MAGS Blog!

<for some reason this didn't publish when I scheduled it, so this is somewhat belated> Huh. That's weird. The end of the year just snuck up on us like that. Tomorrow (as I'm writing this) is my last day of high-school and it's not even a full day. Of course I've got some exams (fun!), but this is the end... mostly. This also means this is probably the last thing I'll ever write for the school blog - the school blog that I have been with since it started in 5 years ago. That is a odd feeling. It's been a lot of fun, using the opportunity to channel my writing passion down an avenue I did expect, and I hope that this blog continues to to provide this opportunity to others like me. Thanks to Ms. Calvert and Ms. Dobbin for keeping this club running, and thanks to all the wonderful writers who have contributed. Now I've realised that it kind of sounds like I'm writing a farewell to the blog as a whole. Fear not, the blog is sticking around -

Mistakenly thought of as starting on the 1st of September, Spring arrives for the Southern Hemisphere on the date of the Spring equinox: for 2018, this was the 23rd of September. Spring is a hopeful season which brings bursts of new life, positive aspirations, and, most importantly for me, a tantalising taste of summer warmth. The sun shines proudly, casting away clouds and driving us to search for shade as we fear for our winter pale skin. Tans will soon emerge, often preceded by sunburn, and we will proudly display ourselves in skimpy shorts and singlets. Beware though! Although the sun shines, Winter is grasping at straws, desperate to extend its dominance with lingering chill winds which bring goosebumps to your exposed skin. Although barbecues and beach trips are not yet called for, we snatch every second outside, even relishing the rays on our backs as we meander - an improvement from trudging - to school. We may already be excited for Summer, but we have to rein it in for

MOCKUMENTARIES! - MUSIC VIDEOS! - ADVERTISEMENTS! TICKETS ARE 11 DOLLARS AT THE FINANCE OFFICE. IT'S AT 6:20PM THIS THURSDAY. SO GET TO IT! My mockumentary is in it so I'm very biased!

The Green Room Lights.  Camera. Action! The curtains parted and we were transported into a magical world of dance, music, and laughter. A large group of talented MAGS students took us on a journey through the dramatic, yet enthralling life of Steven Stark. We saw his past works, and followed Stark and his friends as they explored the world of theatre! From Thursday 30th August, to Saturday 1st September, MAGS brought the stories of Matilda, Aladdin, Oliver, and so many more popular productions to life. This storyline was created by Ella Brislen and Seamus Stalker, and was performed by many dedicated singers, dancers and actors from years nine to thirteen. The work put in by all of the cast was admirable and they must be acknowledged. Overall, the production was a night not to be missed and received positive feedback after each of the four shows.  By Ella and Holly

1) Siberia means 'the sleeping land' 2) A duel between three people is called a truel 3) Male ostriches can roar like lions 4) Do you like the smell of old books? Well did you know that there is an actual word to describe this obsession. It is called 'Bibliosmia' 5) Hello Kitty is not a cat (I know right)- She is a little girl 6) Handshakes were originally done to make sure the person you were meeting didn't carry a concealed weapon 7) August 13th is celebrated as Left-Handers Day 8) Ketchup was sold as medicine in the 1830's 9) 12% of people dream in black and white 10) Your eye weighs approximately 28 grams

Spelling Bee Semi Finals At the start of this year, a group of eager spellers signed themselves up for the New Zealand Spelling Bee. To prepare for this, the students had to learn how to spell 100 words from a list, as well as practise spelling random words from the dictionary. The entry test involved spelling 100 words -  50 words from the list, and 50 unknown words. MAGS had 4 students make the top 200 in NZ, meaning they could then go on to compete in the semi finals. The Auckland semi finals were held in the Centennial Theatre at Auckland Boy’s Grammar School, on Saturday the 11th of August. The semi-finalists from MAGS were: Melissa Barnes, David Li, Ben Merlini, and Ella Vuetilovoni. They had to complete a written test of 20 words and spell one word aloud. Then the top 20 students with the best scores went to stage two of the semis, in which they had to compete in multiple rounds of verbal spelling, until only four remained. These four won seats in the final located in Wel

Indian Rockerz 2018! The MAGS Indian Group have worked hard the past two terms in preparation for the 2018 Indian Rockerz competition, which was held on Saturday 4th August. Schools put together a team of talented kids who choreographed and performed a Bollywood piece, of around 5 minutes long. On the night, everyone was relaxed, energetic, and just enjoyed themselves. Unfortunately MAGS couldn't grab any of the awards, but the bar was set very high by our fellow schools. Mt Roskill Grammar took first place, and Papatoetoe came a close second. Everyone had a great time, and just enjoyed the experience. By Ella Vuetilovoni 

