Mia Broad
A Blue Mountain College pupil has returned from Tauranga
a national champion.
Mariah-Carey Broad (Mia) represented the Otago-Southland
region at Nga Manu Korero, the national secondary school
speech contest in Tauranga last week.
When she arrived back at Blue Mountain College on Tuesday she
was greeted by an enthusiastic kapa haka performance by
fellow pupils.
Mia (18) beat 25 other finalists in the English impromptu
speech section with the topic "sex education belongs in the
home, not in the classroom", for which she won the Kiri Mangu
Trophy.
She also came third overall, and was the only South Islander
to return from Tauranga with a trophy.
Impromptu contestants were given five minutes to choose one
of three topics and create a three-minute speech before
delivering it on stage to the thousands packed into the Bay
Park arena in Tauranga.
"It was very nerve-racking and it was a bit frantic to get
organised, but it was rewarding in the end," she said.
Support from the Mataura Licensing Trust, Mercer Trust and
Community Trust of Southland helped her get to the
competition in the North Island.
Mia is the first Otago-Southland regional finalist to win the
Kiri Mangu Trophy, donated by Southland Girls' High School 20
years ago in memory of Kiri Moerangi Mangu, who qualified for
the national competition in 1990 but died before it was
contested.
Nga Manu Korero works to develop the skills and confidence of
Maori students in spoken English and Maori.
It incorporates prepared and impromptu speech competitions
for Maori pupils speaking in English and all pupils speaking
in Maori.
helena.dereus@odt.co.nz
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