Sunday 8 October 2017

Pilot Essay

What job has the best office view, you can travel the world and you are helping others while doing your job? What is it? My dream job, a Pilot! In America there is estimated to be 130,000 pilots, that are qualified. They would travel around USA and the world! You could spend 2-3 years learning to be a pilot, and you could fly around the world almost for free!


What do you have to do to get your commercial pilot's license?
It cost $6,500 to $7,000 dollars to get your commercial pilot's license. You have to get your private pilot’s license before you move on to commercial flying. STEP 1: You have to meet basic requirements vision tests, be at least 18 years old, have a log book from a verified instructor, so that they know you can fly. STEP 2: Train as a private pilot. You learn what and how to work the airplane, communications, how to move the plane, airplane operations and maintenance; some flight schools have private classes so you don't have to go to as many lessons. STEP 3: Log book. You have to be able to fly by yourself and with a pilot-in-command. Complete  instrument training and a plane with designed gear. Flying across the country day and night conditions and do a specified number of takeoff and landings. Step 4: Pass the required tests. Pass a written exam writing your knowledge of navigation, regulations and safety. Step 5: Pursue additional certification: you have to have a license to be a commercial pilot. To be a commercial pilot you have be at least 23 years old and have a minimum 1,500 hours of flying experience. You also have to pass the FAA (logging pilot in command time) exams. You may have to do additional training for airlines. You may have to have a bachelor's degree or at least 2 years of college experience.


Skills and knowledge that you need to know to be a pilot.
Great flying skills, understanding civil law, knowledge of safety rules and emergency procedures, you know the flight paths. You have to cope with working conditions: You may work different  times to usual work places - eg. you would not work from 9am-3pm, because it depends on the flight times and what flight you are a pilot on. You would work in airports and/or cock-pits (which are small). Sometimes you would be in an uncomfortable situations (if there is bad weather) it would be noisy and might be bumpy. Travel between destinations close (like in NZ) or far away (international).


What you will do as a pilot?
Do pre-flight checks: like check the weather. To find out what the weather is or how to navigate, one of the main ways to navigate is to look out the windows! You have to have the right maps on board the plane. Another good way to find out the weather is to look on http://www.metservice.com/national/home  or http://metflight.metra.co.nz/MetFlight.php. When you are flying through cloud or fog you need to check your compass, GPS to look at and 3 different ground based radio beacons; you also get backed up by traffic control. For pre-flight checks you also have to check the amount of fuel you would need for the flight, check if the plane is loaded and check if the fuel and equipment is also loaded. Talk with traffic control to see when and what time you can go on the runway, what run way number. Greet Passengers, helping them if the need help and make sure they are seated before take off. Navigate the flight path to the destination. Write in your flight log book and keep a flight log book wherever you fly.


How much do pilots get paid (the price they pay changes between each air company):
if you are new to piloting you will get paid per hour; per flight they get paid between $25-$80 per hour. If you start off as a domestic first pilot on a Turboprop, you earn $50,000 a year and can increase to $150,000. If you are a Jet plane pilot, you start off with $90,000 and can go up to $190,000 a year. If you are a international second pilot you would earn $90,000 and once you qualify you earn $92,000. If you are the captain you can earn up to $300,000. Air New Zealand Pilots: earn roughly earn $50,000 - $190,000 NZD annually but if you are a pilot flying internationally they get $80,000 - $300,000 a year! Qantas second officers get paid up to $100,000 ASD but in NZD it’s $108,170; The Senior Captain gets paid up to $536,000 AUD but NZD $579,791.20. Fun fact: Qantas pilots get paid more than the Australia's Prime Minister, he gets paid $366,000 AUD or $395,902.20 NZD.

My favourite plane that I would like to fly is a A380 Super Jet. The A380 is the biggest jet airliner with 2 decks which is the length of the whole plane. The length of the plane is 72.84m, the wingspan is 79.85m, the height is 11.88m. The A380 carries 525 passengers - 100 more passengers than the Boeing 747; the second biggest aircraft. It uses 2.6 liters of fuel per passenger per 100 km (1365 liters per 100km). It has 4 engines - 2 on each side. These planes go from Auckland - they go to: MEL (Melbourne), SYD (Sydney), BNE (Brisbane) which from there they fly to a whole lot of other destinations.  The first ever test flight was on 27th of April 2005, the first ever A380 plane was brought by Singapore Airlines in 2007, then is was Emirates in 2008, then later that year Qantas. Emirates is the largest A380 operator that had ordered 142 planes and has got 96 operating.


