A resurgence of O'Shea at Viard

Over the weekend (the 15^th to 17^th of May), a few of our students and staff travelled to Sacred Heart Lower Hutt to take part in the O’Shea Shield — an annual Speech and Drama competition bringing together seventeen Catholic secondary schools from across the Wellington and Palmerston North Diocese. The competition is a wonderful way for students to showcase their talents, make new connections, and grow closer to God. This year’s theme was “Returning to the Heart”, based on Pope Francis’ final encyclical letter Dilexit Nos. 

The competition kicked off with a Powhiri on Thursday evening. Friday was a long day, with the morning and afternoon packed with events such as Oratory (Henry Tanuvasa), Prepared Speech (Fetalaiga Lokeni), Scripture Reading (Paxton Lee in English; Mihaila-Jayde Haami in Te Reo), Imromptu (Ofa Alataua), before a big finish at the Religious Drama event (Mason Karini, Ethna Lily Neville-Brown, Jeremiah Ieremia, Kineisha Katu, Anna de Luna). Debating (Nove Ah Kuoi, Sam Allan, Ofa Alataua) and Religious Questions (Celina Lokeni, Miriam Siave, Gene Borra) took place Saturday morning.

As for me, attending the O’Shea Shield two years in a row to compete in Religious Drama was a formative experience for me. Not only was it where I’d met cool people and make new friends, but it was also where I’d been able to express myself, challenge myself, and collaborate with my peers — particularly the Drama team. Seeing what we worked so hard on together being brought to life on stage, successfully getting roars of laughter from the audience, and winning the Society of Mary Cup, is definitely something that will stick with me for many years to come. 

We thank the students who came to represent us at O’Shea; we are so proud of you and your talent and dedication! We’d also like to thank our coaches — Michael Barlow, Maria Gair, Catherine Ryan, Christine Philipo, Daniel Griffiths — and the rest of the staff, family, and friends who’d been so supportive.