Days of Ice: Antarctica through fresh eyes

Days of Ice:

ANTARCTICA THROUGH FRESH EYES

Tauira from Te Kōmanawa Rowley School in Ōtautahi Christchurch were among the five winning teams and individuals in the Days of Ice: Antarctica through Fresh Eyes 3-minute video competition. The competition was to encourage the conservation of Antarctica by exploring the continent through unique perspectives. The five tauira – La-Sharney Sefo, Easter Maka Samasoni, Mjade Tusa Faalili, Caziah Gali and Dasiy Fili – have whānau who originate from the Pacific Islands. In their video, they raised awareness of the taonga that is Antarctica and highlighted the impacts of climate change on their Pacific Island heritage, including their culture. Their video was one of only two selected by the International Antarctic Centre to screen in their high-definition theatre. For the competition, the school was selected to receive mentoring from staff at Christchurch City Libraries and the five students were able to use library filming and editing tools to produce their video. To tautoko wider school learning about Antarctica, the entire school was supported by the Society to travel to the International Antarctic Centre for an educational visit. The video competition was part of the wider Days of Ice programme that included expert talks and a virtual reality experience of Antarctica. Senior students from the school gave feedback at the launch of the virtual reality experience. The Society partnered with Te Pūtea Rangahau a Marsden the Marsden Fund, Antarctic Science Platform, GNS Science, Christchurch City Libraries, Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka, HITLabNZ at the University of Canterbury and the International Antarctic Centre to co-host four events during Days of Ice. “Every-time I see the ākonga of Te Kōmanawa Rowley School either in real life or in these digital communications I feel very grateful for the mahi from everyone at Te Apārangi to make this a reality for those rangatahi. I am very fortunate to see the same crew on a regular basis (on the back of this project they are now coming into Te Hāpua Library for a continuation of ‘film school’) as they continue to build upon the skills that they learned throughout the competition. This has been such a positive experience for them and I am confident this will have made a very positive impact.”

DANNY MCNEIL, TE RŌPŪ POUTAMA, PROGRAMMES, EVENTS & LEARNING TEAM, CHRISTCHURCH CITY LIBRARIES

SEE WINNING DAYS OF ICE VIDEOS AND HIGHLIGHTS

bit.ly/2020HL-51