Murphy Bruning | Music / Performing Arts

Kia Ora, I’m Murphy Bruning, a year 13 student attending Te Puke High School. In 2022, I plan to commence study by taking the Bachelor of Commercial Music and majoring in Music Practice. Once I’ve completed my studies, I plan on taking a teaching course and returning to TPHS as a teacher after experiencing the thrill of being a working musician. I love giving back to the community and instilling good values and morals in youth, and I wish to combine this with my passion for creative arts to become a teacher.
I believe myself to be quite an empathetic person, who always puts others before me. I find happiness in strengthening my peers’ morals and benevolence. Putting people and community first is always been a big priority to me.

I have committed a lot of time towards the arts committee and arts events in my time at high school. I’ve taken part in smokefreerockquest, a lead role in our school’s 2021 production of Grease, and many talent quests. I’ve also decided to branch out from just the performing arts, playing a key part in bringing our school’s visual arts talent into the spotlight through my ‘Beneath the Surface’ Art Exhibition. I have also taken part in Shave for a Cure, which involves fundraising and donating money to fund cancer and leukemia research in New Zealand.

Even though I commit a lot of my time to extracurricular activities in and out of school, I work hard to maintain a high standard of my NCEA results. In level 1 and level 2, I achieved overall excellence endorsements. In level 1 I achieved a merit subject endorsement in music, English, and mathematics. In level 2 I achieved a merit subject endorsement in music and an excellence subject endorsement in statistics and graphic design and promotion. In 2019 and 2020 I was named best student in music, and in 2019 I was named best student in Design and Visual Communication.