Lest We Forget
Our student leaders were among the hundreds who honoured the fallen at the May Rd Mt Roskill War Memorial on Anzac Day. |
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Robotics Team Wins Ultimate Award at World Championships
It is not by chance that the VEX robotics competition has grown to be the world’s biggest robotics competition! The passion and dedication that the competition generates in the students and anyone involved in the programme is evident by the excitement shown in the 1072 teams that competed in Louisville, USA, last weekend for the right to call themselves World Champions
Huge congratulations to our students - Lynfield College achieved the ultimate accolade being crowned the winners of the High School Excellence Award. They join an elite group of teams who number only nine who can call themselves the best of the best.
Our competitors were team 2915A Steven Barker’s team with Reeve D’Cunha, Irisha Inamke, Andrew Isdale, Grun Wia Wong and Jonathon Brown and team 2915C Conor Thomas’s team with Jia Dua, Nathan Varney Zane Imran, Alur Sanguinsin and Iain Purdie.
The recipient of the Excellence Award "exemplifies overall excellence in building a well-rounded VEX robotics program. They excel in many areas and are a shining example of dedication, devotion, hard work and teamwork. They are strong contenders in numerous award categories, and deserve to be recognized for building quality robots and a "team" committed to quality in everything that they do. To be eligible for the Excellence Award at the World Championship, they must have submitted at least two different online challenges in the current year and must also sign up for both an Excellence Award interview and Design Award submissions."
Due to the amazing and dedicated efforts of the senior students along with the support of the junior members in the Lynfield College Robotics Group all of these criteria were meet to a high standard. An example is the online website design challenge in which our www.lcrobotics.nz website was placed 2nd in the world. Our promotional video also made it to the top 10 finalists.
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 Lynfield College also won the Robot Skills World Champions Award for the highest score in the world in a competition where the robot competes alone on the field under driver control for one minute. Scoring 454 points equates to getting two balls into a net with an opening roughly half the size of a netball hoop 15 feet away every second! All of this was done using a robot built and programmed by our students and their next closest rival was 23 points behind them. The Guinness Book of World Records has formally recognized the VEX World Championships as the biggest in the world, and for anyone who needs convincing that VEX Robotics is a sport America’s premier sports channel ESPN will be airing #VEXWorlds on ESPN2 on July 20th |
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Cycling and Walking Trails Underway
| In an early morning sod-turning ceremony at Mt Roskill War Memorial Park on Tuesday 13th April, the first stage of taking walking/cycling trails out into the streets was marked. A connected network of trails throughout the whole Mt Roskill – Lynfield area is the goal, making possible more sustainable means of transport ie. Cycling and walking. Representatives from the local board, Downers Construction, Auckland Transport and Phil Goff the local MP were there, as well as Mrs Black as Lynfield College’s Travelwise co-ordinator. We hope more of our students will take up the opportunity to walk or cycle to school on these safe pathways. |
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Lynfield College Board of Trustees Election
Nominations are invited for the election of five parent representatives to the Board of Trustees. A nomination form and a notice calling for nominations will be posted to all eligible voters. Additional nomination forms can be obtained from the college office.
Nominations close at noon on 20 May 2016 and may be accompanied by a signed candidate’s statement.
The voting roll is open for inspection at the college and can be viewed during normal school hours. There will also be a list of candidates’ names, as they come to hand, for inspection at the college.
Voting closes at noon on 3 June 2016.
A Davis
Returning Officer
Young Entrepreneurs with a Social Conscience
Year 12 Business Studies students started the year working in project teams planning and running their own business activity with a community wellbeing focus.
