Tauranga students create interactive story book sharing Mauao legend
Year 13 students Haylee Van Herpen-Jacobs, Paige Sutton, Imogen Lowe and Jasmine Evans have been working on Pūrākau O Mauao all year as part of the Young Enterprise Scheme.
Haylee, 17, said they had spent "so many hours" in class, before school and during lunchtime in an effort to get the book over the line.
"We are all very driven because we feel this is such a unique product and something that we all wanted to push for," she said.
The book has been created using local suppliers, with Year 9 Ōtūmoetai College Isabella Chaney creating the illustration. School kaitiaki Bobby Ketu translated the story in te reo Māori.
Haylee said the group had made the call to include English and Māori voice recordings alongside the physical book to help young people better interact with the story.
"Our ancestors all learnt their legends by hearing," she said.
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