2020 six months in

SIX MONTHS IN :

2020 SO FAR

A student perspective

Head Prefect Maddy Gault and Deputy Head Prefect Francesca Masfen reflect on the first six months of their senior year.

It’s fair to say that this year has not exactly gone as planned. Our graduation year was turned upside down by the implications of COVID-19. Reflecting on the first six months of 2020, we have been challenged in ways we never thought possible...which will actually help us as we venture into the big wide world next year. It is inevitable that when you are about to experience something you’ve looked forward to for so long (for Year 13s, our senior year) you always visualise it in your head and put expectations on yourself, but in reality, you can’t control what happens. That is all part of being the leaders of our School – adapting to what is presented to us.

Of course, there have been aspects that felt like a let-down; we’ve missed lots of the time we could have had together as a cohort, time we won’t ever get back. But now more than ever we need to adopt the mentality of: “Class of 2020, let’s make the most of it”. In lots of things in life, if something doesn’t go the way you hoped, you can’t just stop and give up. You fight back and treasure what you have. In some ways, restoring that senior year motivation was a bit hard, but really, we couldn’t have asked for a better group of girls.

During the lockdown, we wanted to keep the Dio community alive, as well as continuing to demonstrate our theme for 2020: Nga -kau nui, meaning ‘big-hearted’. We thought that in order

Above: The Year 13 cohort photographed on Athletics Day in February. Right: During the lockdown, the School Councils kept in touch with the student body via online options like Instagram.

to do this successfully, we should use social media in a positive way to keep connected. We tried our best to keep the Dio Supporters’ Club Instagram active, with posts including quotes, messages and challenges. We focused on these challenges as a way to keep connected with the girls and help with lockdown boredom! The challenges started off as ideas generated by us, but over time we collaborated with our respective councils and teachers. This way we were able to capture all areas of Dio, connect with every girl, and break the barrier between year levels, going forward as one Dio community.

Our councils placed a large emphasis on the well-being of the girls through their initiatives. It was important to Sport Prefect Ava Tinkler and her Sport Council to ensure the sporting community stayed active without the usual sports calendar. They released a DIO workout plan called DIO45. It involved four 45-minute workouts per week, created and filmed by sports managers Bella Bloomfield and Josh Wedlake. It was really uplifting seeing the team come together and organise the Dio Day Out event, an afternoon supporting our hockey and netball girls. We partnered with the Arts and Cultural Councils to have a halftime show where our Hip Hop crew and Jazz Band took the stage (in this case the hockey turf!) This end-of-term event was not only a celebration of our girls, their passions and a friendly bit of competition, but also a celebration of what New Zealand has done as a team of five million – for a while we didn’t believe that sport would continue at all!

To continue healthy living, Environment Prefect Brooke Vincent introduced ‘Meat Free Mondays’. She said: “It was awesome to see participation across many year levels in this lockdown initiative and was great to see girls stepping out of their usual routines and getting creative cooking for their families.”

Student Services Prefect Chloé Hickin and her council noticed the shortchanged feeling lockdown presented. Her council created challenges to boost healthy habits and teach ways to practise gratitude. Through Chloé’s own self-reflection during this period, she learnt the power of positivity, which has inspired a new initiative called Nga Mihi Ki Koutou – ‘from us to you’, focusing on student well-being. Similarly, Cultural Prefect Anisha de Silva focused on the well-being of each individual girl by spreading the message of acceptance, particularly in circumstances where we all need to work together for a common goal.

competitions and festivals such as the annual Dio/Dilworth senior production and the Big Sing were cancelled. However, the most gut-wrenching loss for Anna Casey and her team was when the Gala Opening for the Arts Centre Auditorium was postponed. Despite this, Anna addressed the important point of focusing on what we have: “We’ve tried to focus our attention on the positives and on events that are still running such as Chamber Music NZ and KBB.” The Arts Council’s theme for 2020 is ‘Tuwhera’, which means to be open to new ideas, challenges and experiences. Anna explains that this theme was inspired by the auditorium opening, but due to the changes, she and her council decided to explore the theme during the lockdown. “During lockdown in Levels 3 and 4, Dio Arts produced several virtual arts videos involving choirs, orchestras, chamber groups and dancers. This was a wonderful opportunity to stay connected with others during lockdown and to share our passion for the arts with the wider community.” These videos can be viewed on the DIO Facebook page.

