medal.
 It was a huge relief when 5 time world champion Mahe Drysdale crossed the line and made New Zealand history.
 I have just been lucky enough to witness a great NZ history when Mahe Drysdale completed his race with a gold medal,  it will be a moment that will never be forgotten.

Valerie Adams

Not being able to defend her gold medal, Valerie Adams came 2nd and won the Silver. Unfortunately Nadzeya Ostapchuk, from Belarus, defeated Valerie’s personal best (21.24.) Her smile was faced up-side down as she was so disappointed in herself. She beat her best score since the Beijing Olympics.
You can find more info and pictures on this site.