WC HOORAH BRINGS THE SHIELD HOME

McEVEDY:
ISSUE 1 // TERM ONE // 2015
WC HOORAH BRINGS
THE SHIELD HOME
COLL
HUB
C
R
E
D
I
T
S
SEBASTIAN KLINKUM cO-editor
SAERAN MANIPARATHY cO-editor
DAVID THORP PRODUCTION MANAGER
JOSHUA JOE graphic design/layout
GLENN MCCONNELL writer
JACK ROBERTS WRITER
LIAM BOOTH WRITER
TOM BUICK-CONSTABLE writer
MAHDhI OSMAN-PENRICE writer
BEN STEWART photography
FEATURED
ARTICLES
INTRO WELCOME TO
COLLHUB!
MCEVEDY
TIMELINE:
2011-2015
GEORGE
BARTON
INTERVIEW
4
5
6-7
I LOVE THE
SMELL OF
MARMITE
WC IS NO
LONGER AT
THE TOP
STAGE
CHALLENGE
2015
8
8
9
RUNATHON
17 YEARS ON
CHANGING
TIDES OF
HISTORY
THE CANTEEN
- IN RECENT
TIMES
9
10-11
12
COLL
HUB
WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!
facebook.com/collhub facebook
collhub@beehivemandate.co.nz email
collhub snapchat
KIA ORA, WELCOME TO COLL HUB!
Kia ora koutou! Hello and welcome to the first 2015 issue of Coll Hub, Wellington College’s unofficially
official student magazine. This is the first time since 2010 that Coll Hub has been published, so we’re
super excited to have the opportunity to refresh and revive an awesome part of student culture which
has gone off the radar in recent years.
This special first issue for 2014 is packed full of exciting content from our team of writers, including
comment pieces, interviews, news from the school and more. This is a publication by students, for
students and we want it to reflect everything great about the culture at this school.
We’re keen for you to be a part of it! You are welcome to join our team by coming down to one of our
meetings (Friday lunch in L7), or you can send in your thoughts, or pictures to us via email (collhub@
beehivemandate.co.nz), Facebook (facebook.com/collhub) or Snapchat.
Finally, we’d like to thank our awesome team for their hard work on this first issue - all our writers,
photographers and everyone else who’s helped us get to print. Special shout out to Joshua Joe, our
graphics designer who worked under serious time pressure to design us this beautiful magazine layout
from scratch.
So read on, and enjoy!
Sebastian Klinkum // Saeran Maniparathy
Co-Editors
GB
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MCEVEDy
timeline:
2011-2015
GL
`
during one chanting session and
students literally pulled those yellow
poles off one bus reportedly. According
to Mr. Ashby, the detached poles were
used “to dance around with”.
Following the event a whole school
assembly was held in the Sports Centre
where Mr. Moses announced that the
whole school would not be at next
year’s McEvedy Shield.
2011 - LAST TIME THE
MCEVEDY SHIELD WAS WON BY
WELLINGTON COLLEGE
2013 - WELLINGTON COLLEGE
CRITICIZED FOR BANNING
STUDENTS FROM ATENDING
MCCEVEDY.
ST PATS KEEP THE SHIELD,
BEATING WELLINGTON
COLLEGE 197 - 181.
WC Win with 184 points, 33.5 points
above St Pats with 150.5
Under the captaincy of middle distance
runner Ryan Mahon and under the eyes
of every Wellington College student,
the McEvedy shield was returned to
Wellington College after it was lost in
2010.
2012 - WELLINGTON COLLEGE
LOSE THE SHIELD.
St Pats Town beat WC by a shocking
45 points. 202 against Wellington
College’s 157 points.
Damage was caused to Go Wellington
Busses by Wellington College pupils.
The backs of seats were smashed
In 2013 Year 9s, prefects and peer
support leaders were pardoned from
the ban. However, over 100 boys
ignored the ban and attended the event
anyway. On the day teachers reported
having empty year 13 classes.
I remember quite vividly, showing up
to school late (during Period 2) and
walking into a year 11 class with only
two other students present.
