by Kaiya Jones, Year 13 Student, Kaipara College
Kia Ora, Reader!
The ball this year was 100% the highlight of the month, as it was lots of fun (for me at least). The decor was modest but also on theme (royal casino), and the attire of attendees matched very well, despite the somewhat…interesting…theme choice. There were multiple photo booths/stations around the room and this meant that there was a broad selection of photos to remember the evening by. The food was also quite good, and seemed to span a broad range of cuisines, from Italian to Vietnamese. Though I can’t speak as to how authentic they were -I imagine not very- they were still delicious! The DJ also seemed to cater to a broad range of music tastes, probably because of the survey sent out earlier in the year in which students could suggest music to play. Some say the ball wasn’t as good as last year, but I’d imagine the least we can all agree on is that the sight of a year 13 student leading the principal around the dance floor was one we shan’t soon forget!
Another event which KC organised recently was the open evening. Open evening gives future students and their whanau the opportunity to visit and tour around Kaipara College in a night setting. I helped out in the science department and was dissecting cow eyes for passers-by to see, (don’t worry, they came from a butcher’s shop and were not attached to a live cow upon the dissection). There was a surprising amount of interest in the dissections, and some hilarious reactions when the stray eye landed on the tray and realised what its occupants were.
Overall, the highlight of the night was most definitely the hospitality block or the station in the science block where people could light their hands on fire. Don’t fret! It was entirely safe! The participants would dip their hands in water (those with hairy arms were asked to dip their arm in as well, after earlier experimenting before the evening began left a few hairs singed) and pick up some soapy bubbles filled with methane. The bubbles would then be lit on fire and the resulting flame would burn for a few seconds before all the methane was burned away and it would go out.
Another very important thing going on at KC is the current PSSP health promotion. PSSP is doing a “Noods not Nudes” promotion which is addressing the harmful consequences of sending and receiving nudes. The premise of the promotion is that posters will be set up around the school and if a person can remember 3 facts from the posters and relay them to a PSSP member, they will receive a free cup of noodles. The posters are set up with statistics such as, “Approx. 18% of young New Zealanders have reported that they’ve received unwanted nudes.” This is an act to discourage the sharing of nudes and spread the message that while you may feel safe to send the photo at the time, you never know what could happen.
As always, have a wonderful day! Maybe get outside and soak up whatever sunshine you can! Lord knows it’ll be gone before you know it!
