The Gaudium

7/28/2019 The Gaudium

1/81

Volume 13 / First edition March 2013

The origin of our gift

Have you ever wondered where themes came

from? Are they also a hundred-and-eight years

old? Well, here is the real story

In 2005 Girls High had the hype of a century! (No,

seriously! Girls High celebrated her hundredth

birthday!) It was a year of excitement indeed,

well so Ive heard. Mrs Meyer came up with the

idea that the school would have a theme every

year! In 2007 we had our first theme, called The

Leading Edge. Since then, the themes were:

Proud to be a lady, Diamonds in the rough, A

goal is a win, Step up, Now is the me

And this year, we are all GIFTED FOR GREAT-

NESS.

Lou Holtz a world-renowned football coach said,

Your gi determines what you can do. Your mo-

vaon determines how much you are willing to

do. Your a tude determines how well you will

do it.

This is definitely a theme I can work with this

year, because it absolutely relates to everyone!

We are all gied for greatness you cant run

away from that gi!

Greatness doesnt imply that you are

going to be a billionaire and feed all of

Africa. The Greatness Im referring to is

not the one that can be measured by the

expectaons and condions of the world,

it is measured by you even if you decide

to be the best of the best mother to your

2,2 kids!

We should never try to imitate someone

else. Somemes we fight who we are,

struggling against ourselves and our na-

ture. We all have to learn to accept who

we are and appreciate who we become.

It is certainly no coincidence that this

theme was chosen for the year 2013, because

every once in a while we all want to hear how

special we really are. Remember the words:

With great power comes great responsibility!

Even though talents and gis are an accident

of genes, they are certainly a responsibility.

They are oen like natural resources, they are

buried deep within and we have to go looking

for them, because theyre not just lying around

on the surface. You, me, we all are responsible

to create the circumstances where they show

themselves to us.

Our talents

are the gi

that God

gives to us

What we

make of our

talent is our

gi back to

God. Leo

Buscaglia.

A new

addition

p3

Rise of

the planet

sweeties

p.4

Sassy

Sailors

on boardp.8

- Fallon Fourie -


2/82

C

A

RT

O

ON

A tribute to the editor...Sixteen years of pure excellence, ex-cellent determinaon, sixteen yearsof a gi really worth sharing.

When it was announced last yearthat our very own Mrs Oberhol-zer was rering aer a full sixteen

years of living out a passion, we allcouldnt help but gasp.

She told me all about, how it hasbeen a life-changing experience forher.

As we all know the Gaudium is likeour own cup of fresh coffee we

drink the informaon to keep us informed, the caffeine in that in-formaon is absorbed and keeps us enlightened and energec atleast unl the next cup of Gaudium comes out. But all that coffeemaking could never have been done without Mrs Oberholzer, infact the bean was actually grown by herself. Mrs Oberholzer began

the Gaudium more than ten years ago. She started it as a smallcoffee bean and soon got the coffee business up and running. Inother words, she had an idea and turned it into one of the great-est things that has ever hit GHS. Her experience with starng thenewspaper was scary because of the fact that she had just comefrom an Afrikaans school and was asking to start a newspaper at anEnglish medium school .

However, she proved once more that she was not going to let herfear get the beer of her compassionate, passionate side. TheGaudium was a dream that she was able to fulfil. Her message toher editorial team is, Keep thinking out of the box, keep up thegood work and the Gaudium will always represent your gi forgreatness.

Mrs Oberholzers passion was clearly shown when she becameHead off Interact. Lets all admit this right now- of all the commit-

EDITORIAL

STAFF

tees in the school, Interact is by far the best and the biggest. It isamazing to see how much care and love Mrs Oberholzer was ableto pour out on others and help others. Seeing the old peopleand children smile when Interact helps again are so rewarding.She says she couldnt have done it without commiees andeverybody who joined Interact. To the Interact: Never stop be-ing there for those in need.

As I watched Mrs Oberholzer hand over her Interact Guardian An-gel to Mrs Steyn, who will take over Interact, it gave me a sense ofpride and honour to have met such a remarkable woman. Whenbeing asked to describe what Girls High meant to her, she said,Girls High is like home, and there is no place like home, there isno place like GHS. To her sucessors: Take over and make theGaudium and Interact your own.