Government Minister Peter Dunne
openly criticized Wellington College’s
decision to impose a blanket ban
over years 10-13 saying it was “an
overreaction”. Mr. Dunne encouraged
the school to “put things in perspective,
not bar people from an event because of
alleged transgressions which occurred
a year ago”
2014 - THE BAN IS LIFTED.
FULL SCHOOL SUPPORT FOR
WELLINGTON COLLEGE.
Despite the full attendance at the event,
Wellington College failed to regain the
shield. For the third consecutive year
St Pats Town won the McEvedy shield
with 228 points against our 179 points.
As McEvedy 2014 came to an end and
the final relay runners crossed the finish
line, St Pats stormed the field from their
position to the right of stands on the
Newtown Park bank. What followed
was a food fight between Wellington
College’s years 11s, 12s and 13s in the
stands and the St Pats cohort on the
field.
The food fight wasn’t huge, a few
muffins and apples appeared to be
the maximum artillery flung between
schools before it came to an end.
Following that though, amidst the
escalating emotions and resentment
in the stands a series of misogynistic
chants were started by Wellington
College students.
2015 - YEAR 13 ONLY.
2015 will be the first year in McEvedy’s
93 year history where there will be a
whole year group of Wellington College
students who have never attended the
McEvedy shield.
However, up until late February Senior
Management refused to even comment
on the possibility that any students
would be there to support the athletes.
The final decision about attendance
was made by the Headmaster on
February the 17th, the same day
Head Prefect, George Barton and the
McEvedy Captains, Harry and Robbie
Delany spoke to staff about McEvedy
and the need to have students there to
cheer on the athletes.
George Barton, who assisted in
negotiating McEvedy attendance with
Senior Management told Coll Hub that
“although we tried getting year 9s to go,
they [Senior Management] didn’t want
them to, because of what happened in
2013”, where boys were able sneak inbetween year 9s and stay at the event
under the guise of being peer support
leaders. 
5
GEORGE BARTON a year for
change
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responsibility, but what I can say is
that I feel humbled.
oll Hub co-editor Seb Klinkum
sat down with head prefect
George Barton to get to know
his more personal side.
SK: Tena koe George, thanks for taking
some time out of your busy day to talk
to Coll Hub.
GB: Kia ora, thank you very much
Seb for your kind welcome. I’m really
happy and excited to be here.
SK Firstly, congratulations on your
successes this year. How does it feel
to be head prefect?
GB: You know, alot of people have
asked me this question and the
answer really is I don’t know, I don’t
know what to feel. At moments, I feel
immense pride in my school and a
moment I can think of in particular
was when I was addressing the entire
school body at the sports centre at
that first assembly. There are also
moments when I feel a tremendous...
not pressure, but a tremendous
obligation to serve this school in the
best of my abilities. So it fluctuates
between
tremendous
honour,
6
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SK: Perhaps even more impressive,
you recently won the RSA Cyril Bassett
VC speech regional competition,
meaning that you’ll travel to Gallipoli
this year as a youth ambassador for
New Zealand. What are you hoping to
get out of this experience?
GB: Well I think it’s an absolute honour
to represent NZ and Wellington
College. I want to take the unique
opportunity to talk to family members
of those fallen heroes and the
opportunity to remember them and
“THERE ARE ALSO
MOMENTS WHEN I FEEL
A TREMENDOUS... NOT
PRESSURE, BUT TREMENDOUS
OBLIGATION TO SERVE THIS
SCHOOL...”
respect what it was that they did.
Can I say why they went to war - no
I can’t, and I can’t emphasize with
that situation either. But I will take
the opportunity that being a youth
ambassador has provided me to go
to Gallipoli had given me to remember,
pay tribute to and learn from the
extraordinary actions of these brave
young men who endeavored in what
historians now might call a really
futile campaign. I’m honoured to go
to Gallipoli. I’m looking forward to the
atmosphere, the experience and the
opportunity.
“...I’M A STRONG BELIEVER
THAT IT’S NOT IF YOU WIN OR
LOSE, BUT ABOUT TRYING.”
SK: What do you want people to
remember your leadership this year
as?
GB:Do I want to be remembered as
an individual - no. But do I want to
be remembered as a year group who
was one out of many who went on to
do great things because of Wellington
College - yeah, I’d really like that.
