Newmarket Rotary
Meeting at One Tree Hill College, Tues 17^th 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. 

Rotary Newmarket needs you to help out with carparking at Mount Smart stadium.

Each game, this activity raises up to $2,000 for the club, or around $60,000 a year. This forms a major part of the funds for the club's youth programmes including RAP and RYPEN. Recently, Go Media Stadium has started blocking the road around the stadium when large crowds are expected meaning we need more volunteers, and the number of volunteers is beginning to fall below a sustainable level.

Each game requires 8 volunteers, 3 at 23 Maurice Road and 5 at 5 Maurice Road. We don't expect you to show up every week, that would be silly. However, the more people who volunteer, the less of a commitment it is for each person and the more funds we can raise for the youth programs.

You would be expected to arrive 2.5hours before the game starts and help with taking money via cash and EFTPOS and guiding drivers. Usually both parking lots are filled within two hours and after that almost everyone can go home. One or two volunteers would need to stay at 5 Maurice Road until an hour after the game to lock the gate. We'll provide safety vests and EFTPOS machines. We recommend bringing a water bottle. 

This crucial fundraiser can't continue to exist without your help, so please contact Shaun Peacock (email: shaun_peacock@windowslive.com Phone: 027 631 0065) to sign up.