Thank you Mrs Meyer and my colleagues for the opportunityyou have given me to grow and to be part of the Girls High family.To the girls, thank you all for the smiles, greets and respect.

Goodbye, Mrs Oberholzer. May God be with you ll we meet again.

- Chanel Reef -

Editor: Mrs M Oberholzer& Mrs SA Schue

Sub editor: Fallon Fourie

Reporters:

Thelma Mosehle, Zafeerah HassimYaseerah Hassim,Chanel ReefCartoonist: Joo Eun Kim


3/83

Miss J jets off into

married lifeHow did you feel on

your wedding day?

All smiles. I was so ex-cited!

Would you compare

your wedding day to afairytale?

No, it was more magical

than a fairytale.

What will you always remember about your wed-

ding day?

I will never forget Reefs face when I walked downthe aisle.

a new addition

Comparing the customs of thePotch Elite

CompetitionIdenfy the dog in the picture!

Write your name, class andanswer down on a piece ofpaper and place your entry inthe Gaudium box in Mrs SASchues classroom.

Win a perfume gi set to thevalue of R350.

One plus one is twoMr Jagals has le us itstrue.

The root of his suddendeviaon is the bless-ing of an unforeseen job

elevaon to the NorthWest (PUK) University.

However, there havebeen no depreciaons,we have found a teacherwho is wonderful in alldimensions. Her name isMiss Therine Erasmus with her presence she hasgraced us and we cant wait to see her prosper.

She is friendly, outgoing and has a dark sense ofhumour. Empathy and sensivity towards youngpeople and animals, are some of her qualies.

Miss Erasmus says: Maths makes sense, and it iseasier than life. Her goals are to be content andhappy, whatever the circumstances might be. Shethen adds, Then, of course, I want to fill my lifewith dogs and pianos.

They say one should choose wisely, I guess thatswhy she was chosen. She is truly a woman of manytalents. She regards Girls High as being an ama-zing school and says she feels honoured to behere. The girls are blessed to be able to aendsuch a school.

Like a calculated sum,In life, treasures leave and treasures come.Miss Erasmus will always be embracedAnd Mr Jagals will never be erased.

We trust that both these educators lives will illus-trate ascending exponenal graphs:

Posive, escalang and that their xs will foreverbe the elements of real enes.

- Thelma Mosehle -

At Girls High we know all about the privileges and tradions that involvethe matrics but what do the other schools have? Are they more realisc?Harsher or more extravagant? Here all the facts so decide for yourself

Let us start with the how matrics treat grade 8s. At Gimmies each matricchooses a grade 8, and theyre called slange. They basically do everythingtheir master tells them to do, like go to the tuck shop. In hostel they haveto sweep their masters rooms. At Volkies it is more or less the same thing their called slange too! At BHS the grade 8s go to New Boys Camp in thefirst weekend and at the camp they all taught all about Boys High.At Ferdies the grade 8s go on camp too.

Now for the matric farewell Volkskool have their farewell in Septemberand it is usually held in the Town Hall. It is organised by the teachers and thegrade 11s do the waitressing. At Gimmies the matric farewell is hosted atthe Feather Hill Spa every year on the last day of the third term. The grade11 parents organise it and the Gimmieraad (I think its like the LEC). At thedance itself they have a short prizegiving ceremony where special funny

personality prizes are awarded. At Boys High there is a commiee that or-ganises everything like the venue and catering. Each matric then pays acertain amount to cover the costs.

Now for some privileges at the various schools. At Volkies, members of thestudent council wear a black e and black pants for the boys and the girlswear black skirts. At Gimmies matrics get to sit in the gallery during as-semblies and there are also special benches and tables for them in the quadduring breaks. The matrics are responsible for the spirit of the school. AtBoys High matrics have their own patch of grass and a passage that no oneelse uses, they have a matric e and jersey, and in hostel, they may wear civ-vies and are allowed electrical appliances in their dorms. At Ferdies, matricshave their own bathrooms, matric shirts and jackets.

Here are some interesng tradions: when the Volkies matrics have theirlast assembly, they sit in front where the grade 8 sit and then at the endof it they walk through two torches (the Vakkels) which symbolises themleaving the school. At Boys High, during their last assembly they are awar-ded and Old Boys badge!

