Newmarket Rotary
Meeting at One Tree Hill College, Tues 17th February 2026
Science Forum Breakfast
Penrose Rotary had a tradition of welcoming students from the Science Forum to a breakfast in early February – so last year there was a report from three year 13 students of One Tree Hill College.
This week marked another milestone, when four of the six students who were funded by Newmarket to attend this year’s forum made a truly memorable combined presentation
Caitlin Thompson from EGGS
Yahan Duan from St Cuths
Yulia Su from St Cuths
Merryn Raukura from OTHC
The other Newmarket candidates were Mateo Baice from St Peters and Zahina Prakash from Aorere.
Kieran Gainsford - Faculty Head of Science at OTHC, set the scene by noting the strategic objectives of participation in this exceptional growth opportunity for top students, to gain a firmer understanding of new areas of science that allows them – to see, do and be more as well as to mingle with other students of similar abilities from schools throughout the country.
Presentations from each of the students, then clearly illustrated these points and also shared some of the fun -most notably in the traditional, colourful volleyball competition and the new public contest of “Moo off” – which captivated a visiting Japanese group, filming a TV documentary on a sumo wrestler in NZ!
In thanking the presenters, David Jack noted their leadership responsibilities – to the other top students in their schools who had not succeeded in gaining one of these highly-contested places. Life is about making the right decisions and their sincere thanks to Rotary now needed to be followed by fulfilling a role as ambassadors, in sharing this truly life-enhancing experience.