Turning a recent tragedy into an award-winning student stage production may sound challenging but it seems the kids at Whanganui High School have figured it out.
The Pike River Mine disaster was one of New Zealand's worst mining tragedies and yet it became the basis for one of the school's best Stage Challenge entries.
The production saw Whanganui High School take out the national title in the competition.
When the disaster happened in 2010, many of the students were so young they weren't in double digits, but still the tragedy was felt.
But the students thought of everything portraying the miners, the Pike families, the media and the drama tackles big themes like neo-liberalism.
Bernie Monk's son Michael was one of the 29 killied in the explosion and knew about the school's production. He had not seen it until now.
His work as a health and safety advocate has seen him re-visit the disaster countless times, but never in this way.
"In such a short time they covered a story we've had to try and learn over six years. It's just blown me away."
The students and teachers admit they were cautious at the start, but through the production have built friendships with people they didn't know.
But something must have clicked because the students came away as national champions.
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