There you have it! Its interesng to see how different and alike the schoolsare. Tradions does not mean a dead town, it does not mean that the li-ving are dead but that the dead are alive. It means that it sll maers whatPenn did two hundred years ago and what Franklin did a hundred year ago; Inever could feel in a city that it maered what anybody did and hour ago.

- Fallon Fourie -

- Yaseerah & Zafeerah Hassim -


4/84

Rise of the Planet SweetiesGood Morning, Senior... Matric! Lets be honest we have all been on that road before, where mistaking amatric for a senior was a common thing. As it happens, this years grade 8s are experiencingsome of the same treatment that each one of use received back in the day.

I took the me to interview four of the grade 8 girls to find out more about the experiencethat was handed to them. When asking them what the experience had been like, two of them

said with friends and parents movaon they were fine. However, Teggan Els said, I comefrom Laerskool Mooirivier, so it has been a difficult experience adapng to the classes being inEnglish but Ive been having so much fun that I havent had me to complain. Kelsi Chomseexplains, I have a sister in this school. Without her, I dont think I would have made it. Shesnot the only one to feel that way. Somehow, though, without friends, nobody seems to make itat Girls High.

The most obvious queson that always comes up is, Why are you here? We had answers like,English is beer if you are expected to be accepted at Varsity and Again, my sister. Somesaid, My mom went to boarding school. But the answer that intrigued me was from TanyaGowera:The way I see it, I thought it was a nice school, so I think propaganda played its part there butits only aer the first three weeks that I realized that it is a nice school, they just had to mouldus first before we realized how awesome it is here, because now I am much more matureand I feel more independent than I ever have before. I know what all of you are thinking,WOW!

A lot of the me though, we all felt as if Girls High was one of those schools that played a partin society. The biggest reason why girls have a change of heart is summarised by KelebogileKhosa, who says: I feel more movated, more independent and stronger than ever, espe-cially living in hostel. I feel as if I have figured out who I am not to menon gained weight.She laughs. Dont we all feel like that? The girls describe the fact that the LEC have guidedthem all the way. The school house LEC, Jaimee-Lee Hunter, Amogelang Mamabolo, NalediNkopane, Thelma Mosehle and leading them, our dearest deputy Fallon Fourie. With mrsCoetzees endless guidance, what could possibly go wrong?

Each of us have had a wonderful moment that we could never let go of and for the Grade 8s,it was taking off the name tags for the first me and waving to their Matrics. The tags alwaysseem to make an endless appearance every year, even for last years head girl, Andrea Searle,

who wore hers on her last day at Girls High, proving to us that it was a memory worth keep-ing.

As the year goes by we shall see what the grade 8s of 2013 (Matrics of 2017) have to offer andhow their theme of sweets will lead them into the joyous march of never ending candy.

- Chanel Reef -

Its OK to feel unhappy. Its also OK to seek happiness. What most people dont understand is that if you are going to seek happi-ness, it will not be found in any physical object or place. Happiness does not lie in the hands of anything with monetary value

You will oen find that most people blame their circumstances as being the cause of their melancholy. Circumstances are oen be-yond our control and it is rarely ever the situaon you would choose for yourself. What is indeed a choice is, whether you will riseabove it and how you are going to make use of these situaons.

When most of our hardships and sufferings arise, you are le with choices. Will you let them define you? Will you let them destroyyou? Or are you going to rise above them and let them strengthen you? Strength cannot be built by walking on smooth roads, for it isin lifes imperfecons that you are made stronger. You have the ability to make these decisions which determine the outcome of yourlife. It is when you run out of weakness that strength will be your only other opon.

When you seek happiness, make sure that you are seeking for it nowhere else but

within yourself. Happiness is not the perfect situaon in life, but the conscious de-cision you make for yourself. You are ALWAYS greater than the circumstances thatsurround you.

You were born into genius. Dont sele for any mediocrity. - Robin Sharma.

- Lara Netherlands -

You are greater than the circumstances

that surround you


5/85

digital - firing up

imaginationsThe next school iconsto be tossed on theeducaon bone heapmay be the five ton

textbooks, the hard-cover workbooks andthe ever disappearingstaonery. Slide rul-ers and typewritershave long been exnctand chalkboards havebecome an endan-gered species threat-ened by interacvesmartboards. Glueand scissors will notbe necessary, as it willbe replaced with crop,

copy and paste).

