Photo by Mount Aspiring College

SCHOOL BOARD STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE ELECTION

Mount Aspiring College — September 19th, 2024

Please take some time to read through the statements from our two students standing as candidates for Student Rep on the School Board.

All full-time students in Years 9-13 are eligible to vote. This year, we will run an electronic voting system. You will be emailed a unique code to use between Wednesday 25 September 4.00pm and Thursday 26 September 4.00pm.

The next School Board student representative will be declared on Thursday 26 September 5.00pm. The successful candidate will become a full member of the School Board attending their first School Board meeting on Tuesday 5 November, representing the views of students in all strategic discussions.

TYLER GAWN

Hello, I am Tyler Gawn and I want YOU to vote for me.

I am a Year 12 student who is hoping to be your student representative on the School Board. I enjoy playing rugby and being outdoors as much as I can.

Student reps have followed a pattern for the past few years, making promises they cannot keep. This is not always their fault; they go into the role expecting to make huge changes around the school without understanding what the meaning of student body representative is. If I am voted your student rep I will make it my personal goal to have as much input as I can from a diverse student body. I will bring up issues that I am passionate about such as the upkeep of our school sports grounds and improved communication with students about issues within our school. As well as further supporting our student athletes, giving them a voice that they have needed for a long while.

Although these are things I believe in, I care equally about the issues that the students believe in. I am approachable and will find what the students care about the most and bring as much attention to the situation as possible. I will do everything I can to inform the students what is going on within the board. If students are reading this please do come talk to me if you have any questions, concerns or ideas that you would like to be brought forward.

I put my name forward for this position as I have found in life that for true progress to happen you often have to get your own hands dirty and not rely upon others. Although my voice is the one that will be doing the talking at the meeting I want the student body to understand that it is your ideas and your input that is being said, as I will not be “the student representative” I will be your student representative.

TOBY MILLS My name is Toby, I'm 16 years old and I’ve lived in Wānaka for most of my life. I'm currently in Year 11 at Mount Aspiring College and I love being able to make a difference, in whatever way that might be. On 17 March 2022, I broke my C4 vertebrae and as a result I spent a lot of time navigating around in a wheelchair. This has made me a lot more aware of general accessibility around schools and last year I successfully advocated for $750,000 from the MoE to improve the accessibility around MAC.
These days I get around using an arm crutch but I still have my own struggles and seemingly small issues like heavy doors and lips on door frames can make getting around school and learning much harder. I’m currently the only person in Mount Aspiring College’s history who has had a permanent physical disability like mine, but I know I won’t be the last. It means a lot to me that my actions will help not only myself but others to learn better and seeing as the only way to get change is to speak up, being the School Board Rep for 2025 seems like a perfect way to do so. As the ākonga of New Zealand and the youth who will be learning using this education system, it’s important to me that we have a big say in what it looks like as everyone has different needs in order for them to learn as best as they can. This is a topic that I’d really like to focus on with the School Board should I be elected. Everyone deserves to have the best chance that they can to succeed at school, and that success will look different for every student. I'll also remember that I'm not running for Prime Minister; the decisions I make might not change your life hugely, but hopefully I'll be able to help to make our school a bit better and at the same time have a bit of fun.

TOBY MILLS

My name is Toby, I'm 16 years old and I’ve lived in Wānaka for most of my life.

I'm currently in Year 11 at Mount Aspiring College and I love being able to make a difference, in whatever way that might be. On 17 March 2022, I broke my C4 vertebrae and as a result I spent a lot of time navigating around in a wheelchair. This has made me a lot more aware of general accessibility around schools and last year I successfully advocated for $750,000 from the MoE to improve the accessibility around MAC.

These days I get around using an arm crutch but I still have my own struggles and seemingly small issues like heavy doors and lips on door frames can make getting around school and learning much harder. I’m currently the only person in Mount Aspiring College’s history who has had a permanent physical disability like mine, but I know I won’t be the last. It means a lot to me that my actions will help not only myself but others to learn better and seeing as the only way to get change is to speak up, being the School Board Rep for 2025 seems like a perfect way to do so.

As the ākonga of New Zealand and the youth who will be learning using this education system, it’s important to me that we have a big say in what it looks like as everyone has different needs in order for them to learn as best as they can. This is a topic that I’d really like to focus on with the School Board should I be elected. Everyone deserves to have the best chance that they can to succeed at school, and that success will look different for every student.

I'll also remember that I'm not running for Prime Minister; the decisions I make might not change your life hugely, but hopefully I'll be able to help to make our school a bit better and at the same time have a bit of fun.