‘Wira Whanganui’, designed by Whanganui Intermediate School student Olivia Bedwell, has been selected as the mascot for Let’s Go Whanganui.

Olivia’s design was chosen from about 80 entries from Year 7-9 students who developed concepts for a mascot for the programme which encourages biking, skating, scootering, walking and other active transport. The mascot will appear on the Let’s Go Whanganui website, logos, stickers, maps etc and a costume will be made which will be used where Let’s Go events take place. 

“I chose a pukeko because you see them everywhere and they can move really quickly on their long legs,” Olivia wrote in her entry.

“They look really sporty and blue and black are Whanganui colours. Wira is Te Reo for wheel.”

At the Whanganui Intermediate School assembly last week, Mayor Annette Main presented Olivia with a Huawei MediaPad T1 8.0, donated by the Warehouse Stationery store in Whanganui. The school received a Warehouse Stationery voucher worth $300.

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