Iti Rearea Kahikaatea Teitei Ka Taea!
“Although the bellbird is small, it can ascend the highest peak of the Kahikaatea”
Pukekohe High School is pleased to announce the outstanding achievements of Nyle Turuwhenua in her Scholarship Exam entries in 2022. Nyle was awarded the NZ Top Scholar in Sculpture, an Outstanding Scholarship in Design, an Outstanding Scholarship in Photography and Scholarship in Painting in 2022! This is addition to her being awarded the NZ Top Scholar in Printmaking the year before as a Y12 student (for which she visited Parliament). Achievement on this scale is unprecedented and a real testament to Nyle as both a student and artist in her own right.
In 2022, Nyle was deservedly named as Pukekohe High School’s Artist of the year – an acknowledgement recognising her achievements over her 5-year journey at Pukekohe High School. She has won accolades for the Franklin Art Festival, Youth Art Awards, the Earth Guardian Design Awards from Massey University, won awards for her Wearable Art, participated in exhibitions with professional artists, attended summer school with NZ printmaker Faith McManus, displayed work and placed second in the People’s Choice Award at the Ringa Toi Excellence in Māori Art Exhibition at Te Papa, lead the school Zine Festival table two years in a row, and sold many artworks to the staff and the public.
This year, Nyle will be embarking on a Fine Art Degree at the College of Creative Arts, Massey University in Wellington where she was successful in being awarded a Massey University Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Scholarship worth $21,000 over her three years of study.
One of her Art teachers Esther Hansen commented “Right from year nine, Nyle showed her interest and passion for making art. Her mum reminded me that I had said that if Nyle kept working the way she did as a junior art student – curious, hardworking, keen to try new things, and focused on learning, that she could gain a scholarship and maybe a Top Award in the country.” Nyle has certainly exceeded expectations.