SK: You recently trialled for Coll’s
McEvedy team. How did that go?
GB: Oh well, ah, that was highly
uneventual, I participated in the
1500m race and came a solid 6th
out of the 6 guys competing. But I’m
a strong believer that it’s not about
if you win or lose but about trying. If
there’s one thing you can learn from
my race it’s don’t eat lunch 5 minutes
before the race because you’ll get a
terrible, terrible stitch down the left
side of your body and then don’t try to
stop and continue running cause the
opposite will happen to the right side
GB:Tossing up between a gap
year to travel and maybe do some
volunteering in Asia, or go to Otago
and study law.
SK: What music do you listen to?
GB:Ah, jeepers. What a s*** question.
I like music but don’t often listen to it.
Because the opportunities for me as a
young child were shaped by listening
to music in the car. So my mum’s
1980s/1990s kinda reggae, pop, indie
music is what I’ve listened to. Do I like
it - no. But that’s what I’ve listened to.
So that’s my answer. Wait - who plays
Uptown Funk?
of your body. So, yes my McEvedy
endeavours didn’t come true this year,
maybe I’ll be able to repeat... actually
no don’t include that.
SK: I hear you kept up with the Delanys
for the first lap, so that’s pretty
impressive. Onto a more serious
topic now, would you say McEvedy is
the biggest issue for you to deal with
this year?
SK: Mark Ronson with Bruno Mars.
GB:(sings Uptown Funk)
“WE NEED TO REPRESENT
OURSELVES TO THE BEST OF
OUR ABILITY.”
GB: Well no I don’t think it’s a challenge
or an issue. I think that McEvedy
is this fantastic competitive event
where we pit our greatest athletes
against schools we otherwise have
good relationships with. I think what
your question highlights is important
- the fact that we need to represent
ourselves to the best of our ability. I’ve
been disappointed, so have a lot of
our students, at how we’ve conducted
ourselves at McEvedy in the past. And
that’s because so often we get caught
up in how school spirit and supporting
our boys looks like one thing over
another, So to that Seb, I’d say no it’s
not a challenge or an issue, it’s this
annual event which I very much hope
our school community will get behind
and the challenge you’ve eluded to
by calling it a challenge is involved in
the fact that there is this idea of sch
ool spirit which is set by students and
then an idea which is set by students
who misconstrue what it is to be a
Coll boy.
“SO I DON’T THINK IT IS
WIDELY KNOWN BUT I DO
ENJOY RUNNING.”
SK: What do you enjoy doing outside
school, apart from study which you
SK: Play any instruments?
GB:Just the esophagus.
clearly enjoy anyway?
GB: What makes you think I enjoy
study?
SK: (laughs)
GB: Okay, so I don’t think it is widely
known but I do enjoy running. I am a
guy who decided that running would
be a way for me to keep fit and that
turned from a once a week “come on
George, get out of bed, go running”
to a I’ll do this every day, every week
cause I get a sense of enjoyment out
of it.
What else do I do out of school? I have
a small, minute interest in politics
“SK: PLAY ANY
INSTRUMENTS?
GB: JUST THE ESOPHAGUS.”
(author’s note: understatement of the
year), which hasn’t manifested into
anything big or major.
At school, I’ve done debating and
public speaking, drama - I’d call the
Brierly my home away from home at
school because I am there quite often.
SK: Any plans for next year?
SK: Favorite type of sushi?
GB: I don’t eat sushi.
SK: That’s a lie.
GB: Noooo no no nooo no. Depends
how I’m feeling. It would be a solid
toss up between tuna no mayo,
teriyaki chicken and avocado with
salmon. It’s a trichotomy.
SK: Is this interview more awkward
than the time you interviewed Colin
Craig on camera whilst presenting
yourself like a Conservative Party
supporter, or is this lower down on
the scale of awkwardness? (See
George’s interview with Colin Craig
here
http://www.beehivemandate.
co.nz/colinandgeorge)
GB: Ah well, that conservative thing
was cool. No [the interview] it wasn’t
as awkward. Can I just say though,
Seb, you’re a written publication so
mostly all of your material will be in
print so I highly doubt people will know
what you’re referring to because you
can’t print a link.
