KAURI HOUSE
With another year in the competition for the Patu
came yet another challenge. The pressure to keep
in first place for the third year running was on our
shoulders. Everyone in our house came together
and rose to the occasion.
In 2013, our winning vibe started with the overall
win at year 13 camp- a vibe which followed on to
the first whole house event, Swimming Sports. This
inter-house competition gave us many opportunities
to show off the talent within Kauri House. Our
advantage in the water had been noted in previous
years but we weren’t leaving anything to chance.
The participation in this event was key to our
success, along with our three champions, James
Cruickshank in senior boys, Jaime Gray in senior
girls and Alexia Hinton in intermediate girls. Kauri
proudly took away the shield in first place.
We were then set to take out house athletics. Once
again, motivation and participation were important
for our overall performance and place. We knew
that it would be a tough challenge with the other
houses keen to get a point up on us, but we
fought admirably and came out in second place to
Rata.
House Kapa Haka was sure to be a tough
encounter with such strong opponents. We scraped
the minimum 50 people in participation which was
slightly disappointing as we had more numbers
down on paper in the weeks leading up to this
event. Everyone had a part to play. We were happy
with our outcome of third place, given the strong
level of competition. We were especially proud of
our year 12 student, Nicole Sheeran, for stepping
up and leading our house in this event.
The smaller events found us with an advantage.
We rose above our opposition in House Theatre
Sports, taking out the front position as the other
houses finished in a three-way tie at second
place. House Touch Rugby brought on crowds
of supporters. The senior boys’ team finished
in first equal, the girls’ team finished in second
place and the junior boys placed first equal also.
This provided us with first place overall in the
competition. It was rewarding to see the number of
people willing to participate and share their abilities
when signup sheets for these smaller events were
passed around form classes.
Coming into the final event, Tug-an-Engine,
there was a lot of excitement and definitely a lot
of nervousness.
With Rata only 12 points behind the pressure was on, but we gave
nothing away.
Kauri was awarded the Patu for the third year running.
Despite the huge amount of e ffort and heart put into this final
event, we came off second best, just missing out on the Patu
overall by 2.5 points.
We are extremely proud of Kauri and hope that
every member feels as privileged as we do to be
a part of such an amazing house group. We hope
that this high level of participation, motivation and
teamwork continues on for many years to come.
To Miss McDonald, thank you for all the effort and
time you put into organising events. Thank you for
the never-ending support and positive motivation you
continue to drill into your Kauri House students.
We have felt privileged to have been the leaders of
such an awesome house and wish everyone luck in
the years to come. Keep that Patu close guys!
Malin Dolden and Thomas Hensman