Volume 13 / First edition

March 2013

The origin of our gift

A new addition p3 Rise of the planet sweeties p.4
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 rst 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 GREATNESS. Lou Holtz a world-renowned football coach said, Your gi determines what you can do. Your movaon determines how much you are willing to do. Your atude determines how well you will do it. 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 ght who we are, struggling against ourselves and our nature. 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.

Sassy Sailors on board p.8

This is denitely 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! - Fallon Fourie -

A tribute to the editor...

Sixteen years of pure excellence, excellent determinaon, sixteen years of a gi really worth sharing. When it was announced last year that our very own Mrs Oberholzer was rering aer a full sixteen years of living out a passion, we all couldnt help but gasp. She told me all about, how it has been a life-changing experience for her. As we all know the Gaudium is like our own cup of fresh coee we drink the informaon to keep us informed, the caeine in that informaon is absorbed and keeps us enlightened and energec at least unl the next cup of Gaudium comes out. But all that coee making could never have been done without Mrs Oberholzer, in fact the bean was actually grown by herself. Mrs Oberholzer began the Gaudium more than ten years ago. She started it as a small coee bean and soon got the coee business up and running. In other words, she had an idea and turned it into one of the greatest things that has ever hit GHS. Her experience with starng the newspaper was scary because of the fact that she had just come from an Afrikaans school and was asking to start a newspaper at an English medium school . However, she proved once more that she was not going to let her fear get the beer of her compassionate, passionate side. The Gaudium was a dream that she was able to full. Her message to her editorial team is, Keep thinking out of the box, keep up the good work and the Gaudium will always represent your gi for greatness. Mrs Oberholzers passion was clearly shown when she became Head o Interact. Lets all admit this right now- of all the commit-

tees in the school, Interact is by far the best and the biggest. It is amazing to see how much care and love Mrs Oberholzer was able to pour out on others and help others. Seeing the old people and children smile when Interact helps again are so rewarding. She says she couldnt have done it without commiees and everybody who joined Interact. To the Interact: Never stop being there for those in need. As I watched Mrs Oberholzer hand over her Interact Guardian Angel to Mrs Steyn, who will take over Interact, it gave me a sense of pride and honour to have met such a remarkable woman. When being asked to describe what Girls High meant to her, she said, Girls High is like home, and there is no place like home, there is no place like GHS. To her sucessors: Take over and make the Gaudium and Interact your own. Thank you Mrs Meyer and my colleagues for the opportunity you 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 -

EDITORIAL STAFF
Editor: Mrs M Oberholzer & Mrs SA Schue Sub editor: Fallon Fourie Reporters: Thelma Mosehle, Zafeerah Hassim Yaseerah Hassim,Chanel Reef Cartoonist: Joo Eun Kim

C A R T O O N
2

a new addition
One plus one is two Mr Jagals has le us its true. The root of his sudden deviaon is the blessing of an unforeseen job elevaon to the North West (PUK) University. However, there have been no depreciaons, we have found a teacher who is wonderful in all dimensions. Her name is Miss Therine Erasmus with her presence she has graced us and we cant wait to see her prosper. She is friendly, outgoing and has a dark sense of humour. Empathy and sensivity towards young people and animals, are some of her qualies. Miss Erasmus says: Maths makes sense, and it is easier than life. Her goals are to be content and happy, whatever the circumstances might be. She then adds, Then, of course, I want to ll my life with dogs and pianos. They say one should choose wisely, I guess thats why she was chosen. She is truly a woman of many talents. She regards Girls High as being an amazing school and says she feels honoured to be here. The girls are blessed to be able to aend such a school. Like a calculated sum, In life, treasures leave and treasures come. Miss Erasmus will always be embraced And Mr Jagals will never be erased. We trust that both these educators lives will illustrate ascending exponenal graphs: Posive, escalang and that their xs will forever be the elements of real enes. - Thelma Mosehle -

Comparing the customs of the Potch Elite

At Girls High we know all about the privileges and tradions that involve the 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 matric chooses a grade 8, and theyre called slange. They basically do everything their master tells them to do, like go to the tuck shop. In hostel they have to 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 the rst 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 September and it is usually held in the Town Hall. It is organised by the teachers and the grade 11s do the waitressing. At Gimmies the matric farewell is hosted at the Feather Hill Spa every year on the last day of the third term. The grade 11 parents organise it and the Gimmieraad (I think its like the LEC). At the dance itself they have a short prizegiving ceremony where special funny personality prizes are awarded. At Boys High there is a commiee that organises everything like the venue and catering. Each matric then pays a certain amount to cover the costs. Now for some privileges at the various schools. At Volkies, members of the student council wear a black e and black pants for the boys and the girls wear black skirts. At Gimmies matrics get to sit in the gallery during assemblies and there are also special benches and tables for them in the quad during breaks. The matrics are responsible for the spirit of the school. At Boys High matrics have their own patch of grass and a passage that no one else uses, they have a matric e and jersey, and in hostel, they may wear civvies and are allowed electrical appliances in their dorms. At Ferdies, matrics have their own bathrooms, matric shirts and jackets. Here are some interesng tradions: when the Volkies matrics have their last assembly, they sit in front where the grade 8 sit and then at the end of it they walk through two torches (the Vakkels) which symbolises them leaving the school. At Boys High, during their last assembly they are awarded and Old Boys badge! There you have it! Its interesng to see how dierent and alike the schools are. Tradions does not mean a dead town, it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive. It means that it sll maers what Penn did two hundred years ago and what Franklin did a hundred year ago; I never could feel in a city that it maered what anybody did and hour ago. - Fallon Fourie -

Miss J jets off into married life

How did you feel on your wedding day? All smiles. I was so excited! Would you compare your wedding day to a fairytale? No, it was more magical than a fairytale. What will you always remember about your wedding day? I will never forget Reefs face when I walked down the aisle. - Yaseerah & Zafeerah Hassim -

Competition
Idenfy the dog in the picture! Write your name, class and answer down on a piece of paper and place your entry in the Gaudium box in Mrs SA Schues classroom.

Win a perfume gi set to the value of R350.

Rise of the Planet Sweeties

Good Morning, Senior... Matric! Lets be honest we have all been on that road before, where mistaking a matric for a senior was a common thing. As it happens, this years grade 8s are experiencing some 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 nd out more about the experience that was handed to them. When asking them what the experience had been like, two of them said with friends and parents movaon they were ne. However, Teggan Els said, I come from Laerskool Mooirivier, so it has been a dicult experience adapng to the classes being in English but Ive been having so much fun that I havent had me to complain. Kelsi Chomse explains, I have a sister in this school. Without her, I dont think I would have made it. Shes not the only one to feel that way. Somehow, though, without friends, nobody seems to make it at 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. Some said, My mom went to boarding school. But the answer that intrigued me was from Tanya Gowera: The way I see it, I thought it was a nice school, so I think propaganda played its part there but its only aer the rst three weeks that I realized that it is a nice school, they just had to mould us rst before we realized how awesome it is here, because now I am much more mature and 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 part in society. The biggest reason why girls have a change of heart is summarised by Kelebogile Khosa, who says: I feel more movated, more independent and stronger than ever, especially living in hostel. I feel as if I have gured 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 guided them all the way. The school house LEC, Jaimee-Lee Hunter, Amogelang Mamabolo, Naledi Nkopane, Thelma Mosehle and leading them, our dearest deputy Fallon Fourie. With mrs Coetzees 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 o the name tags for the rst me and waving to their Matrics. The tags always seem 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 keeping. As the year goes by we shall see what the grade 8s of 2013 (Matrics of 2017) have to oer and how their theme of sweets will lead them into the joyous march of never ending candy. - Chanel Reef -

You are greater than the circumstances that surround you

Its OK to feel unhappy. Its also OK to seek happiness. What most people dont understand is that if you are going to seek happiness, 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 nd that most people blame their circumstances as being the cause of their melancholy. Circumstances are oen beyond our control and it is rarely ever the situaon you would choose for yourself. What is indeed a choice is, whether you will rise above it and how you are going to make use of these situaons. When most of our hardships and suerings arise, you are le with choices. Will you let them dene you? Will you let them destroy you? Or are you going to rise above them and let them strengthen you? Strength cannot be built by walking on smooth roads, for it is in lifes imperfecons that you are made stronger. You have the ability to make these decisions which determine the outcome of your life. 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 decision you make for yourself. You are ALWAYS greater than the circumstances that surround you. You were born into genius. Dont sele for any mediocrity. - Robin Sharma. - Lara Netherlands 4

digital - firing up Exchange student galore imaginations

The next school icons to be tossed on the educaon bone heap may be the ve ton textbooks, the hardcover workbooks and the ever disappearing staonery. Slide rulers and typewriters have long been exnct and chalkboards have become an endangered species threatened by interacve smartboards. Glue and scissors will not be necessary, as it will be replaced with crop, copy and paste). Imagine the thought of carrying a slim digital tablet instead of lugging around bulky textbooks. Not only do tablets store hundreds of textbooks, workbooks, diconaries, calculators and even staonery, they also save the environment by reducing the amount of printing and paper consumpon. They give learners instant access to books audio and video resources, internet research, document preparaon and e-learning apps. Another advantage of tablets is that while informaon in books becomes outdated, online informaon is constantly updated. Opponents of tablets say that they are too expensive, easy to break and too distracng for students. However, this is denitely the way forward. As far as peoples reacon to this is concerned; voices were raised even when we moved from palm leaves to textbooks! Lets look towards the future and turn to apples, berries and tablets. Lets say goodbye to heavy textbooks and hello to e-textbooks. Its just a click away! - Yaseerah & Zafeerah Hassim Girls High is one of a big family and in this family we have dierent cultures and ethics groups making it easier for us to nd the unique quality in each and every one of us.

