Since Year 9, Rangitoto College has provided endless opportunities for my fellow students and me to actualise our academic goals. As an NCEA student, the support and genuine empowerment that my teachers and peers gave me are what allowed me to fully realise my academic potential. As a Year 12 student in 2022, I achieved Scholarships in Biology, Calculus, English, Health & Physical Education, and Physics, and received the NZQA Scholarship award. This was only made possible by the countless hours given up by teachers during their mornings and lunchtimes. 

I am also thankful for being selected to represent New Zealand at the International Olympiad in Informatics. Again, this would have stayed as a dream if it wasn’t for the inspirational students and amazing support from the school.

This year, I am grateful for being a Community and Environment Leader, Peer Support Leader, and leader of a few clubs. I hope that through this, I will be able to develop and give back to the community that has given me so much. I never saw any leadership potential in myself, until I tried it out in Year 12 and realised that nothing is ever too late to start. Even more so than the future the college provides me, opportunities like these make up the most heartfelt aspect of my experience at Rangitoto College, which is the way it allowed me to develop as a person.

I was born and raised in the coastal city of Tauranga where I lived my entire life up until early last year. Moving up to Auckland in Year 11, our family found attending Rangitoto College highly appealing due to their evident level of proficiency in secondary education which can be seen from the results the college garners in academics, sports, and performing arts. 

Coming to Rangitoto College I was able to take NCEA Level 2 Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and History classes. Under the guidance of the teachers here at Rangitoto, I emerged from the NCEA curriculum with Excellence Endorsements in Levels 1 and 2. I was able to finish both NCEA Levels 1 and 2 at a respectable standard before I made the transition to the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme in Year 12 this year. 

Last year for me was very academically successful. For my third and final year of competing at the Otago Junior Mathematics, I came out in the top 30 in the Year 11 division. I was also selected to represent Rangitoto College at the annual Auckland Mathematical Olympiad. In the New Zealand Mathematical Olympiad, after prevailing through two rounds of intense competition, I received an honourable mention. My Year 11 academic year was then rounded off with NZQA Scholarship Calculus. My success in the exam can be attributed to the effectiveness of the Scholarship Calculus sessions. Because of this, I was able to be accepted into the University of Canterbury STAR Course for Mathematical Science this year and I hope to advance myself even more in this field. 

Recently, with the help of Mr Victor Dai, my friends and myself were able to establish the Rangitoto Mathematical Olympiad Society where we aim to promote and foster an environment where young students are encouraged to get involved in mathematical Olympiad contests.

Choosing IB has been and will continue to be a decision I will not regret. The transition from NCEA to IB was smooth and seamless, and my time in the IB curriculum at Rangitoto College will provide me with a solid foundation to go overseas with my tertiary education. 

In the future, I want to study aerospace engineering, preferably at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Afterwards, I am looking at returning to New Zealand and would like to work for Dawn Aerospace which is headquartered in Christchurch. At the same time, I do want to keep up with my sporting activity and am looking at becoming an elite slalom canoeist in the coming years. This kind of dual pathway in my field of sport is not uncommon. 

This year has seen its fair share of sporting highlights for me. I started off the year by competing at the Oceania Canoe Slalom Championships held at Auckland’s Vector Wero Whitewater Park. I finished fourth in the junior division. Domestically, I also competed at the New Zealand Secondary School Canoe Slalom Championships for Rangitoto College in both 2022 and 2023, where I was a triple bronze medallist in the senior division. Currently, I am working in close collaboration with the local Auckland Slalom club to start a kayaking programme dedicated to Rangitoto College students. We are aiming to send a full team to the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships next year after preliminary preparations have been made. 

I am also part of the Rangitoto College Chamber Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra where we are working towards participating in the KBB Music Festival.

As a Year 12 student at Rangitoto College, I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) cohort. My preparation for IB started in Year 9 as I was in extension classes leading up to Year 12. There were many key factors which helped me choose IB. I really enjoy the worldwide focus the course has, which aligns with my desire to study overseas for university. This course will give me the best chance to get accepted into a university overseas, as it is recognised globally.

The IB Diploma is designed to prepare students as best as possible for university. It teaches important skills such as essay writing, time management, and collaboration. The Extended Essay is a significant part of the programme, allowing me to practise writing in a university style for an essay of 4,000 words. This will also improve my research abilities and deepen my understanding of my chosen topic. The two-year duration of the course teaches effective time management. This includes balancing the heavy workload of the course with extracurricular activities, such as sports and music. The small cohort provides an opportunity to create strong connections with like-minded students. Overall, this course will give me the best possible start to my future career, and I am looking forward to what lies ahead.