Polyfest 2021 - Wananga

 ~Polyfest~

Talofa Lava, this year I signed up for Polyfest. Polyfest is New Zealand's schools largest cultural event, with almost 10,00 performers every year.This year I was very proud to be a part of Hornby High School's Pasifika Polyfest group. For this year's polyfest Hornby high showcased a variety of cultures including Samoa, Fiji, Maori, Cook Island and Tongan. Hornby High is very lucky to have great cultural students and year 13 leaders who take pride in their culture and coming out of their comfort zone to perform in front of a massive crowd at polyfest. All our hard work and dedication paid off in the end, our non stop practices; interval, lunch and after school, our fundraisings such as carwash and Bake sale. Our practices were one of a kind sometimes we were laughing and sometimes there were tears but in the end our polyfest group pulled through as a strong team representing Hornby High School. As this was my first time joining Polyfest I got to connect and know more Pasifika students and we got to share our cultures. What I really enjoyed about polyfest was that it was a good space for us to pursue and bring forward ourselves, usually for us Pasifika students when we get told of a performance in front of big crowds we tend to freak out and not join but I am really proud of myself and my fellow (Brothers & Sisters) for taking one for the team. We were also very lucky to have a sleepover the night before Polyfest Day, it was very fun except for when we got forced to go to sleep. Polyfest morning was very exciting I was feeling very nervous and I'm sure the whole group was feeling nervous, it was a cold morning and we had to wake up at 4 in the cold to get ready. I felt a sense of proudness when our school pulled up to Polyfest and seeing other schools coming together as one Pasifika family and seeing other schools cheer us on brought tears of joy and made us proud that even though we weren't as big as other school groups but we sure did shine in our own unique way. It is very sad that some of our year 13s will be leaving our group this year but we are very excited to see what next year has to bring and excited to see more Hornby High students join in and express our cultures together.