Piloting is an awesome job because you can do it as a job or for fun! You can earn a lot of money from it and see a birds eye view of your country. You get to spend a lot of time with your family when you are not flying. “Man must rise above the earth-to top the atmosphere and beyond-for only thus will he fully understand the world he lives in” -Socrates

Sunday 24 September 2017

Zenith Swim Meet - Recount

I stepped over all the bags carefully and sat beside Jaxson.
¨How are you feeling?¨ He asked.
¨Nervous,¨ I replied
¨Molly go to your race!¨ My mum yelled.
¨Good luck!¨ everyone said as I walked over to marshaling. They called my name and I sat in lane 5´s seat. Time had past, races had started and finish; then it was my go to stand by the blocks. The swimmers were coming closer and closer to the wall. Then the whistle blew to get up on the block. I crouched on the block, still like a statue.
¨Take your marks¨
BEEEEEEEEEEEP!

I dived into the bitter pool. The race had started; the timers were ticking; it was a race against the time. I had to beat 2:57:42, and my time was just under 3 minutes. So it was my least likely race to qualify in. The water rushed past me. Each breath was a breath of relief, a gulp of life flooded in me. Last 25m I thought to myself! A couple of meters ahead of me was a 16 year old girl but that wasn't going to stop me from catching up to here. As the time kept ticking and I kept pushing through the water; my fingers touched the wall!

I took a big, deep breath and paddled to the lane rope. I fixed my eyes on the board. Beside my lane number was first! Thoughts were flooding through my mind, ´I had bet a 16 year old (by .04 seconds)!´But that wasn't the best thing I qualified for Short Course Nationals for 13 year old and also for the next age group up, for the next year! Also to put a cherry on top of my pie,I got a 5 second personal best! I climbed out of the and went to get my clothes.
¨Good work!¨ I said to Gabby (The swimmer that just got beaten by a 13 year old!)
¨Good work to you too!¨ She replied with a smile.
I walked back to where everyone was sitting and they all said well done. But then I got the bad news from Jaxson:


¨You still have another race!!¨


Sunday 10 September 2017

Writing 11/09/2017 - Persuasive Writing

Why every time you buy packet of chips there is only ¼ of the packet is full! You should get your money's worth of chips instead of salt and vinegar, sea salt etc air. I’m here to persuade you that it’s not worth paying that much money just to fill on a miniscule space in your tummy.

I think if you are at least paying $4.00 for a big packet of chips, the bag should be ¾ full at least. It’s almost the big companies don't have enough money to fill the whole bag with chips - instead they decide to fill it with air to make it look better (sometimes bigger is not the better). The attract the people by filling the bags with air so they look bigger and “have lots of chips in there;” when they don’t. Once one of my friends opened a bag of chips, she looked in and there was only 8 small chips. It’s not fair for the people buying the chips because they are wasting the money on fresh air!

That’s my next point a bag of chips cost a lot of money and they aren't that good for you. If you are paying $3-4.00 for a bag of chips you need to think ‘do you bother wasting the time (choosing the chips) and money (paying for the chips)’. The money they are getting for all these chips for them to do not that much work is silly. The biggest country that eats all these chips is, America. They eat 1.5 billion chips a year; that would add up to a lot of money!

Next time you are in a shop you need to think, do I really need to get these. They may taste, look, smell good but they aren’t actually that good for you. In my opinion I don’t think it’s worth spending that much money on fresh air; just to please your mouth.

Tuesday 29 August 2017

The Glebe Writing 22/08/2017

At the end of every term, of every lunchtime, of every morning tea we would grab our bikes and bike out to the glebe. We would find the perfect place by the bike path, with heaps of sticks and little pine cones to build our cafe. We would yell out to each other:
“Someone get the pinecones?”
“OK, I will!”
“Get the little sticks that were at that good place we normally get them from!”
“Someone already is!”

We would carry on yelling out to each other until we got everything we needed. Sometimes we already had the stuff from the previous day. We sorted them into piles, once we got everything. We had everything you ‘could’ get from a cafe! Like the coffee; the hot chocolate; the tea; the chocolate brownie. The bikers would bike through fast, slowing down -sometimes- when the went past us. The bikers would order the food and we would quickly rush to get them there food. We would say to pay with leaves or bark. Then they would bike off coming around the next time!