Bliss Balls Baby! Bliss balls are a super sweet treat to throw in your lunch or to share as a gift for your friends, or teachers ;) But hey, these babies are so good, I'm not sure you'll want to share! Healthy and sweet, you can make them fruity, chocolatey or coconutty- the choice is yours! Ham and Cheese Toasties Croque monsieur  Gooey cheese and crispy golden bread- this is the savoury version of foods as good as krispy kreme.  Stacked with protein and calcium these will have running in no time!  Groovy Smoothies Get on your shake, there is no time to bake, these delicious smoothies are easy to make! Throw in a banana- or a whole bunch, these are the best things you'll ever have for lunch :)  Satisfying Salads This beautiful salad is a masterpiece in it's own! Straight from the Auckland art gallery, this beauty is healthy, delicious and aesthetic- I've never seen a salad look and taste so good.

Do you fancy yourself the next Bril?  The next Dugan? The next Coraci? Well if you do, be sure to sign up for the MAGS Short Film competition. Sign ups end later this week, so get in quick - you can sign up on the door of E17. In groups of up to 5, you will be given the task of making a short film (1-5 minutes) - but there's a catch - each group will be assigned a a specific prop, genre, piece of dialogue, character name, and film technique that they have to use in their film. The competition will be held over 4 weeks in Term 3, starting Monday the 30th of July, and finishing on Monday the 20th of August. You need to submit your film on a named USB by 4pm, so they can be downloaded (these will be returned). There are prizes to be won within two categories: Year level winners and people's choice. This is such a great opportunity to help you unleash your creativity and have fun with friends, so sign up now, and good luck!

The environment is the natural world and how it is affected by human activity. Environmental education, studies human interaction with the environment and the goal is to have a world population that is aware of environmental problems.  Most people don't know about environmental problems, by not knowing, we aren't aware of what damage we could be inflicting on the environment everyday that could be simply avoided. People with university degrees are 25% more likely to adopt pro-environmental behaviours than people with no education qualifications. Who has heard about the potential plastic bag ban? Most people agree with it because of all they’ve heard about how bad plastic is. However people are blinding following what others are saying without actually knowing anything about the topic. The alternatives for plastic bags are actually worse for the environment. Single-use plastic bags overall have the lowest carbon footprint compared to the alternatives. Majority of th

The school hall was a flurry of activity at the Year 12 Health Expo, May 21-25. Students flocked to view the information stalls and collect some free treats at the same time. There were stands raising awareness about healthy eating, self-confidence, body image, bullying, drink driving and anxiety/stress in the community. At some stalls you could collect pamphlets, recipe booklets and stickers, other stands asked you to complete surveys and get healthy snacks in return. Most of the stands offered some form of food or drink. Herbal teas at the stress awareness stalls, mocktails at drink driving, a selection of healthy snacks from healthy eating, and a stress-anxiety stand serving out Tom&Luke snack balls. These products were donated by companies including Netsafe, Youthline, YMCA and more. It surprised me to see that for every apple, there was an equal amount of candy. I personally wouldn’t consider Fruit Burst to be healthy and certainly didn’t expect them to appear at a healt

Thoughts  You can’t just stop and make yourself think, rather it’s more your thoughts that stop you and shake you awake until you can’t go back to sleep because your head is in the middle of a vortex and you can’t predict where it’ll be sput out. We need to give our thoughts space to drive safely, otherwise they’ll come crashing out in an overwhelming labyrinth of congested inferences and suppressed emotions. When was the last time you did something with no purpose but to let your imagination go wild? When was the last time you did something that made you feel alive, refreshed, and never want to stop? We all need that for the sake of our sanity.  We are most of us young individuals with most of our lives yet to be figured out, still trying to ‘discover’ ourselves. How can we do that when we don’t give ourselves the space and opportunities to be ‘discovered’? Time to think and meditate on our experiences, goals, and the things that matter to us the most is what will keep us goi

All around me is quiet, I desperately try to search for a sound, vibration or anything… but there’s nothing 6210 days- 6210 days I haven’t heard a sound My whole life practically- actually no- my whole life completely- has been like this I wasn’t blessed with the ability to hear, so why was I blessed with the ability to see Seeing peoples mouths moving, but not being able to put the words together-it infuriates me I open my mouth to try to communicate, but all that comes out is a cry of helplessness People eye me like a magnet wherever I go Their eyes say it, I may not be able to hear but I certainly can see Their eyes are full of confusion, awkwardness and worst of all… pity Imagine never being able to hear how your own mother and father sound like Imagine how frustrating it is to have to constantly stare at the small tool bar in the trains to know when to get off Imagine how useless I feel knowing I will never survive on my own And those are only a small portion of hards