SK: George, thankyou very much for
your time.
GB:Thanks Seb. 
7
The re-levelling of the No 1 field this
new school year has caused quite a
disruption to the usually idyllic stroll
the drive makes on a day in high
summer. The whack of a cricket ball,
the movement of figures in white, or
perhaps black and yellow, has been
replaced with an arabic desolation of
the grounds blowing its plagues into
the faces of Wellington College. A
mixture of this and Wellington weather
has at times caused some watery,
dirty eyes, and hazy views, but most
of all – a smell.
We have recently been informed that
“the block was dug out to 30cm and
packed up to 15cm with base course.
The new clay is now in place and being
levelled out...to remove the low spots
and facilitate a better run-off during
heavy rains, meaning the surface will
be much improved for both winter and
summer sports.” A-ha, it is this clay,
the base course that we must blame
for the horrible “pong”. Students have
been seen covering their faces with
their shirts and hands of late. One
thought it “endurable...but not nice.”
This ubiquitous smell is probably
described best by students who know
their odours: “Marmite” seems to be
the most popular guess, although
more surprising conjecture consists of
“teriyaki chicken” and “soy sauce” This
clay is in fact rather less benign than
the food of WC students. Although,
the Coll Hub isn’t just any old rag and
so we wouldn’t dare to mention the
clay’s true essence.
So, this is a big year for the grounds,
what with Quadrangular among the
usual field sports about to occur. The
worst is now over and the green grass
seems to be rising like a phoenix
from the manur-the ashes. A capital
investment for the future, the Saharan
stench was surely worth it, no?
To adapt a rather old phrase about
Eton, It is on these playing fields that
national sporting victories are won! 
SAERAN MANIPARATHY / 17 / @Saeranm
O
8
WC NO
LONGER
THE TOP
PERFORMER
I LOVE
THE
SMELL OF
MARMITE
IN THE
MORNING
liam booth / 17
T
he mystery of the perforating
pungence that has of late been
giving the perambulating Coll
boy rather a trial.
ver the past few years, Deputy Principal Dave Thorp about
Wellington College has had the drop in numbers this year he said,
an unbeatable, flawless track “the number of Scholarships may be
record with the New Zealand down this year, but we are very proud
of our students and we celebrate the
Scholarship Exams.
supreme achievement of any student
For three consecutive years Wellington gaining a NZ Scholarship”. When
College received the highest amount asked about potential reasons for the
of scholarships for any school in drop Thorp went on to say “any given
the country with 128 in 2011, 151 in Y13 cohort may be stronger or weaker
2012 and 178 in 2013. Further, in than the year before. [In 2014] there
2013 three of New Zealand’s premier were far fewer individual students
scholars – of which there are only 10 picking up single scholarships. We
in the country – came from Wellington are not sure why that occurred but we
College.
This is an outstanding are working to increase engagement
record, however last year this came with NZ Scholarship examinations”.
to a hault. On a positive note – 2014 The question that remains is if this is
Co-Dux – Joshua Woolley took out the end of the winning streak. Are the
an outstanding scholarship, the third years of Wellington College being the
year WC has had a student take out a number one performer over? Thorp
premier scholarship, but the question has high hopes saying “the 2014 Year
remains, what went wrong last year. 12 cohort returned our best ever NCEA
Last year Wellington College received results. Watch this space”. Thorp is
108 scholarships, which puts us fourth quite obviously quietly confident that
nationally, and that is by no means a WC will spring back to form in 2015
poor performance. Though it is less – a confidence, or a hope, which I
than previous years, it’s still a rather am sure is reflected by many of the
good performance. However there teachers and staff – however only
has been a sense of disappointment time will tell if this will be the case. 
surrounding this from teachers and
senior management. When I asked
All Stage Challenges of the past have
a clear theme, a narrative that flows
throughout the production and this
year is without a doubt the same. The
t was Aesop who said “Don’t let
your special character and values,
the secret that you know and no
one else does, the truth - don’t let
that get swallowed up by the great
chewing complacency.” For the past
17 years Runathon has been evolving
into one of those events that defines
our character and truly establishes our
collective identity as a college.
culture of 2014 was swallowed up by
that same “chewing complacency”?
