Hero photograph
Noah Abney 
 
Photo by Charlotte Sowman

New to New Zealand, new to Hagley!

Rowan Milburn —

From Canada to New Zealand, Noah Abney is one of our new arrivals; a young man finding his feet here and just loving what he is doing in the School of Apps!!

Noah arrived in New Zealand on the 10th of January 2016 and frankly he was reluctant to be here. I think we can all relate to being a teenager and coming to the other side of the world and leaving your routine and more importantly your friends! Not easy!

His first impression, naturally, was of the weather. It was really hot and it would be in stark contrast to a Canadian winter. The family made the move so Noah’s step-dad could work here during the rebuild and at the same time take the opportunity to see some of the world and travel as a family. In fact, Noah’s advice to new students at Hagley consists of:

”If you are from the other side of the world, pack different clothes, it's hot here in summer!”

Noah found himself enrolling at Hagley at one of our January Enrolment Days. His idea around enrolling at Hagley was initially because he didn’t want to wear a uniform. Fair call! He then, on a closer look thought the courses looked interesting and diverse. His initial programme was set up but in Noah’s terms, after starting, it just didn’t really do a lot for him. He had a couple of experiences that weren’t overly positive and he was questioning how he was going to get through the year. After a sit down meeting with Noah and his mum we decided to look into the School of Apps. Noah was introduced to the School of Apps and Sue McLachlan the following day. Noah was immediately at home in the room. He told me during the interview he felt a sense of relief at finding students similar to himself. He felt like he belonged and he explained to me the School of Apps is like a big family where students talk about their problems and people listen and offer advice as and when they can. He is really appreciating the connection he has with Connor as he reminds him of his best friend back home. This is a real strength of Hagley’s schools within schools courses as it provides both the teaching and learning programmes as well as the pastoral care for students who enrol in the course. The greater contact time with staff also fosters this relationship between teacher and student.

Noah is currently working on an SOS app in a group of four.

In the future, Noah would like to work for Yoobee in animation and design. His long term goal is to work with Bethesda who are a long time company that have made things such as the ‘Fallout’ series. His aim would be to design and produce open world games for teenagers, such as himself to play. This for Noah would be a dream come true!

It’s fair to say, life at Hagley didn’t start too well but Noah is really engaged in his course of study and enjoying Hagley life now, which is testament to the fact that by getting to know our students we can, in the most part, offer a course of study to suit. He has joined table tennis which he is looking forward to for winter and which gives him a further opportunity to widen his Hagley experience.

Noah has some sound advice for us as a College in orientating new students to Hagley. He would like to see a group of students that can easily be identified to work with new students and for the orientation process to include making links between students with the same interests.

All good advice and as a College we are really receptive to student and parent feedback.

It’s been great getting to know you, Noah! Keep up the good work!!