Tuesday 8 August 2017

Cold Water Writing 9/08/2017


This morning and this afternoon, and every other day, when the clock hits 6:10am I dive into the icy cold water. The cold water stabs me like I just dived in a pile of nails. Goosebumps raise on me, like little mountains, and my body goes rigid. I slowly pull my body through the ice bath of water; kicking my legs to keep me afloat. The clock slowly turns 11 past 6 - after what feels like forever. I am close to the wall, I tuck my head in, and I turn. My legs hit the briskly cold wall. I push off and glide into the second length of the 200 freestyle. The water warms up as I keep swimming, turning, gliding, pulling through the water.  

Saturday 29 July 2017

The Sir Peter Blake Award!

On the last day of school for Term 2, The Sir Peter Blake Award was handed out. I was the person from my class who had got it. If you don't know who Sir Peter Blake is he sailed around the 5 times! He also competed in the America's Cup 3 times. The first time he won the America's Cup for New Zealand he wore the famous "Red Socks". The "Red Socks" were a present from his wife and when ever he wore them good things happened. Sadly he got killed by pirates in the Brazil seas. He was on a mission with some other scientists to find out about climate change. He said climate change was bad back in 2000, imagine what it’s like now 17 years later. In the pack I got: A book - The Story of Sir Peter Blake by Tessa Duber, A Medal, A pair of red socks and a certificate. I was nominated by Mrs Baird last year and also Mrs Frances-Rees.  “Molly is a fantastic role model, who uses her initiative and is always willing to help others.  She is a fantastic leader who is very organised, she comes up with new ideas and thinks about all the detail so they run successfully.  She relates well to children of all ages and is very dedicated to her leadership role.”

Tuesday 25 July 2017

My EMBARRASSING Brother - That I Don't Have!!

Goal: Language Resources

“Why, why, WHY? Why is MY brother so embarrassing?” Well you're probably wondering why I’m going on about my brother being so EMBARRASSING, well let me explain! My brother is a very awkward, smelly (like a rotting rat was in his pocket), PS4 addicted (like a cat to catnip), geeky 15 year old, who has no friends - well he does have 1 friend…… but she’s not really real!

My Mum is a ‘go and get some fresh air’ kind of mum, so when my mum said to my brother “Go and get look at the beautiful surroundings out in the air,” he didn’t argue he just did what my mum said and got some clean air, rather than a stinky boys room. Here is the embarrassing part; He took his imaginary ‘Girlfriend’ with him! You might be thinking why is this so bad, let’s just say IT’S BAD!!

If he is in a public space he pretends to be with his ‘girlfriend’ and he does all the things that people with their ‘special friend’; like holding hands and all the other GROSS things people do with their ‘special friend’! I never want to be around him when we are out in public because now he has a ‘girlfriend’ and pretends like he is talking to his ‘girlfriend’ people always look and laugh. Its funny if your watching but not really if you related!

My Brother likes to invent new things (part of my brothers geekiness!), one of his new and improved things he’s invented is a fart-gun! Yes a fart-gun! He has tested it out in the house before and it smells horrific - it smells like you have just dived into a sewer tank……. aka DISGUSTING!! Whenever my Brother builds a new creation he has to show his ‘girlfriend’. My Dad has banned it from our property so he went to the park.

He improved it by putting more of everything in it and even putting some fireworks in it! He went to the park to show his ‘girlfriend’ to ‘impress’ her. When he pulled the trigger on the fart-gun it made a terrible farting sound, everyone started laughing, then their faces turned white with horror. The only one who was clapping was his ‘girlfriend’ and everyone else had fell over on the surface with the terrible odor.

It was a bad idea to do it on that day because little did he know he there was a national ‘Catch The Murderer Day’ - so there was heaps of police around! When he set it off it made a very loud noise and the smell waves flowed into every corner of the city. The police can running,
“What have you done?” said one of the many police,
“What’s that terrible smell” said another policemen/just as they said that (and more than 30 other policemen saying the same thing)all of the policeman dropped to the ground.

When the smell had faded away more policemen come to arrest my brother for the terrible smell he made. A lot of people went to hospital sick as a dog from the smell. My brother swiftly ran away knowing (I don’t know how he thought that with his ‘brain’) that the police would come after him.

