“Kua takoto te Manuka”

Ngā Manu Kōrero is a Māori speech competition for secondary students. The competition encourages а uency in Te Reo Māori and English.  It began in 1965 as the Korimako Contest, and commemorates Dr Pei Te Hurinui Jones, a Waikato elder and scholar who died in 1976.

This year, Caitlin Te Puia represented Sacred Heart Girls’ College in the KORIMAKO, Senior English where ten schools from Waikato region participated and competed.  The contest is in 2 parts: a prepared speech in English, of up to 6 minutes in length, plus an impromptu speech in English of up to 3 minutes in length, with a 5 minute period of preparation time.  The Korimako Trophy is awarded to the contestant who gains the highest aggregate score for both the prepared and the impromptu speech.

Caitlin received a 3rd equal in the Impromptu, 3rd in the prepared speech and 3rd overall. This is a massive achievement for Caitlin and for Sacred Heart Girls’ College, as we have not competed since 2003, where we won Junior Māori and went to Nationals in Palmerston North. Caitlin was supported by her Dad, her Nan, Koro and a small group from Sacred Heart Kapa Haka. Kei runga noa atu Caitlin, nōu te wahine kaha ki te whai I ngā tapuwae o o tūpuna.