Imagine the thoughtof carrying a slim digital tablet instead of lugging around bulkytextbooks. Not only do tablets store hundreds of textbooks,workbooks, diconaries, calculators and even staonery, theyalso save the environment by reducing the amount of print-ing and paper consumpon. They give learners instant accessto books audio and video resources, internet research, docu-ment preparaon and e-learning apps. Another advantage oftablets is that while informaon in books becomes outdated,online informaon is constantly updated. Opponents of tab-lets say that they are too expensive, easy to break and toodistracng for students. However, this is definitely the wayforward. As far as peoples reacon to this is concerned;voices were raised even when we moved from palm leavesto textbooks!

Lets look towards the future and turn to apples, berries andtablets. Lets say goodbye to heavy textbooks and hello toe-textbooks. Its just a click away!

- Yaseerah & Zafeerah Hassim -

Exchange studentgaloreGirls High is one of a big family andin this family we have differentcultures and ethics groups makingit easier for us to find the unique

quality in each and every one ofus.

Joining our Family is (Javeria) allway from Chile, South America.The seventeen-year-old Spanishmatric has felt more than welcomesince she has been in South Africaand more so at Girls High. She de-scribes us at GHS as nice and much different from schools inChile.

She describes the feeling of being here as more welcoming. Thefact that in Chile you dont have the same variety of subjects tochoose from is an important factor. The subjects presented inChile are Maths, Biology, Science and English, but I was very badat that, she says. The schooling system has no separate genderschools, it is strictly just co-ed. Uniforms consist of shorts andtops. There are no hostels in Chile whatsoever. People just tendto get up every morning and go to school then go back home,whereas most of us only see home at the most every two weeks.Javeria says she prefers it here because there is more disciplineand schools are more structured. Thats why she loves it here.She ensures us that by the end of the year she will be good atboth English and Afrikaans.

Its no surprise that she chose GHS as her place of schooling forher matric year. Because of our diversity and our culture, her lastyear at school will definitely be one to remember. At the end ofthe year, Javeria will be going back to Chile. What beer way tocelebrate your last year of school than at Girls High?

Wed also like to take this opportunity to welcome another newstudent, all the way from Israel, Tamara Keyter.

- Chanel Reef -

Human tragedies: we all want to be extraordinary and we all want

to fit in. Unfortunately, extraordinary people rarely fit in. SebastyneYoung. As a learner who has passed every grade I think I am fit tospeak on behalf of everyone in the school, commenng on the dif-ferent forms complaints and common problems.

Grade 8- The most popular grade. If youve never received enoughaenon as a child, you have finally reached your moment. They areexpected to know the names of all the LEC members, matrics, teach-ers, as well as all the school songs and war cries, all the tradionsand rules. All this happens while they are expected to greet everyperson they see.

Grade 9- Fact: Every grade 9 must complain about a grade 8! This,apparently is a trend. Grade 9s feel that just because they made it

through grade 8 it is their right to demand things from grade 8s justbecause they are greeted as Good morning senior. NEWS FLASH!You guys are sll juniors! But well done making it thus far

Grade 10- The year of confusion. This is the moment when youfinally get a ny taste of being a senior. You have more responsibili-es since you have chosen your own subjects and finally feel a sense

Another brick in the wall?of unity within the

form. Your per-sonality has beenestablished and ofcourse, you are thenSWEET 16!

Grade 11- Feelingthe pressure! This isone of THE most im-portant years of your lives and trust me on this you dont realiseit unl its over. This is the year where you form friendships that cannever be broken and experience trust that will not falter; when youmake a lot of mistakes and grow the most.

MATRIC- The end is near! (Im actually not too sure about this oneso Ill update you at the end of the year) The queson now, ladies, isif you will conform to the trends le by the ones before you or willyou create your own legacy

- Fallon Fourie -


6/86

Dubai HolidayOur familys holiday to Dubai was hands down one of the mostexcing, stress free (ok, maybe not enrely) and fun-filled holi-days we have ever experienced.

Aer arriving in Dubai on 31 December 2012, the first thing wedid was hire a car and of course a GPS. At first it was prey hilar-ious with my dad trying to adapt to driving on the opposite sideof the road. With five backseat drivers he stood no chance.