This was a strange and unfamiliar leap for them and for their new chosen charity. They had to invest their own capital, time and business knowledge to create a product/service to benefit a community. One group of 6 students chose refugees as their focus. The newly formed Unified 4 Mangere Team contacted the Mangere Refugee Centre and offered their services.
| They started a collection drive within their friends and family network for used clothing and utilised their funds to purchase new pillows, as these were the high need items required by the Centre. They invited Heather Tanguay, Acting Service Coordinator for the Red Cross to visit the class so they could donate 10 Family Bags full of much needed supplies. Heather delivered a speech that emphasised the plight of refugees and made students feel their contributions were welcome. She was most impressed with the care and compassion shown by the students in their enterprise. Heather gave the students Red Cross centenary T-shirts and valuable feedback on how they could help the Mangere Refugee Centre in their second collection drive. The Unified 4 Mangere team are enthusiastic and passionate about delivering another 10 Family Bags in May. Heather will be awarding students with certificates to recognise their efforts and reinforce the message that successful businesses are socially responsible businesses!! Students from left to right – Adam Clare(Finance Manager), Emma Gomes (Co-General Manager) Sunyana Jit (Operations Manager), Heather Tanguay (Acting Service Coordinator Red Cross), Melissa Paet (Co-General Manager), Kate Thompson (Human Resources Manager), Carlos Russell (Marketing Manager) |
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~Raneeta Prasad
(Proud Business Studies Teacher)
Gauri Reports from The Hague
In 2015 Gauri Prabhakar (Year 13) was selected to attend the Model United Nations Conference in The Hague. She travelled over the summer and below is part of her letter which has been received by the College. What an amazing experience!
| "The main point of the trip, of course, was the actual Model United Nations conference in The Hague - and this is going to sound really nerdy, but it was actually my favourite city and my favourite part of the trip as a whole. There were 4000 students but it definitely helped being Russia because as soon as you walked up to a group of students and mentioned your country, they automatically straightened their backs and offered their support (except for the notable exceptions of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France). Of course, it didn't help that my Committee was Sustainable Urbanization - which Russia unfortunately doesn't really care about - so the majority of lobbying and debating ended up with me disagreeing with everyone and making enemies (it was fun though!). My host family were lovely too - my THIMUN buddy Anna and I lived with the Estonian Ambassador to The Hague so learning more about diplomacy from a country outside of New Zealand was a very valuable experience (and of course, the Dutch pancakes our host mum made were delicious too!). Apart from that, we did a lot of sightseeing, visited a lot of museums, and ate our body weight in hazelnut chocolate (or at least, I did). We also visited the New Zealand embassies in almost all of the cities we went to - so New York, Paris, Geneva, The Hague, and Vienna - and had the opportunity to meet several important diplomats and ambassadors like Gerard van Boheman (New York Representative to the UN), Helen Clark, Vangelis Vitalis (NZ Ambassador to Geneva), Janet Lowe (NZ Ambassador to The Netherlands), and Taron (I can't remember his full name but he's the Deputy Head of Mission in Vienna!). |
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But all in all, the amount of knowledge I've gained, the number of incredible people we had the privilege of meeting, and the amazing places we had the opportunity of seeing, far, far outweigh the sub-zero temperatures we had to endure.
In terms of future careers, THIMUN definitely cemented my desire to involve myself in international relations, inter-governmental organizations like the UN, and diplomacy. There's this stereotype that all diplomats do is go to cocktail parties and drink champagne, but seeing the incredible amount of hard work New Zealand diplomats in particular do just completely opened my eyes to the whole scene - Vitalis Vangelis, the senior trade negotiator in Geneva, was saying how New Zealand had been chosen as a mediator in several trade agreements between countries in the G8, and the discussions would go on till 4 or 5 in the morning!
All in all, I would most definitely encourage students at Lynfield to apply to these events through UN Youth because the experience is just invaluable.
I've attached a few photos which I hope you'll enjoy!
 With Helen Clark |
 At New Zealand's New York Embassy |
Once again, thank you to the Board for contributing to this trip. It (quite literally) changed my perspective on the world and especially New Zealand's important role within it.
Warm regards,
Gauri "
Swimming - Term 1 Round Up
As reported previously the good turnout for the time trials for Zone team selection was an encouraging start for swimming in 2016, with a number of junior swimmers joining our ranks.