He went far, far away into a forest. When our Mum said
“Go and get some fresh air,”
He went away into a forest and made an underground house. So that’s where he went there and stayed there for a long time. Meanwhile when he went missing people were looking everywhere, there were police with dogs, he was on the headlines of papers, billboards and on the news.  

1 year went by and know one saw him…… He was still alive but stick thin. Someone was walking through the forest and saw him, lying on the ground…….... DEAD; That’s the story why I’m an only child!



Inquiry Project Term 2 - Carbon Dioxide

Trees help to prevent climate change. In one year an acre of trees can provide oxygen for 18 people. Trees help to prevent climate change trees also save water. Studies have shown that trees heal people;like children with ADHD have less symptoms when they are in nature. Trees protect people from sun rays. The gases produces clean air for people to breath in provide food, water and wood to light a fire - to keep warm. Trees absorb all the gases horrible in the world (nitrogen oxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide)

Carbon dioxide is a colourless gas - that is a slightly toxic
carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. In the last century more and more Co2 has been going into the earth's atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is increasing each day because of us humans It is mainly natural but humans influence it like: fossil fuels (factories), fires, trees, cows and more. Co2 is also from nature, so it's not all our fault (thank goodness!). It has made the ocean 30% more acidic, its is killing animals because it's to acid for the animals. Carbon is odorless. Co2 is a natural gas that is formed by two atoms to make one.

The Co2 will stay in the air for a long time (It won´t go away overnight).

Inquiry Project Term 1 - Sophie Pascoe

On the 8th of January 1993, Sophie Pascoe was born. Little did she know that she would be a world champion. She is a gold medalist Paralympian, swimmer! Her fatal injury made her famous.      


She was only two years old when she lost her leg. Her dad mowed over her leg with the lawn mower, and she got rushed to hospital immediately, by her neighbour and her dad. She spent six hours on the operating table and was fighting for her life, by then they only saved her right leg with only scares. In total Sophie spent 18 days at the hospital.


An important person in Sophie’s life was her grand dad (Gragra).  When she was only 9 years old and the start of Sophies swimming career, her granddad was at the final stages of his battle of lung cancer. She made a promise with her granddad that she would go to the olympics and win a gold medal. Little did she know in the following years to come that's what will happen. She keep this promise ever since.

She became a professional swimmer by, taking swimming lessons like every normal kid.At the start she couldn’t even keep up with the other kids, Sophie’s mum put her in swimming lessons because she wanted to live a normal life. The same year the school swimming sports were held, she won her first race and realised that she could beat normal people. This is when she realised that she had a talent in swimming.


At the age of nine she competed at the Crippled Children's Society (CCS). She swam against a current paralympian and won the race, even though their disabilities were very different. She caught the eye of Graham Condon and Roly Crichton (Sophie’s currant coach). They offered Sophie to train with the QEII Swim Club - This is where Sophie’s swimming career started.

One of Sophie’s best strokes/world records are 400m IM and 100m Butterfly. Sophie won 9 gold medals, 6 silver medals out of all Paralympics. She won 2 gold medals at the commonwealth games. IPC World Championships 8 golds, 4 silvers and 4 bronze medals.

Sophie Pascoe is an inspiring leader. Even though she had a tragic accident when she was 2 years old, she showed everyone that nothing can get in your way even though you might be scarred for life.

Persuasive Writing #2

Why Oamaru should extend the Oamaru Pool to a 50m pool.

Would you get annoyed if when you went to the pool and you couldn't swim because there wasn't enough room to swim? Well why do you have to put up with that, there is enough room to extend the pool why don't they make a start?  

Recently the pool has got a lot more people going through the doors; which means more money for the Waitaki District Council. With more people going through the doors means more complaints because the pool is not big enough. The Oamaru Swim Club has grown majorly in the last couple of years. The squads have gotten bigger. Which means that the squads and lessons will take up more lanes in the pool. Then there is all the aqua joggers that want a lot of room to aqua jog in. There is also the public who just want to swim in lanes (but then have to get kicked out of their lane for squads) and not be jammed in. What about all those people that just go to the pool to play? If all the lanes are filled with the squads and lessons, then there would be one more lane for people who want to swim lengths, then there would be no room for people who want to free play. So to fix this problem we could use the park outside because unless I´m blind it never gets used (except for the hospital - when the helicopter lands). So maybe you could increase the pool and use some of that useless park! This is another reason we should extend the pool.