Sabreen Islam, Community Service Prefect, and her council worked eagerly to boost the morale of Dio girls by providing the opportunity to give back. The council had great success with one of their lockdown ideas, the Dio Food Drive. Sabreen says: “This year wasn’t what I was expecting in terms of Community Service. But perhaps, now more than ever, we have a chance to serve our community in a time when service is needed the most.” Special thanks go to the House leaders for motivating their houses, and to the amazing girls of the Community Service Council for helping to collect, count and coordinate food items. COVID-19 has had a far-reaching impact on all New Zealanders, particularly those who are already vulnerable. Through our Food Drive, we’ve been able to make a difference to the community and support the work of the City Mission. The 7257 food donations we collected were enough to fill 1200 food parcels.

Sabreen and her team are currently planning a Service Week for Term 3, as well as working towards Daffodil Day and Relay for Life in support of the Cancer Society.

Zoe Zhu, Academic Prefect, felt the uncertainty around the future of our academics. It was tough navigating what would happen with NCEA and IB internal and external assessments, which caused a bit of anxiety for the girls. Zoe, along with her council, spread the message over the lockdown period that we could use this time to find our passions academically. The council also stressed the importance of balance between school and our extracurricular activities. To help address this, the girls created an Academic Newsletter that enabled them to share ways to work more effectively. One example was their Dio Wall Planner. Designed by Jo Zhang and Katherine Yu, the Dio Wall Planner comes in various beautiful colours and helps students to visualise their schedule and manage their time wisely. Academics at Dio changed significantly for everyone with the introduction of online schooling, although, with the help of teachers and senior management we were provided with excellent support. It was beneficial seeing a more personal side to our teachers inside the walls of their homes, enabling us to build a closer relationship with them. We were able to have a laugh about the annoying pet or the accidental interruption from family in our Microsoft Team calls! We cannot express enough how grateful we are for our Dio teachers who went above and beyond to ensure we were coping academically, and also mentally.

The many events and special occasions that were postponed challenged us as Year 13s to alter and adapt our original plans for the year. Events such as the Birthday Concert and the School Ball, which hold so much meaning and excitement for the Year 13s, were almost ripped away from us, but with the

Right: Community Service Prefect Sabreen Islam with the huge collection of boxed food items bound for the City Mission. Below: The Arts Council adopted the theme ‘Tuwhera’ – being open to new ideas, challenges and experiences.

Year 13 Birthday Concert dance finale

support of our Dean, Ms Cusdin, and the Senior Management team, these events were rescheduled, just slightly later in the School calendar. Hazel Francis, Ball Prefect, said: “There were some moments of uncertainty, but we never lost hope!” This mindset has helped us stay positive throughout our final year at school. Hazel and her council’s goal for the night is to ‘make sure everyone is feeling fabulous and to create an event that is much like this year – one of a kind! We are very excited about our ball this year, which is being held on 19 September!

Another key event in the School Calendar is the annual Birthday Concert. Stella Murray, Birthday Concert Prefect, along with Jaime Shorter, Media Prefect, utilised the lockdown period to plan a Birthday Concert with a new set of rules. Even before COVID-19, the pressure associated with the Birthday Concert was demanding, but Stella remained cool, calm and collected. They had to plan an event with social distancing and attendee maximum numbers in mind in case the lockdown restrictions continued. At one point the Birthday Concert was going to be filmed and watched by tutor groups via video, rather than a live performance! However, a rescheduled date allowed a live concert, greatly appreciated by the whole school.

Our House Prefects have done an incredible job keeping up House spirit – Tori Jones, Laura Whitley, Lotty Lobb, Kaitlyn Mallon, Milly Johnston, Emma Badger, Amy Choi and Aarushi Parasrampuria continued to stay active on their House Instagram pages. They also made sure to stay in frequent contact with their teacher Heads of House to plan out the rest of the year. The Community Service Food Drive was turned into a new House event, with tremendous success. The next big event is House Music and Dance in August, and we are all beyond excited.

Overall, we cannot ignore the challenges COVID-19 created and the feelings of anxiety and disappointment that lockdown produced. However, as a cohort and wider school, we never lost sight of the future, which has ultimately made our Dio community stronger. Regardless of being at home, we still felt we were connected as a School. Lockdown brought home the importance of community, and how powerful it can be. Knowing we were all on this journey together gave us hope. Each day at school together post lockdown is one to treasure and a reward for our hard work as a country.

As Head Prefects, we wanted to say a big thank you to the Year 13s. You have made the first six months together a smooth ride, despite the craziness that has been thrown our way! We will forever be grateful to our teachers and the senior management for going the extra mile for all students in our Dio family. Although lockdown was tough, our Dio community remained positive, which made the light at the end of the tunnel appear so much brighter.

Now we have reached that light it’s time to enjoy the rest of our final year together. Bring it on!