Meet the 2022 Leadership Committee!

Mitchell Keightley — October 25th, 2022

Wow, what an amazing five years! Time really does fly when you’re having fun. I have enjoyed every minute of this bumpy journey that is high school and have especially enjoyed 2022 as one of the senior leaders of the school. It has been my honour and privilege to represent the crest as one of the Deputy Head Prefects and as Head of the Leadership Committee this year. 2022 has seen a very successful year for the Leadership Committee and Hamilton Boys’ High School - with the year running more smoothly due to less disruption with the country facing the back end of COVID-19.

Our Committee came together at the Prefects Retreat that occurred shortly after the naming of the Prefects. Straight away I could see our Committee was going to be made up of a great bunch of lads who all had different leadership qualities. Over the course of the year we were delegated responsibility for a variety of initiatives. Some of these included designing the leavers' gear, running the Student of the Week Award, running leadership workshops, and helping organise the Teachers versus Prefects events (basketball, football, volleyball) alongside the Sports Committee. These events were able to happen effortlessly thanks to the help of our entire Committee and the support of staff members. This year we were also able to organise a pizza lunch for each Prefect and their mentee they had been seeing throughout the year, which was very rewarding.

Every year, the Leadership Committee coordinates Leadership Week. This week involves certain events that take place in and around the school promoting leadership. This year, we mainly focused on guest speakers to speak to certain cohorts such as House Captains, Prefects, Lion Mentors or any other aspiring leaders. We were fortunate enough to have Deputy Headmaster Mr Power (good luck in Australia), former Head Prefect and CEO of LIC David Chin, and former HBHS Old Boy and Member of Parliament Jamie Strange all take time out of their busy schedules to offer words of wisdom about leadership. Thank you very much, I certainly learned a lot and I know many others did too.

I have many people to thank for my time at HBHS and for this year at school. First of all to my fellow committee members - Hunter, Liam, Keenan, Cooper, Finn, Nick and Sherif. I am exceptionally proud of the men in my Committee. Year 13 is a difficult year in terms of balancing school work, co-curricular activities and leadership positions, and I am delighted with the way you have conducted yourselves and contributed to the success of the school in your own unique ways. I would also like to thank some of the staff at school. Thank you to Mr Fraser Kilgour, who is now off pursuing a career in real estate. Thank you for what you taught me as my Tutor Group teacher for my first four years at HBHS. I came into the school as some may say an annoying little boy and you helped me to become a better man. Thank you to Mrs Hassall and Mr Hotham for a great Year 13. I have learned a lot about myself and about leadership. A huge thank you to Mr Teokotai-White - my water polo coach and one of my mentors. Thank you for everything you have done for me in the past six years (including a year as my teacher at Berkley Intermediate). I would not be where I am today without you. Thank you for always keeping me in line and always having faith in me.

On behalf of the Leadership Committee, I wish the next generation of students and staff the best of luck for the future. We have loved our time here at school and hope you do too.

By Mitchell Keightley

Deputy Head Prefect and Leader of the Leadership Committee

Leadership Committee Profiles: