Last week, two of our Tournament of Minds (ToM) teams won their categories and qualified for Nationals in Wellington!

For those new to ToM, it’s an international problem-solving competition that challenges students to think creatively, work as a team, and tackle complex challenges in areas like STEM, the Arts, and Social Sciences.

Our teams flew down the day before, and made the most of all the learning opportunities in the capital. We visited the National Library to see the Treaty of Waitangi and Kate Sheppard’s famous petition for women’s suffrage. We also toured Parliament, explored Cuba Street, discovered some brilliant second-hand bookshops, and even squeezed in a quick round at the pinball parlour.

At Nationals, our intermediate team was recognised with a Spirit of ToM Award, and our senior team placed third in the country – an outstanding result!

We are incredibly proud of their creativity, teamwork, and determination.

We would also like to recognise the achievements of the ten teams that took part in the Auckland Regional Tournament of Minds Competition in August.

Results from the Auckland Regional Tournament of Minds competition:

INTERMEDIATE TEAMS (Year 7 and Year 8)

AJHS Team One

  • Shoham Baliti 

  • Harrison Gortner

  • Suzy Su

  • Achilles Macasaol

  • Blake Murray

  • Saby Irrena

Language Literature

AJHS Team Two

  • Rose Smith

  • Grace Wang

  • Claire Wang

  • Kate Mitchell

  • Benjamin Williams

  • Beau Stewart

STEM

Spirit of ToM Award

AJHS Team Three 

  • Jane Lai

  • Ruhi Lal

  • Bob Zhang

  • Cody De Villiers

  • Savith Wijayasinghe

  • Tyde Naude

  • Seanna Govender

STEM

🥈Honours (2nd)

Spirit of ToM Award

AJHS Team Four

  • Nikki Huang

  • Zea Buccat

  • Eason Xu

  • Eva Yuan

  • Hanna Gopaul

  • Sebastian Goodman-Tse

  • Harriet Cotty

Language Literature

Spirit of ToM Award

AJHS Team Five

  • Ella Yang

  • Yumo Li

  • Isla Hawkes

  • Holly Bevington

  • Zeni Nguyen

  • Mary Wong

Language Literature

AJHS Team Six

  • Nina Digby

  • Fern Simmons

  • Revell Greenfield

  • Zachary Hill

  • Charlotte Emirali

  • Ozzy Petersen

  • Lucia Hernandez Williams

Social Science

🥇First Place

Competed at the
Nationals in Wellington

AJHS Team Seven 

  • Claire van Zyl

  • Linh Nguyen

  • Leo Zhang

  • Max Wang

  • Claire Zhou

  • Taylor Chen

  • Max Cumberpatch

Social Science

🥉Merit (3rd)

SENIOR TEAMS (Year 9 and Year 10)

The Sherlock Homies

  • Catarina Diogo 

  • Cristina Diogo 

  • Rowan Bacal 

  • Claire Wu 

  • Amy van Zyl 

  • Elena Ju 

  • Emma Thiri 

The Arts

🥈Honours (2nd)

There’s Dave

  • Isabel Peterson 

  • Leo Simmons 

  • Olivia Thompson 

  • Cayce Wright 

  • Shenya Jayamanna 

  • Charlotte Heagerty 

  • Chase Turner

Social Science

🥇First Place

Competed at the
Nationals in Wellington

Twinkle Poms

  • Arin Amargalinggam

  • Jayden Wu 

  • Harry Jung

  • Hania Karim 

  • Yashitha Mudalige 

  • Finn Morgan-Cao

Language Literature

🥉Merit (3rd)