Twelve swimmers were selected to represent the College at the Zone Meet:
Sophie Bradley 9MK, Jadzia Hagai 9CN, Ben Henwood 9JD, Dani Hewett 9KK, Iman Ibrahim-Jerrywo 10RE, Salma Ibrahim-Jerrywo 9BD, Taea Lambert 11AN, Breanna Magee 10MH, Samantha Martin 10PR, Rohan Mukherjee 11RY, Jackson Potauaine 10RE, Aaron Tahu 10KM
Top three finishers in their events at the Zones were Aaron (two top three finishes), Rohan (one) and Ben (one). The relay results were very good, with the Intermediate Boys team of Aaron, Jackson, Taea and Rohan winning their freestyle relay and the Junior Girls freestyle team of Dani, Sophie, Jadzia and Salma coming fourth.
 Mr Delgrosso and the swimmers |
 Samantha |
 Smiles for a job well done! |
 Jackson |
 Relay team |
 Breanna |
Getting through to the next stage is a much more difficult task. Only the top eight from the four Auckland Zones qualify for the Champion of Champions, so it is possible to win a race at the Zones and still not get through to the finals. The only Lynfield competitors who were able to compete at the Champion of Champions event were the Intermediate Boys freestyle relay team. Unfortunately Rohan was not able to swim due to injury, but Luke Tahu filled in admirably at the last minute. The team swam well, but did not feature in the top few finishers.
Coming up later in the year are the Auckland SS Individual Championships, the North Island Secondary Schools Championships in Palmerston North and the NZ Secondary Schools Championships in Wellington. We are hoping for some entries and good results from those events as they include longer distances than the 50m races in the local events.
Congratulations and thanks to all of the swimmers who trialled, made the Zones team or qualified for the Champions Meet. Thanks also to the Caregivers who were able to offer their time to help out. The strong Junior and Intermediate contingent, in particular, is very encouraging. We wish those competing in the upcoming events all the best.
TravelWise 2016
Three year 13 students, Sree Vemuri, Meghana Moturu and Heta Patel had an enjoyable and informative day out at Aotea Centre last Wednesday.
They attended the Auckland Transport Student Summit for Travelwise with Mrs Black. Look out for more Travel safety news and give-aways from this group throughout the year, especially during National Road Safety Week (16 - 22 May 2016)
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Cultural Celebrations
Our annual Cultural Day was eagerly anticipated and after much effort preparing performances and food from around the world our students revelled in the opportunity to celebrate their cultural identities.
With so many photos capturing the colour and spirit of the occasion it was difficult to choose which ones to use here, but the following hopefully do justice to the talents and enthusiasm of the performers. The venues were packed needless to say!
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Jazz Combo Wins Impressively at National Youth Jazz Festival
The 39th National Youth Jazz Competition was held over two days at Easter weekend as part of the National Jazz Festival in Tauranga.
Judge Dr. Rodger Fox felt the standard of combos was improving year to year, in large part due to the schools returning to the competition and building on their performances each time. As a first time judge Roger Manins was impressed by the bands' performances and the Competition.
“The Competition is doing everything right, it’s a great environment, a relaxed atmosphere and the students get the opportunity to play in a large auditorium to a big audience. I have really been blown away by the standard and feel privileged to be involved.”
Lynfield College Jazz Combo won the Norman Family Trophy for Best Jazz Combo.
And Individual Lynfield musicians won the following:
Best saxophonist – Yanagisawa Trophy: Andrew Isdale
Most outstanding drummer – Hill/Wilcock Trophy: Ryu Kodoma
Most outstanding young musician – George Rawiri Trophy: Ryu Kodama
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International Students Enjoying Life at Lynfield
Our International Department reports that the 90 international students (from more than 12 different countries) who arrived at Lynfield for 2016 have settled in well. For all of them there is an adjustment period as they get to know new homestays, new school subjects and teachers. New friendships are forged and gradually everyone feels comfortable in their new surroundings and can venture further afield across Auckland and beyond.
The images below are of various international students in a number of different subject areas..
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