Makes final cut in Olympic contest

n Auckland teacher may not have realised her Olympic dream, but plans to use her songwriting ability to glorify God.

Cornwall Park District School teacher Rachel Schryvers was one of 10 contestants who made the final cut in the Play It Strange Olympic Songwriting Competition.

Miss Schryvers played her entry to a school assembly of 600 students and teachers and it was met with enthusiastic applause.

The song, Rise, features lyrics like: “We can rise higher; this time we’re taking everything we came for”.

“I was thinking of what our Olympic athletes might want to hear before they compete,” she said.

Miss Schryvers says she was inspired by the biblical image of the “great cloud of witnesses”.

“This community sense of support is something I have always known — so to draw on that to call the nation’s support seemed a natural thing to do” she explained.

“I was able to envisage the faces of the crowd. We’ve had some amazing athletes emerge from this country”.

Miss Schryvers has been writing songs since she was eight.

Last year she won the Open Category prize in the 4th Voice for Life National Pro-Life Song-writing Contest, with her sister Maria taking out first place in the ‘College/Tertiary’ category. Coming from a family where each of nine siblings learned various musical instruments, the wins were the first for them in a national competition.

By Aaron Ironside