This month's edition introduces 2020 Head Girl, Ruby Moetara, who returns as staff to HGHS to pursue her two passions; dance and teaching!

Name and background
Ko Te Kai a te Whetu te maunga
Ko Waimamaku te awa
Ko Te Mahuhu-ki-te-rangi te waka
Ko Te Roroa te iwi
Ko Ngāti Korokoro te hapū
Ko Te Whakamaharatanga te marae
Ko Simon Moetara tōku pāpā
Ko Rachel Trebilco tōku māmā
Ko Ruby Moetara tōku ingoa

Your last year at HGHS
2020

What is it that you currently do outside of school?
I am in my second year of a Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) with a minor in dance. I am studying as a Dance scholar in the Sir Edmund Hillary program. I do dance and choreography in a range of different spaces and when I'm not studying or dancing, I work with the awesome folks at Banh Mi Caphe.

What was favourite thing about being a student at HGHS?
My favourite thing about being a student at HGHS was the relationships that I formed during my time here. I have friends, teachers and mentors that influenced me greatly, many of whom I am still in regular contact with. I always look back in awe of the kind, smart and accomplished young women and leaders that I was mixing with every day. Now, I see them carving it up in every part of the big wide world!

What was your greatest accomplishment at school as a student and why?
My biggest accomplishment at school was navigating the beginnings of a pandemic in my final year. We were met with so many new and unfamiliar challenges, and we had no way of using past experiences to work through what was in front of us. I was proud of the team that I rallied with and proud of how we managed to look out for each other and the wider community during that time.

What are you looking forward to most about being a staff member at HGHS?
I love dance and I love teaching, so I am blessed to get to work within my two passions. I get to work with mentors and leaders that I looked up to for years. I am excited that I get to build students' mana, provide students a safe space to try something new, like dance, and offer the same awhi and support that I was given as a student at HGHS.

What advice would you give to current students?
Get involved with as many things as you can, try new things even if it makes you a little bit nervous. You reap so much value and experience from trying new things & you may just find out that you are capable of so much more than you thought you were.