Head boy and girl Isaiah Jepsen and Libby Cooke.
Te Puke High School celebrated its senior students’ and Year 13s’ five years of learning at secondary school recently at its 2024 senior prizegiving.
Held at The Orchard Church, students were acknowledged for their service to the school, academic and sporting achievements as well as being presented with scholarships that will make a significant difference for the recipients heading off to tertiary studies.
The evening was hosted by our head students, Libby Cooke and Isaiah Jepsen, who did a fabulous job of keeping the busy evening ticking along.
Once the official party, including Western Bay Mayor James Denyer and councillors, local iwi kaumātua and kuia and other guests had settled, we quickly recognised the many students who have provided extraordinary service to the school, staff or learning areas throughout the year.
This was followed by the Year 11 Academic Awards for the best students in each class and then recognising the students who were identified as high academic achievers having already passed Level 1, some with excellence endorsements.
Throughout the course of the evening, staff, students and guests were entertained by a variety of student performances.
The kapa haka group also showed their pride in the students’ achievements with haka ringing out during the presentations.
The first performance of the night came from the Malohi Pasifika Group singing a Fijian hymn.
We also enjoyed Kiah Hungerford giving the audience a taste of his award-winning and high-energy hip-hop dance skills. Finally, guests were treated to Will King playing acoustic guitar and Ally Wells singing Can’t Catch Me Now.
The awards continued for Years 12 and 13 students, special awards were shared and then the moment many had been waiting for finally arrived when the 2025 student leaders were named.
This is always a difficult time with many excellent students putting themselves forward for consideration but only a limited number of positions to fill.
The head girl and head boy for 2025 are Bella Ngawhika and Harrison Matthews.
As the evening moved on we came to the premier awards.
There were some significant scholarships provided and undoubtedly they will be life-changing for some of the recipients.
Some of the major prize winners included the joint Proxime Accessit, Zach Wylie, winning the Acorn Foundation Bob and Joy Owens Scholarship to the value of $15,000.
Isaiah Jepsen, the other joint Proxime Accessit, won a Waikato University Scholarship to the value of $30,000 and the 2025 Dux, Jessica McGowan, won an Otago University Academic Excellence Entrance Scholarship valued at $40,000.
Other major scholarship winners included Prabjyot Kaur winning the Acorn Foundation, George and Jill Butler Scholarship valued at $30,000 and Jotnoor Dhillon and Ekkjot Mallhi who won the Milford Trust Scholarships valued at $30,000 each.
In total, over $270,000 was shared with our senior students on the night.
This is an incredible display of generosity and support, from the community, of our students and the work undertaken by their teachers to help the next generation realise their potential.
We wish them well as they continue their learning journey and make the world a better place.
Karen Summerhays: “Just throw something together, get the kids involved, and have fun!”
