This year and last year, I have been in the school band. We are a rock band, I am the keyboardist, and we have practice on Friday’s. We have been practising for a while now, and have performed lots. At last years price giving, at assembly, and at the year 6 info evening. We are also going to perform at Max Factor, the BIS talent quest, prize giving at the end of the year, and the year 6 info evening. Our teacher, Mr Johnson, also mentioned that we might go on tour around some other schools. I really enjoy band, and am glad I got in.
Category: M.P. Challenge
An archive of my work on Bohally’s M.P. Challenge
Road Patrol
Road Patrol is one of the many activities we can do at BIS. Many schools have road patrol, as it is very useful. Students can help to keep other students safe, with stop signs and orange vests. This creates a safe way for students to cross the road. You get a badge for doing this, as well as the feeling of helping others. I am glad that I have done road Patrol this year at BIS.
Peer Mediation
This year at BIS, I have been doing peer mediation. This is where students walk around the school, and help students with any minor issues they may have. This is a great way to resolve problems, and a great way to help take some of the load off of the teachers at my school. You also get a badge for it, which is pretty neat. I am glad that I have done peer mediation this year at BIS.
Math Badges
In the last 12 months I have completed three math badges, Me, Myself & I, Cultural Maths and Cost of Living. As well as getting badges for each of those units of work that also meant I was awarded a Super Math Badge as well.
Each badge took me a few weekends work to do, and they may sound boring but they are actually lots of fun and really satisfying when you get the badge.
iNVENTIONATOR 2019
In August, I was selected to take part in iNVENTIONATOR 2019 along with Grace, Will, Sylvie, Ethan, and Ted. iNVENTIONATOR is a challenge for gifted learners, in which skills such as team work, creativity, and innovation must be used, to create solutions to real life problems. Leading up to the event, we received a series of emails, with information and challenges, such as recording problems you notice, or learning your mihi. Yet, even with those emails, we still had no idea what iNVENTIONATOR would be like. On the day, we drove up to Founder’s Park, where we used the old granary as our main workstation. We began with some team building activities, such as finding creative solutions to one of the 17 global goals for sustainable development. We then pitched our ideas, whether it be a problem which needs solving, or a solution to an existing challenge, and formed our teams.
Together, we worked on our ideas, to present to the judges at the end of day 2. I worked with students from Lower Moutere Primary School and St Mary’s School on my idea to produce a pen/pencil which can be rubbed out, but doesn’t have lead that breaks. There were so many good ideas, some of them wacky, some of them super well thought out. At the presentation my team won the award for the best pitch delivery. Vortex Co., Will and Ted’s team, got an award for the most even score across all areas.
All of the teams did well, and we all went home feeling pleased, and happy that we were lucky enough to go to iNVENTIONATOR.
The Southern Tour. (and what happened to the left side of my body)
For my M.P. Challenge, I have done the Southern Tour, a cycling race on the South Island of Aotearoa. There were two national titles this year: one for the Hill Climb, and the other for the Time Trial. There were two other cyclists in my age group, another Bohally student, and a boy from Timaru. I got second in all my races, and I am very proud of myself. In the last race, though, the unexpected happened. It was the Road Race, and about 500 meters in, the boy from Timaru, who I was drafting off, swerved into my front wheel, yeeting me off my bike. I got multiple wounds on my left leg, a big sore on my hip, two messed up elbows, 2 blood blisters on my fingers, gravel stuck in my pinky, a sore on my 4th finger, and a sore ankle. Then, I got back up, back on my bike, and YEETED like the Big Unit that I am, straight through the finish line, beating everyone else by miles. Or…
I hung on to the other guys wheel, got dropped, and rode the rest of the 18 km in pain, finished in 2nd, got in an ambulance, got patched up, went to urgent care, and got sent home, and still have wounds as I am writing this report. But I DID get 2 silver medals, which turned out to be quite costly, as I then missed out on a lot, such as swim training, the e-pro 8 challenge, and a few days of music practice.
