Below: Our staff reconnecting and playing games at our Teacher Only Day.
Woman in Engineering
Back in Year 11 I saw a poster for this amazing opportunity to travel down to Christchurch to the University of Canterbury for a program called ‘ Woman in Engineering '. It is a free program that lets the attendees experience the full range of engineering and technological engineering. Unfortunately at the time I was too young but following this goal, I watched out and applied as a Year 12. With the help of my teachers for references, I received the email of acceptance just before exams!
For a duration of 5 days and 4 nights I was able to meet roughly 60 other amazing young women from different schools around New Zealand, with some women already studying a form of engineering at the university. During the course, we were able to experience interactive workshops:
from creating a Solar cell and seeing the change in voltage as the amount of sunlight varied (chemical engineering),
coding for a microbit which is a pocket sized computer that shows how software and hardware work together and programming a solar car (electrical engineering),
building and coding for exoskeletons that could help in bone and muscle recovery (mechanical and mechatronics engineering),
how to fell a tree and transport it environmentally friendly (forestry engineering) to building structures that withstand the shaking of an earthquake (civil engineering).
Alongside interactive workshops, team challenges were also played a big part. One of our challenges as a team was coding mechanical fingers to play a music piece and inspiring our problem thinking skills in an entrepreneur challenge, really emphasized the importance of teamwork. The ability to think outside of the box and to work with other people was really essential and I believe this is one of the best abilities to have.
Put yourself out there to follow those dreams and look for those opportunities as there are awesome people out there who are willing to help. All in all, I would like to say a big thank you to my teachers & the University of Canterbury for such an incredible time and still making it work through our Covid time.
Best luck
Lara Longney, Year 13
The English Department Need You...
...to look under your bed, to check your bookshelf, to rifle through your junk drawer, in order to relocate any novels you may have forgotten to return to your English teachers over the past few years. Or perhaps you know where to find that English novel an older sibling forgot to return before heading off into the big wide world - we want them all back! We have done a stocktake and have found that many of our novels have not been returned - so if you know you have a book at home, please put it in your bag and return it to any English teacher you come in contact with. You will not be scorned for your forgetfulness, instead, you will be rewarded with chocolate for returning our precious goods! Any queries, please see Mrs. Garner in B3.
If you have an English novel stashed away somewhere at home, please return it to your/an English teacher and you will be rewarded with chocolate. To receive your reward, please have returned any books by Friday, February 18th.
UPCOMING EVENTS
For the full calendar of events, check out this link:
https://portal.whakatanehigh.school.nz/index.php/calendar
- Year 9 Big Day Out - Friday 11 February
- TAM Camp - 15-17 February
- BOPSS Volleyball Champs - 19-20 February
- Inquiry Camp - 21-22 February
- Student ID Photos - 22 February
- BOPSS Triathlon - 22 February
- Year 9 BBQ - POSTPONED
- Athletics Day - Friday 25 February
Rangiatea Whakatane School For Young Parents