Much of the blame can be attributed
to a change in staffing and the lack of
drive when it came to returning booklets. A fundamental overabundance
of dependence on self-motivated student returns meant that the majority
of booklets sent out never came back
in.
jack roberts / 17
A WINDOW
ON THE
ARTS STAGE
CHALLENGE
2015
I
Over the past decade Runathon has
raised over $500,000 in funds for
impoverished communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, however
many of us have forgotten the event’s
humble origins. The first Runathon
of 1998 raised $11,000, a noble effort
considering there was no established
format for sponsorship and fundraising. However 17 years later can we
pretend to be doing much more?
Stage Challenge is one of the clear
highlights for a year that is shaping
up for being fantastic for the arts in
2015. It truly is a mammoth task for all
involved in all aspects of the production
with a aim to truly be student lead, run
and most importantly to have a clear
student vision of the production. The
production itself will be roughly five
to eight minutes long and will have a
cast of roughly 100 WC boys on stage
and 20 backstage performing their
hearts away.
So what’s going to change in 2015
- well according to the revered leader himself (i.e George Barton) “we’re
set to eclipse last year’s record” that
success coming down to executive
eptitude and the distinct culture of
success being cultivated at Wellington
College in 2015. With the aide of Team
worker Tom, Hundies Hamish, Casual
Callum and the rest of the non-alliterated Super Six Wellington College’s
Runathon 2K15 is set to be a doozy,
In 2014 the school raised $52,000 dol- so get amongst and bring the WC. 
lars for the children of Ibwera, Tanzania, yet only $3000 of that came from
student donations, that’s less than $2
per student. Why was it that, in spite of
the dedication and leadership contributed at the top of the ladder the school
concept itself is roughly based on
William Golding’s 1954 novel Lord
of The Flies about a group of school
boys who are stuck on a uninhabited
island and try to govern themselves
to disastrous results. Speaking to Coll
Hub one of the co-directors of this
year’s production Harry Russon says
of the theme “that whilst it is quite well
known, the aim is to put a modern spin
on it and we have some truly fantastic
ideas ready to be realised on stage”
However, before the performance
date of the 25th of May for the cast,
the crew and the directing team of
Harry Russon, Oscar Connor, Johnny
Gilbert and Hamish Ware there is truly
a massive task ahead of them. Culling
down the 200 guys that auditioned to
the cast of 100 was a hard enough
task Harry says, now whipping them
into shape to create a slick, worthy
production for the 25th of May is
going to be even harder but certainly
a worthy challenge. 
RUNATHOn:
2k15 does
it better
mahdhi osman-penrice / 17
T
he auditions have finished,
the cast lists are being put up
and the choreography is only
just beginning. For those that
don’t know this only means one thingStage Challenge is back for 2015. The
completely student lead production
from conception through to reality is
here in 2015 after a rest for the major
production of Riverside Drive in 2014.
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IT’S
HOME
m
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Sa
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HY
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of the poor behaviour of the past,
AN
M
a
day free of homophobic, racist
N
A
and
sexist chants. It was a day
R
where Year 13 went out to support
SAE
T
he lead up to this year’s
McEvedy shield was one
full of uncertainty. After
2014 was a complete
disaster, Senior Management
originally said that no one would
be going this year, however as a
result of some hard work from
Head Prefect George Barton
and
McEvedy
Co-Captains
Harry & Robbie Delany, Senior
Management announced that
they would allow Year 13 to go to
this historic event.
This decision was made in a
withheld manner, as there were
deep concerns that the behaviour
from last year would just continue,
however the decision was made
that Year 13 would go, and it
would be a decision the school
would soon be very happy with.
When the time came, Wellington
College lived up to its name.
10
GEORGE BARTON CONTRIBUTING TO THE WC SPIRIT AT MCEVEDY
With the exception of a Year 12
group who decided they would
take the gut-buster and come
down to Newtown Park, it was a
day with near flawless behaviour.