Matthew Hall, Boys U13, The hill climb on day two of the Cycling New Zealand Cuddon’s Southern Tour in Blenheim, September 1st, 2019 © photo: Anthony Phelps 
The time trial leg of the Cycling New Zealand Cuddon’s Southern Tour in Seddon near Blenheim, August 31st, 2019 © photo: Anthony Phelps 
The medal and jersey presentations at the Cycling New Zealand Cuddon’s Southern Tour in Blenheim, September 1st, 2019 © photo: Anthony Phelps 
Matthew Hall Boys U13 gets his medal from Laurence Pithie, The medal and jersey presentations at the Cycling New Zealand Cuddon’s Southern Tour in Blenheim, September 1st, 2019 © photo: Anthony Phelps
Academic Challenge #1
For my first academic challenge, I have written a story for the Beyond Strange writing competition. It could be no more than 750 words long, and the main character/s could not die. Disappointing, really… There were some other criteria as well. My story was called ‘The Mystery of the Mabel Monster’. I have already written a post on that story, but this one is about the fact that it is one of my academic challenges. My story ended up getting 3rd in the competition, hooray! Now I just have one more academic challenge to do.
MRFP Training 1
I have decided to go tramping for one of my MP challenge activities. My Dad and I are going to walk from near Pelorus bridge to near Nelson. This was a training walk up on the Wither Hills.
MRFP Tramp
As part of the MP challenge I have decided to tramp through the Mount Richmond Forest Park (MRFP) from the Pelorus River to Nelson. My Dad has agreed to go with me and we will take three days to cover approximately this much track.
The Walk
For my M.P. Challenge I did a three day tramp with my dad. It was from the Pelorus road-end to the Maitai dam. We went as a family to Emerald Pools, where mum and Andrew left. We started walking along the track, all the way to Captain Creek Hut, where we stayed until next morning. Then we walked to Middy Hut, but we didn’t stay for more than an hour, we had to get to Rocks Hut, where we would stay the night. To get there, we had to climb 650 meters, for Rocks Hut was near the top of a mountain. It was a hard climb, and it was good to get to the Hut. There was a sign that had a picture of a helicopter on it, and said no camping. It was cool. I got to read till a 11 with candles because there was no electricity. The next morning, we walked up to the Dun Saddle, and then descended. We went down a trail that walkers and mountain bikers use, but we didn’t run into any mountain bikers. It was raining for a good bit of it, but it died away. Overall, it was a tough challenge but I’m glad I did it.
Day 1
We started out from the Pelorus road-end, and walked for 1 hour to Emerald Pools. We stayed there for 20 mins, before leaving. We then walked about 2 hours and a half to Captain Creek Hut. It was small, with 6 beds. There I found a book called Atlantis Found, by Clive Cussler, which I read and carried with me up to Rocks Hut, where I left it for other trampers to read. We lit a fire, to make the Hut nice and warm, then I read for most of the rest of the time we were there. We got up in the morning, had breakfast and left.
Day 2
We left Captain Creek Hut, and walked along the trail. There were a few swing-bridges along the way, and it was a fun walk. We then got to Middy Hut about 2hrs later. We still had more walking to do though. We had to get up to Rocks Hut, a 650 meter climb. It was very hard. We eventually got to the Hut, and rested for ages there. We lit the fire and I read my book. We went up to the lookout and then went back to the Hut because it was getting dark. The Hut was warm by then and I read till 11.
Day 3
We left Rocks Hut and climbed up to the Dun saddle. It was rainy and foggy, so we got really wet. Once we got to the saddle, it was downhill the rest of the way. It eventually stopped raining and we went down and down and down. We were on a track that mountain bikes used as well, but we didn’t run into any. When we got to the dam, mum and Andrew were there and we went home. It was good to get home. I enjoyed the tramp a lot and would do it again. But much later, I’m too tired to right now.