It would bring more people to Oamaru. This would be more money for shops, places for people to stay and food places like New World and shops like that. If the pool is done really well people would want to go back to oamaru because it has a great pool that can cope for everyone. Having a 50m pool would mean it would cope for all the people. You could have a divider in the pool so you could have twice the amount of people in the same pool. If you have 10 lanes, it could double just like that with someone putting in the divider. It would go from 10 lanes to 20 lanes. Our coach Narcis could have 10 lanes to have all the squads going at the same time. There would be room for the aqua joggers (lets say 2 lanes), lessons (4 lanes), and there would still be room for people to swim. Oamaru could hosts big (national) meets. There would be 50m of seats along the poolside, and there would be enough lanes. If they do the facilities really well so there is enough room for people to get changed, go to the toilet, have a shower etc.  

If there is enough room, why don't they start? This is why I think we should extend the pool!

Persuasive Writing #1

Why we shouldn’t have a lifeguard as a coach while our actual coach is away.

NOTE: This is not about the person it is abou t why we should have a professional coach while our actual coach is away!

How would YOU like if a random person, (That doesn’t know what to do!) came one day instead of your actual coach and YOU, got bossed around like they know what to do? Would you like that? Well I don’t like it when that happens. My reasons are they don’t know what to do, get angry at you for not doing the right thing *when you are*, and everyone goes all silly because no one will say “Don’t do that!”

We shouldn’t have a lifeguard as a coach while our actual coach is away because they don’t know what we actually do in training: As swimmers (and as Intermediate and Age group squad swim mainly everyday) we know what we do in swimming, so we don’t need to be told what to do; like “now you do 16 lengths (400 meters) of IM” - We know what it means. I know that Development Squad is younger and they need  someone to help them, but the squads above Development know what to do. Sometimes the lifeguard changes the program, example: They took out kick and changed it to something else. Kick is an important thing to practice in swimming to get a strong kick - so we can go faster at meets and improve our pbs*. It is also recovery; when you have done fast sets you are tired, so kick is a good way to catch your breath.  
*Personal Bests

Secondly, I think we shouldn’t have a lifeguard as a coach is, they would get paid the same amount of money as the Professional coach would that day or week they teach: Since they are taking the role of the professional coach for the time the coach is away, they would get paid as the coach would. My personal opinion is that they don’t deserve that amount of money. The reason why is because some people don’t train as hard as if the proper coach was there - People would start to slack! The lifeguard does not give you advice or tips on a stroke; for an example the real coach has said to me when I had just swam 50m Breaststroke in a set he was like, “You look like a drowned rat because you are not stretching out long” the next time I did 50m breaststroke (and I stretched out longer) the professional coach was like “much better”, that's what a coach does. Or maybe it is the pool manager's problem. I feel like they don’t want to pay money to get a proper coach while our actual coach is away. Especial if you are putting the prices up, I think you need to put in place a proper coach that knows what to do.

My final point is that there could be better people that could teach us; there is better people than using the first and cheapest person you can find. I think you could use the older people from age group (unless they are away at a swim meet) because they could learn new things from watching people - it would be good because both of the people would learn something! They kids swimming would learn some tips and the age group person could try out a new technique in training. They would also get some pocket money and you won’t have to pay as much/or you could use an ex-national swimmer, that teaches in the swim program already. They would already know what to do in training because they have already swam with the squads before. They would give you tips to improve your stroke, turn and dive; and plus they are also really nice.

I really believe that instead of getting the first person you can find, you should think about who you should get to coach us. Thank you for listening to my point.   

Saturday 29 April 2017

My Easter Holiday Adventure!!

For the holidays my Mum and Dad and I went to the Malborough Sounds to go sailing. This is what my trip looked like!! Hope you enjoy!

Saturday 8 April 2017

Otago Primary School Swimming Sports/Fast and Furious

After St Joseph's sports, North Otago sports, there is Otago Primary sports.  There are only three races to qualify (no butterfly or IM, or longer races), plus two relays.  So it was 50 free, 50 back and 50 breaststroke.  Out of 69 schools in Otago and Southland, I got 2nd in breaststroke, 8th in free and 10th in back.  We also got 2nd in freestyle relay and IM relay.  We had to race back-to-back races for relays, but we had a great relay team and it was super fun racing!!