Are you a keen writer? Are you interested in current issues? Do you want to convey a message globally? If you answered yes to all of the above, then The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition is for you! This competition is open to anyone in the Commonwealth, aged 18 or under. It started 135 years ago, and has been giving our youth the chance to express themselves and their opinions in the form of writing. The Royal Commonwealth Society runs it with the ambition to change the lives of citizens in the Commonwealth. They hope to promote youth empowerment, education, and advocacy.  Each year, four winners win a trip to London to take part in a ‘Winners’ Week’ programme of activities, including an Awards Ceremony at Buckingham Palace! Other prizes in the past have been signed books and gold pens. Gold, Silver and Bronze Certificates are awarded to excellent entries, but every child who enters the Competition receives a ‘Certificate of Participation’. Schools receive a

Love, Simon if briefly stated is about a 17 year old boy, Simon Spier who is gay, but has not told anyone. Throughout the movie, the audience gets to see how Simon feels about everyone not knowing his true identity. As an audience, we also get to see the extent he will go to to have his secret remain silent. This is because Simon doesn't want people to see him in a different way and doesn't know how his family will react. "I've been thinking about why I haven't come out yet. Maybe part of me wants to hold onto who've I've always been, just a little longer ."  At his high school in Atlanta, Georgia there is a blog that the students read where people confess secrets. A person under the name 'Blue' confessed to being gay and his whole high school tries to track him down. Seeing Blues confession, Simon decides to reach out to him via email after creating another email account to talk about the struggle of keeping his identity a secret with some

On the 8th of march, myself, Jessika and Grace, went behind the scenes and met with one of our new deputy principals Mr Murdoch to learn a bit about him. We asked him a few questions and were surprised about some of the answers, Enjoy. Mr Murdoch speaks highly of the important quality of leadership, he himself loves being a leader. When asked what he likes most about being a leader he says he loves the moments of connection he gets to experience through this. He talks of the moments you are talking with someone and you realise that being been on journey with them, you have shared knowledge and together you have really connected over an incredible experience. When we asked mr Murdoch about what he can bring to the school, he told us that  he believes that he can bring lots of enthusiasm to our school as it is one of his biggest values. He also hopes that he can help develop our school traditions in any way as he thinks that MAGS is already such a great place.   Next, we asked Mr Murd

By Roni and Juli Noblesse (Webtoon*) Author - Jeho Son and Kwangsu Lee Reader's thoughts: This is definitely a nice comic you could read if you have time and is not rushed because it is quite long. It is a webtoon* and I highly recommend it to vampire and werewolf lovers. People who enjoy action, fantasy and a little bit of comedy would love this. Orange Marmalade (Webtoon*) Author - Seokwoo Reader's thoughts: One of those comics that pull on the heartstrings - the story is quite well paced. It has romance. Lorien Legacies (series) Author - Pittacus Lore Reader's thoughts: It is a series consisting of seven books. It is an action-and-fantasy-packed story. Cirque du freak (series) Author - Darren Shan Reader's thoughts: This vampire series is more of a dark fantasy story. It follows the adventure of Darren and it's a hell of a ride to the end. The story itself is very well written and thought out. The Curse of the Chocolate Phoenix Author - Kate S

The MAGS Futsal teams have recently come back from Wellington to compete in Futsal Nationals, and achieved 3rd in their grade! Nicole Muir was one of the players in the Junior Girls futsal Team, and I managed to ask her some questions. WHAT WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE TOURNAMENT? I would say it was winning 14-0 against New Plymouth in our first game. HOW DID YOU GET INTO FUTSAL? I have played football in the past, and it was an easy transition to futsal. WHAT WAS ONE THING YOU REGRET AT THE TOURNAMENT? Losing 4-1 to Marist WHAT DID YOU DO TO PREPARE FOR THE TOURNAMENT? I had to do vigorous fitness training some mornings, and we had regular futsal training. WHAT IS SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT THE EVENT? We had creamy pasta every night at a cafe that was a five to ten minute walk from our hotel. Another interesting thing was that we had to walk to the event stadium every morning. WHAT WAS YOUR OVERALL OPINION OF THE EVENT? It was a fun tournament, with plenty of competit

Interviewee: Fatima Imran: Year 13 student at MAGS What is the  Model  United Nations event about?   The M odel U nited N ation is an event which is designed to get the youth to understand real world  issues and to find ways to solve them. People sign up and get chosen by the board. The board then allocates each delegate to countries and provides  committees  which the delegate should prepare for. We get given two countries; one which we present for the first committee and the second country to represent in the plenary round.  I was given  Philippines  and  the committee which I  part took in was  Gun Violence and  Terrorism . I  w as  the delegate of  Philippines  and   present ed  w hat   Philippines   believes ,  not what I believe  is right .  In the plenary round, I represented Marshall Islands, where I would talk  about Nationalism. In the plenary round, it is not a couple of  countries,  but rather all the countries. There  were two Plenary rounds as it would be ha