School News

Everywhere we played, people danced.  Teenagers, pre-schoolers, honey-mooners, the desperate and dateless, district health nurses, tourists rich in years, locals rich in culture – everywhere, people danced.  So, after a while, we danced, too.  The last night of the HBHS Rarotonga Music Tour saw the boys grooving with a group of delighted RSA matrons, to the dulcet tones of a midi system + ukuleles + two local gents singing ‘Dancing Queen.’ The boys were perfect gentlemen throughout the tour, and it was lovely to have their maturity acknowledged by many of our fellow guests at the Edgewater Resort.  Dancing to local music with grandmothers (and some lovely young Australians) on a balmy tropical night was the perfect final gig of a perfect tour.

On Wednesday 15 May, at the senior school assembly, HBHS was formally presented with the Lions Club Certificate of Organisation, which recognises the school’s Leo Club as being under the sponsorship of the Hamilton East Lions Club.  The Lions Club International seal officially authorises the Leo Club to promote service activities throughout the community in accordance with the Lions Motto, “We Serve”.  Leo stands for Leadership Experience Opportunity, and over the past two years the club has been doing exactly that, providing valuable assistance at community events such as the Relay for Life, Balloons over Waikato, the Waikato Show, and the Book Fair.  Recently the Club spent three hours at Peachgrove Intermediate School, literally getting their hands dirty mulching a garden and transporting dirt.  (cont)

14 bands competed in the Waikato Regional Rockquest Finals at Founders Theatre on Saturday night.  The crowd was receptive, the evening was well-run, and Dinosaur Goes Rawr was the clear winner on the night.  The Good Fun (Runners-up) lead singer Leroy Clampitt was full of praise for the performance of Alex Reid (lead singer and keyboard), Kelsen Findlay (guitar and vocals), Ben Smith (bass guitar and vocals) and Brad Parkinson (drums). Clampitt said that it was clear that DGR’s performance was by far the tightest in terms of music and entertainment value.

We are now looking forward to seeing the boys strut their stuff at the Smokefreerockquest national final, which will be held on September 11 in Hamilton, at Founders Theatre. Tickets will go on sale from Ticketek in August. There will be eight top bands playing off for the huge prize pool that makes Smokefreerockquest a spring board into the music industry. Also, there will be a top Kiwi guest band. Put it in your diary now!

On Thursday the 22nd of June, three, three man teams were entered into the annual Waikato Secondary School’s team event for squash. We had an experienced group for our number one team who were seeded first in the pool, with two other teams made up of new and developing players from mainly Years 9 and 10.

The top team easily advanced to the finals, beating out our second team along the way. They then went on to win 2-1 in the finals to secure the victory and the overall win for the title of best boys’ school in the Waikato. The top team comprised of Ben Calvert who is graded A2 and is ranked nationally for his age in the top 10, Callum Burkes C1, and Fergus McKinnon C2 who had played exceptionally well in the finals to beat a tough opponent from St Peter’s. The second and third teams played well to claim third and fifth respectively, with Isaac Nicholson, Nic Souchon and Nathan Stead forming the second team, while Dylan Menzies, Mason Helm, and Bradley Larsen were in the third. Congratulations to these boys, who will now go and play off for the Waikato Bay of Plenty title against the heavyweights of Tauranga Boys’ College in a 5-man team format.

Simon Devitt (TIC Squash)

On Monday the 23^rd of May, the Hamilton Boys’ High School Senior A Waterpolo Team played in the Waikato Secondary Schools Waterpolo Final against St. Johns College. The team came out firing in the first quarter with a goal to Rahiti Teokotai-White in the opening 30 seconds, with a second to Sam Franicevic one minute later. St. Johns slowly took control of the match, shooting out to a 6-2 halftime lead. However, the team kept composed and came up with a quick comeback to bring the game back to 6-6 by the end of the 3^rd quarter, with goals coming from Callum Maxwell (3) and Maison Carstensen.

During the recent holiday break, four members of the National Championship winning HBHS 1st XV traveled to Sydney, Australia as members of the New Zealand Secondary Schools rugby team.  The team played three matches, losing first to Fiji in a tight 20 - 22 encounter.  They bounced back against Australia A, winning 36 - 0, and finished with a hard-fought 17 - 16 win over Australia.  From left, in their New Zealand colours, Isaac Te Tamaki, Bryn Gatland, Harrison Levien and Samuel Chongkit.  Thanks to Mrs Stacey Levien for supplying this photograph.