St Mary’s Tauranga students create life-size human image of Christ the Redeemer

Students wave as a drone flies overhead to capture the completed formation from above. Photo / Zoe Blake

The statue was mapped onto the school’s sports field to match its actual dimensions, 30m tall and 28m wide.

More than 450 students and teachers completed the human image.

Teacher Deanne Willemse led the project and postponed her own holiday to see it through.

“Lots of planning went into it,” she said.

She described how the outline was painted onto the field with help from a neighbour of the school.

Final adjustments were made to the field outline with scissors.

The final touches came on the morning of the event.

Willemse decided the figure’s hands looked “too boxy” and didn’t sit right, so they reworked the paint and sent students out with scissors to trim the grass back to the old lines.

Students and teachers then gathered, methodically taking their places to complete the shape.

Among the crowd was Cece, the school’s one-eyed puppy, affectionately nicknamed “Ce” by some.

Cece, St Mary’s Catholic School’s one-eyed puppy, joins students for the Christ the Redeemer project. Photo / Zoe Blake

Excitement grew as a drone rose above the field to capture the finished image from the air. Students waved and jumped eagerly.

Caretaker George Warnock revealed his first test flight had taken place just an hour earlier.

“It seems like a good day for it… not too windy.”

Principal Fay Warnock addressed the students following the reveal, thanking everyone involved.

“What an amazing learning this has been for us this term.

“Thank you for sharing in all the many helping hands that have helped to make this beautiful Christ the Redeemer on St Mary’s field.”

Students and teachers take their places to create a human replica of the statue. Photo / Zoe Blake

Year 6 students Zac Scott and Holly Ryder said the project was a highlight of the term.

They said the idea came about because the class wanted to bring what they were learning to life.

“Because we’re learning about the Seven Wonders of the World, we thought ‘oh, let’s do this’,” Ryder said.

The pair could also reel off facts about the landmark, including its materials and how its famous pose came about.

Year 6 students Zac Scott and Holly Ryder. Photo / Zoe Blake

“We’ve learned quite a lot about how it was built and what it was used for,” Scott said.

He said Christ the Redeemer was fitting for the Catholic school because of its religious significance.

“It’s like one of the biggest sorts of Catholic statues in the world, and we’re a really Catholic school, so it just sort of fits.”

Ryder said she’d like to see the real thing in Rio one day.

Zoe Blake is a multimedia journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post.