Through sponsorship and fundraising, Kenakena School was able to meet its goal of enabling our two teams that won their sections of the New Zealand final of the Tournament of Minds to travel to Canberra to compete in the Australasian-Pacific Final in Canberra last weekend to represent New Zealand.
One of those teams ‘OTT” won the Primary Section of the Language and Literature Section at the Canberra Tournament and returned home in the early hours of this morning with their medals and a magnificent trophy to keep for a year.
Over $7000 in sponsorship and fundraising was acquired in a very short timeframe to enable the children to compete in Canberra.
The attached photograph shows the team receiving accolades at the prize giving ceremony in Canberra on Friday night. The people in the photograph are Mrs Janine McDonald (Kenakena School Teacher and T.O.M. Coordinator), Isaac Linstrom, Ella Kirby, Hamish Bolitho, Hannah Reynolds, Sophia Pope, Maddie Feaunati. The photograph has been cropped from the original, which is available on request.
Principal Bruce McDonald says, ” To have two teams win two of the four available categories in their division at the New Zealand Tournament was fantastic! To have one of those two teams come away from the Australasian-Pacific Final with a win was an absolute thrill for the kids, their teachers, parents and the school!”
