by Noah Everard, Year 13 Student, Kaipara College
I am bloody cold. It might not help that I remain in shorts and a t-shirt no matter the season, as most kiwi kids, but I am still cold. Even when the sun is out and the air, warm, the grass remains wet. The coming of winter is quite nice though. The prospect of warm food and a pile of blankets so thick that I could out sleep any alarm is always exciting. What isn’t so enjoyable is that all to familiar sniffle which jumps from friend to friend at the beginning of winter. It’s almost ritualistic. In class, you can notice the empty seats and hear the build up of snot from your hazy friend. All we can do is hope that our turn is brief. Even as I write this, my chair at school is empty, and a pile of tissues keeps me company at home.
My last term 2 of high school has been well. To be honest I have already forgotten what week it is, it may be due to my cold or even… The C-c-cold. All I know for certain is that assignments will be rolling in soon, and due dates biting at my ankles. I have come to realise that most of a student’s ability to learn does not stem from how they learn, but rather what they eat. More often than not, I am dead hungry in class. If my lunch box rattles with emptiness, the rest of my day is spent in the trenches, salvaging what ever energy I have left to keep my eyes open, in the hopes to retain even the slightest piece of information from the teacher. Alternately, if my meal-prep was successful and my rations sufficient, I am on top of the world. My brain… a machine. It is funny how reliant we are on food, especially if what we are fueling is our mind. It’s sad to imagine how devastating it would be to remove state-sponsored lunches from those students who do not possess the means of providing a healthy and sufficient lunch everyday. I know it would hurt my ability to learn.
Now that I think of it, it was a beautiful coincidence to be blessed by the pink radiance of the southern lights only a week before Pink Shirt Day. It was a spectacular sight to see the sky illuminated by something other than Auckland city, and with such a vibrant colour. Pink Shirt Day was always celebrated during the month of May. The Kaipara College student leadership team, with help from Outwest Youth put together fun activities, which encouraged anti-bullying, and spread awareness about the harm such torment can cause. Thank you for your time.