2010 Scholarship Report
This year we had eight scholars and their families attend our annual programme during the second week of the July school holidays at Whakapapa.
We all woke to brilliant blue skies on Saturday morning and our scholars were ready to hit the slopes with Mark Fairley taking charge.
Piet Tamis was elected team leader for the Saturday session with Mark and Pene. The goal for the day was getting our scholars to work as a group in preparation for their week with their Snow School instructor. All went well and we finished after a full day’s skiing at 3:00pm and headed back to the club. After dinner the scholars took on the ex-scholars and parents in an updated version of Jordan Wimsett’s current affairs quiz. There was much debate over the number of bunks in the Iwikau lodge which was finally settled once we completed a bed count! The parents came out the victors, followed by the ex-scholars with third place going to the 2010 scholars.
Sunday dawned another great day. Austin Cutten was nominated as the day’s leader and after a warm up with Mark the group was back into it. After lunch it was free skiing with families and friends and back to the club exhausted for dinner followed by a round of “Who am I” - a very entertaining activity for all.
Monday 8:15am and the team of eight with their leader for the day, Ryan Plank, were on their way to meet their instructor at the top of the Waterfall Express chairlift. Tijan Mede from Slovenia was the lucky young man who became our instructor for the week. A full day’s skiing was followed by dinner at 7:00pm and team leader de-brief. James Tomlin bravely took on the role of Health & Safety Leader for the week and gave us a great run down on the hazards we might encounter while on the mountain. For the evening’s team building exercise the scholars and extra’s were set the challenge of linking arms back to back while seated on the floor and trying to stand up unaided. They managed to get to 18 before being shooed off to bed.
On Tuesday we opened the curtains to another perfect day on Mt Ruapehu. The scholars were gone at 8:15am with Prue Milbank leading the bunch. The team were clearly enjoying themselves and full of enthusiasm. No doubt some new friendships had been forged. Luigi Hotter from the Ohakune Fire Service turned up for dinner and during desert slipped out to set the smoke generator off, which resulted in a full fire alarm evacuation. Some members not so prepared in bare feet and t-shirts, a wake up call for all. After debrief many good lessons were shared.
Wednesday dawned to perfect weather once again with Elliot Martin in charge of the team. They were away at 8:15am once again ready to meet Tijan at the top at 9:00am. After a warm up they hit the slopes and after another full day of skiing made it back to the club by 4:00pm. Dinner was at 7:00pm followed by debriefing and a team building exercise. The scholars had to stand in a circle and hold hands with someone opposite, then try to untie their knot without breaking their link.
Thursday - another beautiful ski day! Today the scholars got an introduction to racing with a course of stubby gates set up in the Valley. There was plenty of friendly rivalry; with scholarship trophies on the line, this was their chance to shine. Tijan accepted our invitation back to the club for dinner and to stay the night. We were all entertained by the scholars, ex-scholars and even the parents who got involved with a rendition of Mary Poppin’s ‘Feed the Birds’ sung by Katie Coulam, with parents as the pigeons with Tiara’s. What a night! The ex-scholars and siblings outdid themselves with a performance of the “revolution of dance” – a highlight of the night and a challenge for all future ex-scholars. Piet Tamis and Austin Cutten got the crowd going with their rendition of Mahna Mahna from the Muppets, followed by table traversing with Kenna Rowe, Mike Tamis and Ryan Plank mastering the task.
Friday - another perfect day and scholars were out the door at 8.15, meeting Tijan at the bottom of the first chair, for their last day. Olivia Reid led the bunch for an excellent day which included a very competitive skier-X race in the Knoll Gut. A perfect end to a wonderful week thanks to seven days of perfect weather. Not too often do we get this amount of skiing early in the season.
Most Improved Scholar 2010, chosen by our RAL Instructor- Tijan Mede, was awarded to Katie Coulam.
The Scholarship Trophy for the top scholar of 2010, as voted by the scholars themselves, went to Katie Coulam.
Many thanks to RAL Snow School for providing an excellent instructor and making the whole process very easy. Thanks to all of the parents and family members for playing their part in scholarship week. Special thanks to Rainer & Debbie Plank for their freshly made rolls and bread each day, and to Craig for helping me organise the scholars. But most of all a big thanks to the 2010 scholars for committing to the challenges of scholarship and proudly representing the ski club – a very impressive week.
Pene Milbank
The 2010 scholars are Austin Cutten, Elliot Martin, James Tomlin, Katie Coulam, Olivia Reid, Piet Tamis, Prue Milbank and Ryan Plank.
Posted by Rob Yallop on 04 August 2010 at 12:09 PM