(L-R) Julia Robinson, Vogel Vishop, Reiko Yoshida-Wildash, Joshua Norman.

Defending champions MAGS were victorious once more at the annual Year 12 and Year 13 Auckland Geography Teachers Association Inter-school Geography Quiz held at St Cuthbert’s on Tuesday 8 August. The pressure was on MAGS and competition was fierce between the 20 teams.

The rounds covered a diverse range of geographical knowledge such as current events, NZ geography, Where in the World, and 3D process modelling.

Our Year 12 team of Hugh Malcolm, 12SWL, James Inkson, 12BRD, and Harrison Zheng, 12MYR, were there for the experience and a bit of practice for next year, and finished a credible 5th, just one point away from the top four.

However, victory went to our Year 13 team of Julia Robinson, 13SWT, Vogel Bishop, 13TMR, Joshua Norman, 13ADM, and Reiko Yoshida-Wildash, 13LIU, after a strong second half which saw them score the top marks in two rounds. The trophy returns to MAGS for another year.

On Monday 14 August, it was the turn of the Year 11 students and the Maatangi Whenua Geography Competition, also held at St Cuthbert’s. This is a regional competition, which saw a record 25 teams enter the Auckland Central event. Tension was high as the scores are kept secret during the competition. The MAGS B team, Thomas Brendolise, 11LGC, Charlie Bioletti, 11ACK, and Gio Aguilar, 11MKY, finished in a commendable fifth place after the only perfect score in the modelling. Our A team of Luke Owen, 11ANI, Jamila Chen, 11GDB, and Miranda Graham, 11RED, took first place, beating a strong Macleans side by four points and finishing with 130.5 out of a possible 178. They now wait for results from the other regions to find out their national placing. This win meant MAGS completed the double for the second year in a row.