Principal Debi Marshall-Lobb with Chanel College dux and winner of the Masterton District Council Youth Award Nicki Thomson Shulz. PHOTO/FILE
The Times-Age wants to celebrate the success of Wairarapa’s secondary school students in a year where covid-19 threw learners yet more curveballs. Today, Chanel College provides TOM TAYLOR with a breakdown of its students’ triumphs in 2021.
In her final prizegiving address before retirement after 40 years of teaching, principal Debi Marshall-Lobb celebrated and acknowledged the achievements and success of Chanel College students from the classroom to the sports field, on the stage or marae, at regional and national events, and in extra-curricular activities.
Marshall-Lobb thanked all staff for their work to support students during the lockdown. She said the enhanced systems worked well to ensure students could remain involved and engaged in their education.
Marshall-Lobb said that Chanel College students had achieved higher than the national average in NCEA Levels 1, 3, and University Entrance.
She also thanked coaches, managers, and supporters for their efforts throughout the years which enabled 96 per cent of students to participate in sport actively.
Last year was a successful one for Chanel, with 2020 deputy head boy James Graham and 2021 deputy head boy Nicki Thomson Schulz gaining Civic Youth Awards in March.
In May, Chanel College and Bishop Viard College co-hosted the annual O’Shea Shield Competitions in the language arts. Seventeen Catholic colleges throughout the Wellington, Taranaki, Manawatu, and Hawkes Bay regions participated. Head boy Sunia Kohitolu won the oratory award, and other students gained distinction awards.
Marshall-Lobb wished Chanel’s Year 13 school leavers happiness and good health, assuring them that they were ready for the next chapter in their lives, that the college was proud of them, and that they should look forward to their futures with excitement.
Marshall-Lobb said that education was not something that ever ended.
“Remember that each experience, whether good or bad, will provide you with learning that forms you. Hold fast and be the best possible version of what God intended you to be.”
She said she would be delighted to welcome Chanel College’s new principal Myra Coley in 2022.
“Coley is committed to upholding a tradition of Catholic education that offers the opportunity for each student to encounter the Living God and to realise their God-given talents so that they emerge as confident, connected, future-ready citizens,” Marshall-Lobb said.
Chanel College award winners
Chanel College dux and winner of the Masterton District Council Youth Award: Nicki Thomson Shulz
2021 head boy and proxime accessit: Sunia Kohitolu
New head students: Takumi McKelvey and Emily Paku
2021 head girl: Nevengka Jellie