Joining our Family is (Javeria) all way from Chile, South America. The seventeen-year-old Spanish matric has felt more than welcome since she has been in South Africa and more so at Girls High. She describes us at GHS as nice and much dierent from schools in Chile. She describes the feeling of being here as more welcoming. The fact that in Chile you dont have the same variety of subjects to choose from is an important factor. The subjects presented in Chile are Maths, Biology, Science and English, but I was very bad at that, she says. The schooling system has no separate gender schools, it is strictly just co-ed. Uniforms consist of shorts and tops. There are no hostels in Chile whatsoever. People just tend to 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 discipline and schools are more structured. Thats why she loves it here. She ensures us that by the end of the year she will be good at both English and Afrikaans. Its no surprise that she chose GHS as her place of schooling for her matric year. Because of our diversity and our culture, her last year at school will denitely be one to remember. At the end of the year, Javeria will be going back to Chile. What beer way to celebrate your last year of school than at Girls High? Wed also like to take this opportunity to welcome another new student, all the way from Israel, Tamara Keyter. - Chanel Reef -

Another brick in the wall?

Human tragedies: we all want to be extraordinary and we all want to t in. Unfortunately, extraordinary people rarely t in. Sebastyne Young. As a learner who has passed every grade I think I am t to speak on behalf of everyone in the school, commenng on the different forms complaints and common problems. Grade 8- The most popular grade. If youve never received enough aenon as a child, you have nally reached your moment. They are expected to know the names of all the LEC members, matrics, teachers, as well as all the school songs and war cries, all the tradions and rules. All this happens while they are expected to greet every person 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 just because 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 you nally get a ny taste of being a senior. You have more responsibilies since you have chosen your own subjects and nally feel a sense of unity within the form. Your personality has been established and of course, you are then SWEET 16! Grade 11- Feeling the pressure! This is one of THE most important years of your lives and trust me on this you dont realise it unl its over. This is the year where you form friendships that can never be broken and experience trust that will not falter; when you make a lot of mistakes and grow the most. MATRIC- The end is near! (Im actually not too sure about this one so Ill update you at the end of the year) The queson now, ladies, is if you will conform to the trends le by the ones before you or will you create your own legacy - Fallon Fourie -

Dubai Holiday
Our familys holiday to Dubai was hands down one of the most excing, stress free (ok, maybe not enrely) and fun-lled holidays we have ever experienced. Aer arriving in Dubai on 31 December 2012, the rst thing we did was hire a car and of course a GPS. At rst it was prey hilarious with my dad trying to adapt to driving on the opposite side of the road. With ve backseat drivers he stood no chance. Going to see the rework display on New Years Eve was one of the highlights of our trip. Hours before midnight massive crowds (approximately 1 million people) had gathered in Times Square for this occasion. It was denitely all worth the wait when the clock struck 12 and spectacular reworks enveloped the worlds tallest tower, the Burj Khalifah, in a blaze of light and colour illuminang the sky, while an orchestra was performing live. Driving back from Abu Dhabi, Global Village was the new desnaon typed into our GPS. Each country has its own pavilion with a unique replica of their famous landmarks. These are like ea markets where you could get souvenirs from almost every corner of the earth and feel as if youre in that country for at least ten minutes of your life even though youre 10 000 km away. We saw the hieroglyphics of Egypt, temples of Thailand the Forbidden City of Beijing, the Eifel Tower and many more. The desert safari was an exhilarang excursion. From the dune bashing that felt like a roller-coaster ride, the going-crazy on the quad bikes, to aempng to sand-surf, it was quite an experience. Aer watching the Arabian sun set over the desert we enjoyed a delicious barbeque dinner under a canopy of stars. We then watched live belly dance performances.

The city was extremely busy as it was the beginning of the annual shopping fesval. We watched with envy as people from countries like the UK and other European countries lled trolleys with Prada, Gucci, Guess and Jimmy Choo for us it was way above our budget. The days passed too quickly, and before we knew it, it was me to pack our bags and catch our 3am ight home to reality. - Yaseerah and Zafeerah Hassim -

Wellness Centre
Have you ever heard the saying, the older you become the less advanced you are? Erase that, because it denitely does not apply to Girls High. At 108 years old, it seems as if things just keep geng beer, and beer and beer Firstly it was the reconstrucon of the swimming pool and the purchasing of 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), a beauful Hockey eld, smart boards, bathrooms, and the list goes on. But NOW. 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 are healthier, er and more energec! We can host more camps and sporng events. This will in turn have a posive eect on our performances on the sports elds, 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 into the 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 and money and benet 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 like Mrs Meyer. We can proudly say that Girls High is on the move. We are constantly and successfully moving towards greatness and absolute excellence as the years progress. - Thelma Mosehle 6

Take your mark, get set, dive in!

