Planning & Preparation for the Akomanga Kaihanga Showcase: Team Renegade

On the first week back to school from Monday to Thursday 9KMe spent their periods preparing for a project showcase on Thursday at 5PM.

Planning our poster was a challenging task. Many things contributed to how challenging it was. First we set three people to work on the layout of the poster which was Naomi, Temu and Me. Then we had Champion and Riiana working on the information. We definitely were clueless at some points, however, Naomi came up with a really interesting design that displays our project theme really well. We all pitched in and contributed our thoughts, afterwards  we came up with a unique layout that we were very proud of.

One of our Planning Days: Very Hectic

It took a lot of reflecting and discussion between the team and help from the teachers to complete the information part of our poster. While this was underway, drastic changes were already being made to our poster. Dr. Jannie who is experienced in creating professional posters gave us a huge amount of constructive feedback, resulting in these heavy changes to our poster. In terms of altering our poster, we focused more on the appearance and a fair amount of time on the information.

Final Project Poster

Our original roles for each part of the poster quickly faded away. This was not caused by a lack of teamwork, but was due to the quick changes and the close deadline that occurred. Although this happened, it didn’t hinder our progress throughout the creation of the poster. Our communication was effective and we were all decisive. 

I think our team was successful in contributing to the poster. We all had great ideas and it was certainly applied to the poster. What was challenging was the on-going changes being made, and to add on, the deadline for the posters to be in was excruciating my mental state. I believe that extending and working on these successes and challenges will lead to an even more advanced poster.

Before we sent the poster, I was very proud with the participation in making it. We were all satisfied with the final look, it had a professional style compared to the other group which really draws peoples’ attention. If the group felt OK with the poster, then that’s all that made me feel at ease and happy about.

We were also given a task to create a video or presentation to go along with the poster. Champion and Riiana worked on the presentation. They made sure to illustrate our journey and achievements throughout this group project. Temu created the design which was astounding to say the least. We were all happy with the final presentation and I thought we all made an awesome effort.

Te Whare Tapa Wha - Health Class with Whaea Kata

Lately in Health class we have been focusing on the Te Whare Tapa Wha or in English, The four dimensions of well being. Our class participated in a few activities so that we get familiar with the four dimensions of well being. These dimensions are, Physical (Taha Tinana), Social (Taha Whanau), Spiritual (Taha Wairua) and Mental/Emotional (Taha Hinengaro). To further our understanding, we created our own whare and decorated it to our desire. The whare could be any shape, size, colour it just had to have the four dimensions displayed on each side. Let me explain the different dimensions of our well being:

To start off, let's discuss our Taha Tinana meaning Physical Well being. Taha Tinana gives us the ability to move. Whatever sort of movement you carry out can influence this foundation of your well-being. Making sure you're aware of your body and keeping fit creates a positive result in this dimension which means it's doing well and strong. However, if you're eating unhealthy and not doing any sort of exercise that makes a positive impact on your body, that means you should check in with your Physical Well being just to cover any concerns.

The next dimension I will be covering is our Spiritual Well Being or the Māori term Taha Wairua. Our Spiritual Well Being are the things that we value or believe in. These values and beliefs that we hold define the state of our Taha Wairua. I value my education and I believe that I should be aware of my learning at all times. Lately, I haven’t been paying attention to my work and I’m always getting off track. I definitely need to improve this state and make sure I’m focused on my learning, therefore I can feel a sense of achievement later on.


Our Social Well Being also known in Māori - Taha Whanau, is the communication we have with the people you are surrounded by and how that communication impacts our Social Well Being. I feel that my Social Well Being has been in a very fine condition. I enjoy meeting new people in college and I have already built friendships with a few people! Since these are new people, I have been endeavouring in listening and talking more with them.

Lastly, let’s take a look at our Taha Hinengaro meaning our Mental/Emotional Well Being. Many, many things can affect your Mental/Emotional state in both a positive and negative way. This can be your Thoughts/Feelings. For some reason, as much as I love collaboration, I tend to work well independently with mildly strict boundaries and secure away from the people around me, which means my Mental/Emotional Well Being is in a positive condition. I sometimes feel frustrated and annoyed when I’m working at a group table because I then easily get distracted and lose focus on my work, which then creates a negative impact on my Mental/Emotional well being.

All four of these walls (dimensions) that I have explained create a whare. This is not just an ordinary whare, but it's one that covers all aspects of health from our physical appearance to the way we think and feel about things. Keeping these dimensions stable as in making sure your Physical, Mental/Emotional, Social and Spiritual Well Being is maintaining a healthy state means that the walls keeping our whare standing is strong and you are doing absolutely well.

If one of these dimensions starts becoming weak or is not doing well at all. This means that one of our walls that help support our whare in standing strong is crumbling and that is not a good sign. If this ever happens always be sure to take it into consideration and discuss this matter with someone that you feel you're able to trust. Not all walls of the whare will do well all the time as we are going through different phases in our life that will affect us in various ways. All dimensions will some time go through a healing process and it's not something to rush. Make sure you are comfortable and always checking in with your Well Being.