St Kentigern College, Auckland

2006 National Winner
2007 Regional Winner - Auckland

The winning St Kentigern College Team.

From left: Han Chen, Neeharika Chowdhary, Lisa Li, Jonathon Spence and Tom Devereux

Neeharika Chowdhary, 17, Governor of 2006’s winning team from Auckland said she would do it all again given half the chance. “If you’re considering taking part, just do it! Once you get involved there’s no looking back. It’s lots of fun and you don’t have to win to learn.”

Neeharika was an obvious candidate for the role of Governor of the St Kentigern College team. She had come top of her economics class, was a seasoned debater and enjoyed entering public speaking competitions. Neeharika had also played a major role in the Young Enterprise competition the previous year.

She says being Governor was a challenging role but one she loved. Everyone in her team had been given a different role by teacher David Smith and it was her job to read each team member’s report. She then consolidated all the material into the Governor’s report, wrote the speech and made the presentation.

But it was not all hard work – taking part in the challenge was a great way to strengthen friendships too. “We would have late night discussions by phone and we ended up talking about things we would never have talked about otherwise.”