Year 10 woodwork pupils from Tokomairiro High School capped off a term-long project to not only get creative with their hands but lose weight and get fit and more active.
The group began designing human-powered trolleys at the start of this term as part of a woodwork-physical fitness programme, and this week they showed off their building and fitness skills in front of an appreciative audience.
The six trolleys, complete with driver and "pusher", lined up and took turns riding around a specially-made circuit on the school tennis courts. They were each timed, and then the entire group joined in for a mad mass sprint.
But the hard yards went in over the last nine weeks, as each pupil not only got their hands dirty designing a trolley but undertook a physical fitness and nutritional programme run by the heads of the school's physical education and home economics departments.
The calorie-burning idea was the brainchild of woodwork teacher Neil Armstrong, who wanted to see the "chronic" problem of obesity among teenagers tackled head-on while letting them have fun at the same time.
"This has got to [be] better for them than sitting down playing games in front of the TV, eating all the wrong sorts of foods and getting into bad habits," he said.
The pupils all seemed to agree, They all said they had enjoyed the experience of combining creativity with getting fitter.
