Recognition for Outstanding Service
On a sunny winters day in June our entire school, dressed in clan colours, joined together in an attempt to set a new world record for the ‘most water transported over 1km’. The bucket challenge, set by Rangi Ruru’s Service Council, aimed to raise awareness and funds for World Vision as part of this year’s 40 Hour Challenge focussed on giving access to fresh water to children in Malawi.
For the challenge, ākonga filled buckets with water from the school pool and walked a measured 1km course around the campus before filling a larger container that would be weighed for the record attempt. There was a lot of laughter, song and dance and the odd soaked student by the end.
Head of Service, Bex Skinner and her council set a lofty goal of raising $8,000 – enough to give 74 children access to clean drinking water. In a bid to motivate students to raise these funds, they were ‘rewarded’ as fundraising milestones were reached. At $2,000 raised, deans wore crazy hats for the day, at $4,000 our maths teachers performed the school dance, at $6,000 Mr Thin, Mr Cotham and Mr Van Rossen all wore the school uniform for the day and when $8,000 was reached our students were rewarded with a visit from Meg and Skye, Dr Hastie’s gorgeous shelties, at assembly.
A total of $12,440.09 was raised and it still unknown as to whether a world record was made or not. Either way, our students exceeded all expectations in their fundraising efforts, demonstrating the school value of generosity of spirit and manaakitanga beautifully.
This outstanding effort was later acknowledged by the team from World Vision New Zealand when they visited the school in August.
Year 13 student Bex Skinner was presented with the prestigious Spirit of Dulcie Award, an award given to one participant nationally who has gone above and beyond to display the values of selflessness, humility, leadership, and generosity.
The school was also awarded: a gold fundraising award for raising more than $10,000 – placing us in the top 15 schools in the whole country, based on overall fundraising performance; and
The South Island Kaiwhakahau | Advocacy Award – for showing innovation in spreading the word about the World Vision 40 Hour Challenge.
We wish to congratulate Bex and Service Council members Phoebe Wallis, Niña Cantos, Emma Comerford, Hannah Thorburn, Molly Brown, Lizzie Jessep, Beth Heywood, Alice Ferguson, Bella Pringle, Libby Beasley, Meg Edwards and Alice Roxborough Judd for their exceptional work.
