School News

HBHS has won the regional Sheilah Winn Shakespeare competition for the first time in fifteen years.  The Sheila Winn Festival is an annual competition where students immerse themselves in the world of Shakespeare and perform some of his greatest scenes.  This year our regional competition was held on the 26th and 27th April, at Fairfield College.  HBHS sent two groups to compete, one for the fifteen minute performance and one for the five minute performance.  Both nights were amazing and thoroughly enjoyed by both audience and competitors.  The fifteen minute group walked away with the best adaptation, and the most successful entrants of the competition were Blake Wong and Galileo Finlayson-Ble, who performed Act 2 Scene 2 of Macbeth.  Excited and amped, the group heads for Wellington to compete in the finals, during Queen's Birthday weekend.

We would like to thank Mr Leach for leading our group, and Ms Varma for doing amazing work with make-up.  Some of our actors had their appearances altered so thoroughly that many audience members didn't recognise them on the night.

Blake Wong

HBHS entered a Year 13 team (enthusiastically led by Mrs Ross and Mrs Koning) in  Hamilton’s Relay For Life (Fundraiser for cancer), held on Saturday March 5th at Ruakura. Unfortunately due to the dreadful weather conditions the twenty two hour event was reduced to a five hour mini-event.  Despite this setback, The team raised over $3800 and won the Relay For Life Shield (donated by Westside Kiwanis) for the school that raised the most funds.

Congratulations to HBHS Year 12 student Rhys Tinney (pictured right, celebrating his title win) on his successes at the North Island Karting Championships, which were held over Labour weekend.  Rhys competed in two classes, winning the North Island title in the Yamaha Light event, and also collecting a third place in the Rotex Light race. 

(Photos courtesy of Mrs Dawn Tinney)

HBHS Year 11 student Richard Sneddon (pictured here, centre, receiving his New Zealand cap and gear) is our latest national representative.  Richard was named in the New Zealand Under 15 Water Polo team, and has just taken part in a training camp with other team members.  The team will compete in the Trans-Tasman Challenge in Brisbane from 29 June to 3rd July and we will follow Richard and the team and report on progress and results as they come to hand.  Congratulations to Richard and his family on this wonderful accomplishment.

On the 25th of February Zach Schuster (Year 12) and Mark Longmire (Year 9) attended the first round of the Central North Island Climbing regionals. Zach placed 1st in the U18 category and Mark placed 1st in the U16 category. Although powerhouse climber Daniel Krippner completed his studies with HBHS in 2011, he has continued to support our climbers, and to advocate for his sport.  We look forward to following the exploits of Zach and Mark this year.  If you are interested in pursuing rock climbing at a social or competitive level, both boys are mines of information about how to get involved.

Congratulations to HBHS Year 13 student Ruben Nieuwoudt (pictured, right) who won the New Zealand Economics Competition, beating a field of 2600 students from around the country for this honour.  He was not the only HBHS student who made his mark in this competition yesterday, as fellow Year 13 student Sam McCabe placed third.  In addition, Year 12 student Matthew Munro placed fifth in the same competition.  Congratulations once again to these students on this accomplishment, and thanks and congratulations to Mrs Denise Weren.