Two Mount Aspiring College (MAC) students placed well at the 2022 Māori speech competition Ngā Manu Kōrero in Invercargill last week after delivering strong and passionate speeches.

Ngā Manu Kōrero is regarded as the most significant event on the Māori education calendar for nurturing the oratory skills and developing the confidence of Māori students in speaking English and te reo Māori.

Year 12 student Melia Brett competed in the Korimako (Senior English) section which includes both impromptu and prepared speeches. She placed third for her prepared speech and second overall in Korimako, MAC te reo Māori teacher Kaz Roberts said.

Melia’s speech, ‘You don’t just wake up one day and have resilience’, talked about her great grandfather growing up surrounded by te reo but being beaten at school for speaking it; and how her parents went to MAC when there was no support for learning te reo.

She talked about the progress over the past 25 years and how “slowly but surely” te ao Māori (the Māori way or world view) is being integrated back into society: “A long and difficult journey that would not have been possible without resilience”.

Year 10 student Ryan Enoka competed at the competition for the second time, and MAC principal Nicola Jabobsen said he has “gone from strength to strength”, as attested to by his first place in the Junior Boys' English category. 

Ryan competed in the Sir Turi Carroll section with his speech, ‘My journey to reclaim my reo starts with me’.

He talked about the challenges of learning te reo in “the heavily pakeha Wānaka region”, a long way away from his iwi and other cultural opportunities, where the nearest marae is more than three hours away.

While MAC has been very supportive, Ryan said there are still areas that need work, noting that Māori can only be taken as a half year subject in year 10, unlike Spanish.

“[Te reo] needs to be held much higher in the eyes of kura and prioritised within the education system,” he said.

Ryan’s mother Mandy told the Wānaka App that Ryan started learning te reo through kapa haka at Wānaka Primary School, and continued at MAC.

“It’s his absolute desire and passion to learn as much as possible about his culture,” she said.

“Both students put in a great deal of personal time to prepare for the competition, and as a college, we are very proud of how they represented themselves, their culture, whānau and their school,” Nicola said.

The speeches are available on the event’s livestream here. Melia’s speech begins at 1.11.30, and Ryan’s at 1.22.30.

PHOTO: Supplied