A couple of days after the event
Mr Moses spoke to Year 13s,
saying “I was very proud of you
at McEvedy”. It was a day full
of chanting and supporting our
team, but importantly, a day free
our athletes, support which was
ultimately a part of bringing the
shield home.
If you are not Year 13, and thus
were unable to come to McEvedy,
we have some video highlights
of the day on our Facebook
(facebook.com/CollHub).
Head Prefect, George Barton, said
“I’m so humbled to have been able
to witness all our boys in action
on the track. But even more than
that, to see my Year 13 brothers
supporting the boys the entire
way. This year’s McEvedy - that’s
what the hoorah is”. This year’s
McEvedy shows that McEvedy
can be done properly. It can
be done with a sense of good
sportsmanship.
It’s an event
where we go down to Newtown
Park to back our athletes. It’s no
longer an event with that justifies
nonsense behaviour. It can be
done in a good way, in a proper
way, and a way that has been
proven to meet the ultimate goal.
When done properly, WC brings
the shield home. 
AT LAST, WELLINGTON COLLEGE BRINGS THE
SHIELD HOME
STUDENTS ANXIOUSLY AWAIT RUNNING ONTO THE FIELD AND TOUCHING THE SHIELD FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 3 YEARS
11
O
I was speaking with a Year 13 student
who made several points worth noting,
“a lot of Year 9’s are going to be using
their bus money [Snapper] to buy food,
I’m not sure how parents would feel
about that”, he went on to say now
that he’s Year 13 and he can leave
school grounds, “the lack of a senior
queue just means a really long queue,
which I don’t have time for, so I’m very
unlikely to come here at all”. I spoke to
For all my years at WC the Canteen a Year 12 student who said “I’m pretty
has featured a seniors queue, the annoyed about this, I’ve been waiting
reason being that “seniors need to 3 years to use the seniors queue, and
study and don’t have time to waste”. now it’s gone”.
That’s questionable logic on the
school’s part, however it is something So whilst the Canteen maybe loosing
which all seniors undoubtedly enjoyed. business from Year 13 students and
This year however, the seniors queue disgruntling Year 12’s, the addition of
has gone, and has been replaced by Snapper ultimately allows students to
an Eftpos & Snapper queue.
use their bus money to buy food, which
will undoubtedly lead to increased
The Canteen for all these years sales. Ethically questionable, but from
did not have Eftpos or Snapper, a business point of view, a good move.
requiring students to go and queue 
in the stationary shop to withdraw
cash. Now the Canteen has Eftpos &
Snapper which is a huge convenience
to students.
TOM Buick-Constable / 14
G
12
YEAR 9
story
uys, I’m a Year 9. Right now
school is pretty average. For
a start it’s new. In my old
school we never had “periods”
or a “form class” so that’s one change.
Another change is being at the bottom
of the school. I recall when I missed a
bus and had to walk home and when
a Year 13 called me a “squirt”. That’s
a massive change from an era where
I was the name caller, but these are
changes I can adjust to.
THE
CANTEEN
SAERAN MANIPARATHY / 17 / @Saeranm
ver the holidays a few big
changes have taken place
at the Canteen. The price
of Chips quietly went up 10
cents, and whilst not too many people
were complaining about that, there
is one thing that has many students
– mainly seniors – up in arms. Over
the holidays the seniors queue at the
Canteen has disappeared.
and I’m not seeming to like it. It is a
change from my old school KNS
where we had one piece of homework
per week. Likewise is this BYOD
rule. It has become very unsociable
especially among the Year 9’s. Yes
yes go whine at me about cross road
and other phone games but it is bad.
Not good banter.
Well to wrap it up in a box Coll is good.
It has its ups and downs but it’s really
satisfactory. I would certainly rate
What else can I say about Coll? It’s it above other colleges *ahem* the
been interesting! I can’t recall having perfectly good school down the road
a dull moment – at all – in these past *ahem*. 
weeks. I’m pretty sure the work is
challenging enough to keep anyone
sustained for ages. Another point is
random school “episodes” happen all
the time. Maybe someone is having an
argument, or a friend just got dumped.
It is always interesting.
There would honestly only be a few,
lets call them “misadventures” Coll
has. One that I can name off the top
of my head is homework. I have never
believed in the purpose of homework