Maritzburg College School Magazine Maritzburg College Magazine 2016 electronic | Page 61

C U LT U R A L A N D S O C I A L A C T I V I T I E S
Jazz Band
Back row: A Westley, T Sampson, D Bruyns
Front row: M Thomas, S Bridglall, S Goddard, Mr S Stickells, H Wong, W Moffett, S Tshabalala
The introduction of the school’s Jazz band this year has been a new
and exciting venture. It started with a group of Sixth Formers playing
together but has developed into something far larger and is now a young
enthusiastic group that can develop into something for the future of College.
The original members of the Jazz band were mostly part of the band for
the school production All Shook Up. The group now, with the Sixth Formers
leaving, is well-balanced across the grades of the school and has very
exciting prospects. The band performed at all three of the prize-giving’s
this year and some of the players took part in the Carol Service along with
members of the GHS Wind Band.
Mr S Stickells
ACADEMIC OLYMPIADS, DISPLAYS, EXPOSITIONS AND OTHER COMPETITIONS
National Science Olympiad
The Science department enters the top 70 Science boys in this annual event.
Generally half are from Fifth Form and half from Sixth Form. It is an exacting
exam and the results are not spectacular. This year six Sixth Formers, who
were placed in the top 50 in South Africa, were invited to participate in the
National Science Week in Gauteng. They were: M Charfaray, R Hodgson,
B Anderson, K Allopi, T Govindasamy and A Sutherland.
Mrs E Couperthwaite
The Enviro Quiz
R Bennett, D Dyer, J Cooke and H Heeralal participated in the annual
Wessa Enviro Quiz at Wykeham Collegiate this year. Sadly the event
clashed with our musical production so we had only enough boys for one
team. However, these boys did themselves proud and were placed third out
of 12 teams which was no mean feat as the competition was very strong.
Mrs E Couperthwaite
Mintek Science Quiz
This is the quiz for the ‘whiz kids’. Mintek sponsors this quiz annually
and it is only for the top three Mathematics and Science Sixth Formers.
The candidates first write a multiple choice paper of 45 questions in 40
minutes. It leaves no time for thinking, just gut feel. M Charfaray, M Essa
and H Rajeev made it to the second round, which is the oral round, and
they were awarded third place overall.
Mrs E Couperthwaite
SAICE Bridge Building and Aqualibrium competition
Both these competitions are sponsored by the South African Institute for
Civil Engineers. R Bennett, T Hughes and O Majoro participated in the
Aqualibrium competition and were placed sixth out of 14 teams.
In the bridge building competition, R Bennett’s bridge broke at about 30kg
while K Hough’s bridge suffered from the wet glue syndrome and broke
early on. The idea is now to build a bridge that will break the records.
Mrs E Couperthwaite
JSE Investment Challenge
The JSE Investment Challenge is a game where students from Grade 8 to
12 can learn about the stock exchange, the economy and have a ‘real
world’ experience of share trading. The aim of the challenge is to educate,
encourage and allow the youth of South Africa to understand the JSE and
its role in wealth generation.
Each team of four members is given R1 million in virtual money to invest on
the stock exchange and they compete with more than 800 teams all over
South Africa to produce the highest growth.
Maritzburg College teams have been consistent over a number of years,
regularly finishing in the top five. This year was no exception as two of our
teams did exceptionally well.
Super Traders 4.0 (M Asmall (Captain), S Naicker, S Aheer, M Padaychi)
and Alliance Traders (Z Moosa (Captain), M Jooma, M Kassim and M
Essa) finished in the top three. Alliance Traders won the Speculator Portfolio
and Super Traders 4.0 was placed second in the Equity Portfolio.
In addition, both teams twice won the monthly prize during the period
of the competition. Both teams were invited to attended the JSE awards
ceremony in Johannesburg where they rubbed shoulders with some very
prominent people, such as Aarti Takoordeen (CFO of the JSE) and Nicky
Newton-King (CEO of the JSE).
Mr N Pillay
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