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.
