Trinity Brings Home the Shield!

Last Friday, 21 students and 6 staff headed off to Invercargill to attend the annual Bishop’s Shield competition hosted this year by Verdon College. For the first time the event opened with a pōwhiri and was followed by a delicious hāngī which was a very special way to start a weekend full of camaraderie and connections, as well as competition.

The Bishop’s Shield brings together the four Catholic high schools in the Dunedin Diocese (Verdon College, St Peter’s College, St Kevin’s College, and Trinity Catholic College) and students from the schools compete against one another in prepared speech, impromptu speech, junior and senior debating, junior and senior drama, and junior and senior scripture. And, for the first time, 2024 also included te reo speeches.

Congratulations to all the Trinity students who participated in the 80th Bishop’s Shield and represented our school with great pride and integrity. Everybody’s performances contributed to our overall success in winning the shield and a special “well done” to the following for their placings/awards:

• Jeremy Meikle - 2nd in Prepared Speech

• Rishi Shantapriyan - 2nd in Impromptu Speech

• Liam Clifford - 2nd in Senior Scripture Psalm/Sight Reading & 2nd in Senior Scripture Study Questions

• Joseph Kelly, Akein Wickramagedara & Ché McGivern - 1st in Senior Debate

• Sophie Jonathan, Laura McCartney, Riley Culling, Ellen Forbes & Heath Kettish - 1st in Junior Drama

• Camila Barns - Junior Te Reo Speech Trophy

• Joseph Kelly - Karen Austin Cup (Best Leader Senior Debates)

• Riley Culling - Terry Angus Cup (Most Promising Junior Dramatic Performance)

The general theme for this year’s Bishop’s Shield was “Human Exploitation - A Call to Action” and across all the different events the students showed great insight, compassion, and thought.

In addition to the competitive aspect of the weekend, the Bishop’s Shield is also a special and important event each year because of the friendships that are created and the interactions that occur among the students from the different schools, and the break and meal times are always filled with lots of chatter and laughter. 

Thanks to the staff who accompanied the students to Invercargill and those who spent hours before the competition coaching them in the different disciplines.