Last night’s Te Puna o Wairaka Dinner was a time for MAGS’ ākonga, whānau and kaiako to come together to reflect on and celebrate a great year for Puna.
Our Puna Leavers were also recognised and farewelled with speeches and haka.
The awards dinner at Te Mahurehure Marae was MC’ed by Puna students Te Arini Roberts and Pomare Schulz, and featured Albertian (2009-2013) and NZ representative weightlifter Aotea Frandi as guest speaker.
Guest speaker Aotea Frandi
Aotea said that she wanted to be a top netballer when she came to MAGS but soon realised the competition was too great and shifted her focus to Athletics and Sevens. She was still searching for her niche when our late First XV coach Mr Moon told her that her “Ngāpuhi legs” were more suited to weightlifting. From there, she went on to represent New Zealand, winning a bronze at the Oceania Weightlifting competition in 2013.
Aotea said that success was driven by her strategy of setting goals and plotting the path to achieve them, something she applied to her career in Psychology: she is working on her PhD as part of the University of Auckland Clinical Psychology program and working with youth at residential facilities.School House Head Prefect Hokioramai Dunn spoke on behalf of the Year 13 Leavers and expressed their gratitude to the Puna whānau and to Whaea Miri and Matua Peter Walters for all their care and dedication.
When it came to the awards, Mihimere Hope won the Top Senior Academic Award and the “Manu Tute” Award For Services to Puna and the wider community, while Hokioramai was named All-Round Top Senior Student and won the “He toka tū” Award For Contribution to Kapa Haka.
Brooklyn Smith-Boyd was All-Round Top Junior Girl and Top Junior Academic; the All-Round Top Junior Boy was Bailey Hamilton.
The award for Top Senior Māori Language Orator went to Awanui Hope, and Kamaukiterangi Mikaere was named Top Junior Māori Language Orator.
When it came to sports achievement, Jackson and Johnny Thompson won the top junior award and Waimarie Tawera the top senior award.
Guests were also entertained by Hokioramai Dunn, Tyler Ngawati and Lisi Crichton, who performed a rendition of Tōku reo, tōku ohooho.
