RATA
The 2014 year began for Rata House at Year 13 camp
which was held out at Riverbend. Each house worked
together for two days to prepare a skit involving the school
song. That was where our infamous ‘Rata brings the ruckus’ chant was born, as we won first place. We were both
extremely happy to be elected as house leaders soon after
that. Our journey continued well for Rata when we went on
to gain first place at the swimming sports in February. It was
the chance to utilize our best swimmers and bond as a
house - or as we think of it, a family - in our first event.
The second major house event, athletics, followed two
weeks after. This was when we had a complete turn-around
in the final relays and alas, settled fourth. Luckily our earlier
first place meant that we were still in the hunt for the patu.
House life-skills early in term two involved teams doing various challenges in groups, from rolling sushi to designing
combustible air balloons. We pulled through with another
first, breaking our second equal deadlock with Tainui.
Term two culminated in the third major event for the year,
house choir. We settled on singing ‘Proud Mary’ and our
gospel style choir and lead singer TK (who put the soul
into ‘soloist’) performed with enough enthusiasm to earn us
first place. That night brought out the Rata pride like never
before.
In the third term our narrow lead over reigning champions
Kauri was steadily whittled back. We gained second equal
in longball (thanks to a heroic effort by our girls’ team) and
another second in cross country, leaving us a mere 7.5
points clear of the other houses. It all came down to the
highly anticipated final house event, the Tug Of War. The
big showdown.
We needed two wins to be sure of victory, but ended up
with a clean sweep of the opposition to secure the patu
for 2014. This year Rata house has brought the passion,
the mana, the dedication, the talent and the attitude of
winners. Both of us feel it has been one of our best years
at Havelock High, filled with excitement and pride, seeing
our whole Ratan family bring the ruckus. We would like to
offer our thanks to Mr Brebner as Head of House – we’ll
miss those Monday morning planning sessions! – and to
our Rata form teachers and House tutor for their support
and encouragement. We wish all the best to the rest of
the house as we year 13’s depart and trust that they will
strive to keep the patu where it belongs.
Libby Rainger and Travis Wainwright