At Fast and Furious I started racing 400IM, which is 100m of every stroke, it was very tiring, but I found it really fun, I think this is my new favourite event!  I also did 400 free, which was also fun.  Next up is Club Champs and Neptune swim meet in Dunedin, so I get to see my Dunedin swim friends too!

I have just started reading Sophie Pascoe's autobiography "Stroke of Fate".  It is looking to be really good and inspiring!

Citizenship Award

On Friday the 7th of April, I was awarded the citizenship cup for playing a big part in organising the Caritas Challenge and already thinking of new ideas and planning for the next project.  Miss Tangney was impressed that I had already started discussing with Mrs Frances-Rees and her.  I like how at St Josephs you can have a plan and you can actually do it.  The teachers help add to your idea so it becomes an even bigger and better idea.

An Eye Opening Video - Man VS Earth

On Thursday we had Mrs Dooley for a reliever. She showed our class this video. I already knew what we need to improve with our use of plastic bags, because of my project I did last year, but this opened my eyes up to everything else that we have done to the world. We have leadership time each week and I thought the Head Students and I could raise money for Save The Trees. We could have a mufti day and fundraise money to plant trees on Cape Wanbrow.  It would raise awareness and maybe other schools could follow our lead and plant trees there as well.  We are going to talk to Waitaki District Council to get permission to plant trees. If we get permission on the first day of spring we are going to plant trees for every person in the school.  This is cool because when they are older, they can go back and look how much their tree has grown and they have planted that tree and made a slight difference.  If they make a difference they might think about it, and talk about it and the good idea might spread.



Caritas Challenge

On Friday the 7th of April the head students (Peta, Fergus, Josh and I) planned the Caritas Challenge. On the day Josh was sick so we had to get 3 other people, Zeth (Deputy Head), Corbin (Lima House Captain) and Georgia (Lima House Captain). Peta and I were in charge of cooking.  In cooking we had gas stoves which we cooked rice on. Thankfully no one burnt themselves.




Zeth and Georgia were in charge of the box huts(Live It Challenge). We got heaps of cardboard boxes, the kids made houses out of them because in poor countries there would be no really fancy houses. They were in teams of 4 or 5 and they all had to fit in the shelter.

Fergus and Corbin were in charged of the water challenge (Sweat It Challenge). They teams carried water up and down the hill and tried not to spill it. Over all it was a good day. We raised $390 Caritas! All this money goes towards poor countries that are in need of shelter, food and water.

My Leadership Inquiry Essay - Sophie Pascoe

On the 8th of January 1993, Sophie Pascoe was born. Little did she know that she would be a world champion. She is a gold medalist Paralympian, swimmer! Her fatal injury made her famous.      


She was only two years old when she lost her leg. Her dad mowed over her leg with the lawn mower, and she got rushed to hospital immediately, by her neighbour and her dad. She spent six hours on the operating table and was fighting for her life, by then they only saved her right leg with only scars. In total Sophie spent 18 days at the hospital.


An important person in Sophie’s life was her grand dad (Gragra).  When she was only 9 years old and the start of Sophies swimming career, her granddad was at the final stages of his battle of lung cancer. She made a promise with her granddad that she would go to the olympics and win a gold medal. Little did she know in the following years to come that's what will happen. She kept this promise ever since.

She became a professional swimmer by, taking swimming lessons like every normal kid.At the start she couldn’t even keep up with the other kids, Sophie’s mum put her in swimming lessons because she wanted to live a normal life. The same year the school swimming sports were held, she won her first race and realised that she could beat normal people. This is when she realised that she had a talent in swimming.


At the age of nine she competed at the Crippled Children's Society (CCS). She swam against a current paralympian and won the race, even though their disabilities were very different. She caught the eye of Graham Condon and Roly Crichton (Sophie’s current coach). They offered Sophie to train with the QEII Swim Club - This is where Sophie’s swimming career started.

One of Sophie’s best strokes/world records are 400m IM and 100m Butterfly. Sophie won 9 gold medals, 6 silver medals out of all Paralympics. She won 2 gold medals at the commonwealth games. IPC World Championships 8 golds, 4 silvers and 4 bronze medals.

