School News

Congratulations to the HBHS Senior A Waterpolo team who finished 5th at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Waterpolo National Championships held in Wellington during the April holiday break.  This is the best ever result, not only for HBHS, but for any Waikato school team in the history of the competition.  The team would like to thank Head Coach, Mr Geoff Wheeler, who was very much the driving force behind this unprecedented performance.  Under Geoff's guidance, the team travelled to Australia in order to prepare for this tournament, and for the North Island Secondary Schools Championships held in March, where the team finished 8th.  As a result of these fine performances, Sam Franicevic and Callum Maxwell are trialling for the New Zealand Under 19 Squad, Richard Sneddon has been selected for the New Zealand Under 15 Team, and Tristan Houghton for the New Zealand Under 17 Team.  Congratulations again to these boys, to the team, and congratulations and thanks to Mrs Jan Missen for her continued support of HBHS Waterpolo.

Congratulations must go to the 2012 HBHS New Zealand Scholarship examination candidates, who won a total of 63 Scholarship passes, with 14 of these at Outstanding level.  These are easily the best results HBHS has ever achieved, improving on last year's total by 10.  HBHS Dux of 2012, Deputy Head Prefect and Leader of the Academic Committee, Thomas Simpson, again led by example, achieving 5 Scholarship passes, with 3 at Outstanding level, to go with the Scholarship pass he won in 2011 as a Year 12 student.  Other performers of note include the 2012 Proxime Accessit, David Robinson, who achieved 4 Scholarship passes, with an Outstanding pass in Design, and Year 12 student Christopher Jury, who continues an extraordinary run of results, gaining 3 Scholarship passes, with 2 at Outstanding level.  These go with the Outstanding passes he achieved in 2010 and 2011 as a Year 10 and 11 student.  This year's results are indicative of a growth trend over the past five years, from 24 Scholarship passes in 2008, 48 in 2009 and 2010, and 53 in 2011.  A full list of results will follow shortly, along with profiles and analysis in the Term 1 edition of "The High Achiever".

HBHS Leadership week ran from Monday 17^th September through to Friday 21^st September, the second year the event has been run. To encourage leadership in the school the prefect’s leadership committee organised guest speakers to come and speak at the school’s year level assemblies. The idea behind leadership week was to organise speakers who had a unique and exciting story to share and who had themselves made a very real difference to the community of which they are apart. The week culminated with guest speaker Billy Graham, former New Zealand and Australasian Light Welter Weight Boxing Champion.

Billy spoke at the school’s year 10 assembly where he talked about his experiences as a child growing up in Naenae, Lower Hutt. After getting a less than ideal education he was taken under the wing of his boxing coach and mentor who taught him “not to break the rules.” He has now taken up the mantle of mentoring others himself through setting up his own boxing academy in Naenae. The gym is credited with helping transform the lives of troubled young men as a result of the guidance and encouragement that Billy gives them. Billy’s highly enthusiastic talk captivated his audience and ended with a challenge to students to always think about “what is the right decision.”

The HBHS Lions basketball team had our annual Blitz Tournament on Saturday 24th at Hamilton Boys' High School Gym. The high calibre teams involved included Kelston Boys', New Plymouth Boys' High, Avondale High School, Hastings Boys' and  local rivals St John's College, as well as Melville High and St Paul's Collegiate. This tournament is composed of quick fire games with each team having three pool games and one final game in one day. The HBHS Lions had 3three wins and one loss (by one point) to New Plymouth Boys' High. Every game was very close and the HBHS Lions finished third overall in the Tournament. Players that stood out for the Lions were Izeal Ellis, Niwa Graham and Pablo Grassier.

Mr Courtney

More than 90 boys made a donation today at the annual Hamilton Boys' High School blood drive.  Every boy donating helped save three lives today, which provded them with a great sense of self worth and extended their service to the community.

NZ Blood Service school recruitment officer Wiki said "I am so impressed with the attitude and enthusiasm of Boys' High boys today.  They have all been well organised, respectful and willing to give blood.  I can't wait to come back in 2013."

For some boys it was a good experience; for others, not so good. However, all left with big smiles and a sense of satisfaction at a job well done.

Scott Cameron (Yr 13)