Award winner

TeeJay mentioned regretting not being at an awards ceremony tonight which one of our students attended. TeeJay's loss, my gain (although I was going anyway). Rimu received the Trustpower Nelson/Marlborough regions youth community award, beating off 7 other students from far bigger and (in their eyes) 'better' schools. The woman who read out Rimu's biography said at the end she was in awe of such an accomplished student, and I have to agree with her.
Rimu is a very understated girl, beautifully polite, intelligent and respectful. It would be easy to glance over her in the rush to praise other more 'vibrant' students. But below the surface there is a lot more to see.
Rimu has spent the last 5 years being a volunteer in St John Ambulance, she is on the Tasman Youth Council, representing the Youth of Murch, she is on the School Council and also the student Board Rep. In between all this she has fitted in an 18 day trip to Nepal with 'Youth Everest' and spent a week on the NZ 'Spirit of Adventure'
One cool chick!!! I was immensely proud to be one of her teachers. She is a wonderful human being and tonight it was recognised by a room full of people.

She was terribly nervous about speaking in front of what turned out to be between 250-350 people. She did just fine. Her dad however got a little emotional when accepting the cheque for $250 for St John's Ambulance (he is the St John's leader in Murch and her prize was to be donated to a charity of her choice)

I took much nicer shots of Nelson cathedral and a lovely rainbow, but this shot was really a highlight of my day.