Everyone has the desire to win, only a few have the desire to prepare It was only the third day of the new year, I mean, 48 hours before the world was sll counng down the seconds ll 2013 but we had to cut the celebraons short and do what we had to do. Sll in disbelief, we walked through the gates of The High School for Girls Potchefstroom. This was the beginning of the athlecs and swimming camp that would prepare us for the challenging athlecs and swimming season ahead. Boy, it was hecc! Have you ever seen those war movies where the soldiers train with great intensity? We were on the verge of being like them. The camp was a connuaon of the training that was done during the holidays. Those who complained rst are the ones who cheated. Never-the-less, they carried on and persevered, being very self-movated. Aer all, you can only climb higher up the ladder if you are at the boom. The athletes, about thirty of us, were divided into various groups categorised according to events: middle and long distance, sprinters, hurdles, jumpers and those who do eld events. Then our day was divided strategically into ve training sessions, with two rest periods (precious me) and three meal mes. During the sessions important aspects of a good athlete such as agility, strength, subtleness (killer) and endurance were focused on. The highlight of the athlecs camp was when the famous Olympic Silver Medallist Ezekiel Sepeng gave us a movaonal talk! Apart from the fact that he is an old Boys High boy, we thoroughly enjoyed his company and his amusing personality. He told us his inspiring story and parcularly emphasised using an opportunity when you are exposed to it. Dont wait unl you are older to succeed, the me is now because the ability is there. The swimming camp consisted of swimmers from all over. They were fortunate enough to get training from the world renowned Olympic Champion, who won gold medals and broke many internaonal records for swimming. They trained for many hours. Basically their daily programme went like this: swim at 5 oclock in the morning, have breakfast, swim again, have lunch, swim, have supper, swim again, sleep Wow! #clap once! In between all of that, Penny would talk about the strokes and dierent techniques of swimming. She would also teach them lessons that could be used outside of the swimming pool. She taught them that swimming is about mental power, 80% mental and 20% physical. She said that whether you think you can or you think you cant, you will always be right, because your atude determines your results. Penny Heyns believes that the worlds richest treasures are in the grave yard, because untapped potenal is buried there. When asked why she swam, she replied, I want to be able to tell God one day that I used all the talent he gave me. Honestly, it was the most worthwhile training camp ever. This, of course, would have been highly impossible without our dedicated sta members, coaches and matrons who gave up their family me to the benet of our futures as athletes and swimmers. Hopefully next year, the camp will be slightly longer, and more girls will join. So then, there we were on the 5th of January: red, sore and burnt, yet movated, inspired, rediscovered and prepared to take 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 White

Chess 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 in 2012. It was the biggest naonal chess tournament ever, consisng of over 2000 players! They couldnt even accommodate all of us in one venue. Aer sixteen hours on a bus we nally reached our desnaon lled 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 players from all over the country. We were quite overwhelmed since we only got this very vital informaon on the rst day (talk about being emoonally 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 extremely high stress levels, deep concentraon and a lot of headaches. I mean I played two matches that lasted six hours each! Just imagine the exhauson! In the end Phumeza received two and a half points and I received three and half! This is an excellent achievement since 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 few mes too! This was honestly one of the bet Naonals ever! (Considering that it was my 8th one!) - Fallon Fourie 7

Sassy sailors on board for greatness

Are some people born desned for greatness and others for mediocrity? Was Girls High born desned for greatness or mediocrity? I guess its fair to say that for the past few years Girls High would have been considered mediocre. However, one must consider that greatness comes from having conquered rough seas, heavy rains and strong winds. When the sky clears and a new day dawns our success story begins. Our journey towards what we thought would be just another mediocre Inter High Athlecs Meeng begins. Our theme for 2013, Get on board, reects exactly what was done by the cheerleading commiee, the cheerleaders, songwriters, the costume designer, the dedicated sta members and our girls, the sassy sailors. From the long, strenuous singsong pracces, the excitement brought about by our showstopping parade, the build-up of nerves before and during the presentaon of our theme song, to the unforgetable moment when Girls High was not placed third or second but, are you ready girls WON THE SPIRIT CUP! Get on board, forget mediocrity and strive for greatness. Todays hardships are tomorrows luxury cruises! - Lebo Ramosime -

Collage