Going to see the firework display on New Years Eve was one ofthe highlights of our trip. Hours before midnight massive crowds(approximately 1 million people) had gathered in Times Squarefor this occasion. It was definitely all worth the wait when theclock struck 12 and spectacular fireworks enveloped the worldstallest tower, the Burj Khalifah, in a blaze of light and colour il-luminang the sky, while an orchestra was performing live.

Driving back from Abu Dhabi, Global Village was the new des-naon typed into our GPS. Each country has its own pavilionwith a unique replica of their famous landmarks. These are like

flea markets where you could get souvenirs from almost everycorner of the earth and feel as if youre in that country for atleast ten minutes of your life even though youre10 000 km away. We saw the hieroglyphics of Egypt, templesof Thailand the Forbidden City of Beijing, the Eifel Tower andmany more.

The desert safari was an exhilarang excursion. From the dunebashing that felt like a roller-coaster ride, the going-crazy on thequad bikes, to aempng to sand-surf, it was quite an experi-ence. Aer watching the Arabian sun set over the desert weenjoyed a delicious barbeque dinner under a canopy of stars.We then watched live belly dance performances.

Have you ever heard the saying, the older you become the less advancedyou are? Erase that, because it definitely does not apply to Girls High. At108 years old, it seems as if things just keep geng beer, and beer andbeer

Firstly it was the reconstrucon of the swimming pool and the purchasingof new cars. Then came the installaon of new cameras and up-to-date

security systems in the hostels (making the HMs feel like CSI agents), abeauful Hockey field, smart boards, bathrooms, and the list goes on. ButNOW. Now, Girls High is going to have its very own Wellness Centre!

The dream is to have a wellness centre consisng of a gym, equipped with various kinds of training equipment, a Lat Swimming pool(a few meters wide) and Squash Courts. Imagine how amazing our school would be then - a school of girls and educators who arehealthier, fier and more energec! We can host more camps and sporng events. This will in turn have a posive effect on our per-formances on the sports fields, in the classroom and our standard as a school.

This can be made viable by fund raising, donaon of equipment and money from sponsors. (This is, however, just a sneak peek intothe greater plans that lie ahead).

Some of the girls are over the moon about having their own Virgin Acve on the school premises because it will save their me andmoney and benefit them tremendously. Most girls are in disbelief. Whatever the feeling may be, we are blessed and privileged to be

part of a school that is tradional, yet progressive. We are more privileged to have an innovave and passionate headmistress likeMrs Meyer.

We can proudly say that Girls High is on the move. We are constantly and successfully moving towards greatness and absolute excel-lence as the years progress.

- Thelma Mosehle -

The city was ex-tremely busy asit was the begin-ning of the annualshopping fesval.

We watched withenvy as peoplefrom countrieslike the UK andother European countriesfilled trolleys with Prada, Gucci, Guessand Jimmy Choo for us it was way above ourbudget.

The days passed too quickly,and before we knew it, it was me to pack ourbags and catch our 3am flight home to reality.

- Yaseerah and Zafeerah Hassim -

Wellness Centre


7/87

Take your mark, get set, dive in!Everyone has the desire to win, only a few have the desire toprepare

It was only the third day of the new year, I mean, 48 hours be-fore the world was sll counng down the seconds ll 2013 butwe had to cut the celebraons short and do what we had to do.

Sll in disbelief, we walked through the gates of The High Schoolfor Girls Potchefstroom. This was the beginning of the athlecsand swimming camp that would prepare us for the challengingathlecs and swimming season ahead.

Boy, it was hecc! Have you ever seen those war movies wherethe soldiers train with great intensity? We were on the vergeof being like them.

The camp was a connuaon of the training that was done dur-ing the holidays. Those who complained first are the ones whocheated. Never-the-less, they carried on and persevered, beingvery self-movated. Aer all, you can only climb higher up theladder if you are at the boom.

The athletes, about thirty of us, were divided into variousgroups categorised according to events: middle and long dis-tance, sprinters, hurdles, jumpers and those who do fieldevents. Then our day was divided strategically into five trainingsessions, with two rest periods (precious me) and three mealmes. During the sessions important aspects of a good athletesuch as agility, strength, subtleness (killer) and endurance werefocused on.