Sophie Pascoe is an inspiring leader. Even though she had a tragic accident when she was 2 years old, she showed everyone that nothing can get in your way even though you might be scarred for life.

Saturday 18 March 2017

North Otago Swimming Sports PLUS a Principal Award

On Wednesday the 15th of March I had North Otago Swimming Sports. I got a first in 50m breaststroke, two 2nds in 100m IM and 50m butterfly, and two 3rds in 50m freestyle and in 50m backstroke! I felt like it was fun and more about the team aspect and helping others and this meant I wasn't very focused. In our relay we got first but got DQ because we only had 3 people but we still came first that's the main thing!

Elenoa and I both got an Principals award! Someone came up to one of the people from the school and said what good role models we were supporting the little kids. 

AWARDS!! -Leadership Badges -Swimming Sports Award


On Friday we had our weekly assembly. All of the year 8's got their leadership badges! Last year it was announced that I was going to be Head Girl Special Character and Young Vinnies Leader!

I also got my swimming sports certificate. I got a trophy but I had to leave it at school. I got first in all my races, so that meant I was first in the 12 year old category. St Joseph's have some very good swimmers and we all did very well!

Saturday 11 March 2017

School Swimming Sports

On Friday the 3rd of March we had our school swimming sports! I am in Lima, green house.  There are three house Guzman - red, Sienna - yellow, and Lima! It was a fun competition and there was still a few people from squad there helping.  It was super fun knowing what I was doing, because I could help other people swim.  I was in the relay for Lima, we came 3rd (last)!  Next I am off to North Otago swimming sports and then, Otago Primary School Sports in Dunedin.

Junior Festival Swim Meet! (Junior Nationals!)

On the 17th - 19th of February I went up to Timaru for Junior Nationals!! Juniors is a big thing because you are competing against all of the South Island! We were in the zone Makos, Juniors was an event where you traveled to Auckland or Wellington to compete against the whole of New Zealand, but this year they changed it in to 4 zones. Allstars - Wellington area, Harlequins - Auckland area, Aquaknights - Bay of Plenty area and Makos - South Island.

I got all PBs and mostly got in the top 10 placings! Each day I had a serving of Pita Pit! My Nana and Granddad from my dads side came and watched me swim. I meet heaps of new friends from other clubs AND I also have a bikini twin!!! It was a successful meet. In the photos I am the person with the lolly togs!








                              

Leadership Enquiry - Sophie Pasco

For our Leadership Enquiry for this term we are looking at leaders. I choose Sophie Pasco because she is a great leader, swimmer and inspiration. This video is an advertisement for Rebel Sports "What's your why?"!

Alexandra Swim Meets!

On February the 4th, I went to Otago County Clubs meet! It went okay, I only got a few tiny PBs and one second place. The next day (February 5th) Alexandra Challenge Cup, I was doing well, in the morning I got a first and a third. There was an out door pool at Alexandra, so I went out side to warm down. All my friends were out there and they were practising their dives. They were running up and jumping in. I did it the first time and got out did it again, I dived in then did a stupid move and tucked my head in and smacked my head on the bottom of the pool. As I came to the surface of the water I could hardly even breath. One of my friends mum came running out and pulled me out of the water. I had to pull out of the rest of my races and went home early! I had to put that in the book for a learning experience.

Leadership Retreat!

 On the 8th to the 9th of February our class went to a leadership camp, at Camp Iona! That week we only had one day of school on Tuesday, because it was Waitangi Day on Monday, we had school as normal on Tuesday, had leadership camp on Wednesday and Thursday and had Technology and St Keven's on Friday!!

On the camp we learnt about Peer Mediation, where you sort out problems in the playground and help the kids to sort them out themselves. We also did team building activities. We got to go on an adventure course which we couldn't go on last time because it was too wet. We did an amazing race, we were in teams of 5 and had clues. Our team was leading but we ended coming 2nd last because we got stuck on the riddles!

On Thursday (the last day) we went kayaking and sailing at McKerrows pond! It was so much fun because we got to hangout with my friends and have fun sailing and kayaking. The water was cold and at the end the wind started to pick up a bit, but otherwise it was nice weather.


Saturday 11 February 2017

Pilot Essay

What job has the best office view, you can travel the world and you are helping others while doing your job? What is it? My dream job, a Pi...