Rangi Ruru Prizegiving for 2019 – a snapshot
Tuesday 10 December 2019, 1:07PM
By RedPR
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Emily Davey was last week named Dux of Rangi Ruru Girls’ School for 2019.
Described as “a young woman of integrity, humility, and intelligence”, school principal Dr Sandra Hastie told a packed audience at the Christchurch Town Hall, that Emily demonstrates an outlook beyond her years, leading by example and always giving her best.
“Emily has repeatedly gained Elite Academic Colours however this is only one of Emily’s exceptional attributes with Music, Future Problem Solving, Service and Sustainability tracking alongside,” said Dr Hastie.
“Her approach to her academic goals is focused and diligent, as well as aspirational. She is highly motivated and conscientious and will take on and master academic challenges. She shows true intellectual curiosity and always seeks to improve her results or achieve at the top level. Her teachers comment on sophisticated, engaging and thought-provoking writing and thinking and an instinctive criticality. This year she is ranked at or near the top in all her six subjects. We know that behind the successes are hours of commitment and plain hard work that contribute to this.”
Emily has earned Curriculum prizes every year from Year 9 upwards. This year her studies covered Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English, Painting and Music, having completed Level 3 Calculus in 2018. In 2020 Emily is heading to Otago to pursue Health Sciences.
One of the most highly respected awards at the end of year prizegiving is that of “Best All Round Girl”. This year that title went to Tulsi Lathia.
Described as an entrepreneur, a humanist, a servant leader, a self-starter and the living exemplification of the Rangi values, Dr Hastie said that Tulsi not only lives to help others, she finds ways to help that empower the people that she is helping.
“In her years at Rangi, Tulsi has been determined to make the most of every opportunity, never shying away from taking on responsibilities. She has a wonderful, positive attitude and approaches all she does with enthusiasm and good humour. Tulsi has willingly given many hours of her time to activities at Rangi Ruru as a Form Senior, a Peer Support Leader, involved in mentoring a group of younger students, a librarian, a tech angel, played badminton and basketball and was on the Service Council.”
Tulsi is a talented member of the Young Enterprise programme at Rangi, and her efforts were rewarded by her selection to the Entrepreneurs in Action conference. Additionally, she was one of six young New Zealanders to win a national Girl Boss award. She has been involved in the The World Vision Youth Conference, Model UN, Emerging Leaders, Future Problem Solving, Antipodeans Abroad, the list goes on.
In late November, Tulsi and her Young Enterprise team-mates, launched ‘Spoonful of Spice’, a beautifully produced recipe book which presents the stories behind the recipes and the refugee and immigrant women behind those stories.
“It was with “Spoonful of Spice” that Tulsi’s combined talents shone. Exemplifying teamwork, social enterprise, inclusivity and entrepreneurship”, said Dr Hastie at the prizegiving.
Tulsi Lathia completed more than 155 hours of Community Service in 2018 and 2019.
Another outstanding young woman who shone at the prizegiving awards last week was Amber Spurway. Amber received the Dorothy Bates Trophy which is awarded to a pupil who shows outstanding potential during her years at school (‘Reaching for the Stars’). She was also named Proxime Accessit for 2019.
Before receiving her awards, the audience heard how Amber is able to relate to and interact positively with people of all ages. That her enthusiasm for learning, her high intellect and enquiring mind, along with her capacity for a highly developed work ethic have allowed her to earn countless accolades and awards.
“Amber is a genuine young woman with an admirable strength of character,” they were told. “Sincere and trustworthy, she combines a warm personality with a strongly held code of personal ethics, integrity and above all humility. Amber is well respected at Rangi Ruru, and has brought integrity, energy and enthusiasm to all that she does. She was Head of Form Seniors which included working with and mentoring Junior students as well as leading her group of peers to facilitate the delivery of the programme, which she did with a warm personality, attention to detail and the ability to effectively build a team. Amber is never willing to leave an assumption untested or an argument half-spun and she has the ability to interpret and infer meaning beyond the actual words she is presented with.”
Amber’s passion for learning has seen her on the prize list year after year and she gained Elite Academic Colours for 100% of excellence grades for her Level 2 NCEA results.
Completing Level 3 Calculus last year, Amber has successfully shared herself across the Sciences and Humanities, studying Physics, Biology, Chemistry, English, Spanish and Art History this year.
She will commence studying Bio-medical engineering at the University of Auckland, in 2020
ENDS