The highlight of the athlecs camp was when the famous Olym-pic Silver Medallist Ezekiel Sepeng gave us a movaonal talk!Apart from the fact that he is an old Boys High boy, we thor-oughly enjoyed his company and his amusing personality. Hetold us his inspiring story and parcularly emphasised using

an opportunity when you are exposed to it. Dont wait unlyou are older to succeed, the me is now because the ability isthere.

The swimming camp consisted of swimmers from all over. Theywere fortunate enough to get training from the world re-nowned Olympic Champion, who won gold medals and brokemany internaonal records for swimming. They trained for manyhours. Basically their daily programme went like this: swim at 5oclock in the morning, have breakfast, swim again, have lunch,

swim, have sup-per, swim again,sleep Wow! #claponce! In betweenall of that, Pennywould talk about thestrokes and differenttechniques of swim-ming. She wouldalso teach themlessons that couldbe used outside ofthe swimming pool.She taught themthat swimming isabout mental power,80% mental and 20%physical. She saidthat whether youthink you can or youthink you cant, youwill always be right,because youratude determinesyour results. PennyHeyns believes thatthe worlds richest treasures are in the grave yard, because un-tapped potenal is buried there. When asked why she swam,she replied, I want to be able to tell God one day that I used allthe talent he gave me.

Honestly, it was the most worthwhile training camp ever. This,of course, would have been highly impossible without our dedi-cated staff members, coaches and matrons who gave up theirfamily me to the benefit of our futures as athletes and swim-

mers. Hopefully next year, the camp will be slightly longer, andmore girls will join.

So then, there we were on the 5th of January: red, sore andburnt, yet movated, inspired, rediscovered and prepared totake charge of any lane whether it be on the track, in the pool,or in life. Now we believe

- Thelma Mosehle -

Battle between Black and WhiteChess is the only game greater than its players.During the December holidays Phumeza Ntanso and I aended the South African Junior Chess Championships held in Cape Town in2012. It was the biggest naonal chess tournament ever, consisng of over 2000 players! They couldnt even accommodate all of usin one venue.

Aer sixteen hours on a bus we finally reached our desnaon filled with ancipaon and adrenaline running through our veins!Phumeza and I represented North West in the under 18A Championship Secon where we faced all the best under 18 chess playersfrom all over the country. We were quite overwhelmed since we only got this very vital informaon on the first day (talk about beingemoonally unprepared). I enjoyed every match thoroughly and have never been so mentally challenged.

The team had soooo much support and fun! The tournament took place from the 16th to the 21st and every day consisted of extreme-

ly high stress levels, deep concentraon and a lot of headaches. I mean I played two matches that lasted six hours each! Just imaginethe exhauson! In the end Phumeza received two and a half points and I received three and half! This is an excellent achievementsince we also had to play against boys!!

Okay, dont think it was just all work and no fun! We went to the beach almost every day and went to the dazzling Canal Walk a fewmes too! This was honestly one of the bet Naonals ever! (Considering that it was my 8th one!)

- Fallon Fourie -


8/88

ing commiee, the cheerleaders,songwriters, the costume design-er, the dedicated staff members

and our girls, the sassy sailors.

From the long, strenuous sing-song pracces, the excitementbrought about by our show-stopping parade, the build-up ofnerves before and during the pre-sentaon of our theme song, tothe unforgetable moment whenGirls High was not placed third orsecond but, are you ready girls WON THE SPIRIT CUP!

Get on board, forget mediocrity

and strive for greatness. Todayshardships are tomorrows luxurycruises!

- Lebo Ramosime -

Are some people born des-ned for greatness and othersfor mediocrity? Was Girls High

born desned for greatness ormediocrity?

I guess its fair to say that forthe past few years Girls Highwould have been consideredmediocre.

However, one must considerthat greatness comes fromhaving conquered rough seas,heavy rains and strong winds.

When the sky clears and a newday dawns our success storybegins. Our journey towardswhat we thought would bejust another mediocre InterHigh Athlecs Meeng begins.Our theme for 2013, Get onboard, reflects exactly whatwas done by the cheerlead-

Sassy sailors on board for greatness

Collage

The Gaudium

Documents

Transcript of The Gaudium