Meet the Prefects
My school journey began 13 years ago a long way away in Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong. I wandered up to Kennedy School in my rather funky looking purple uniform, and looked around in awe at the big 7 year olds who my older sister hung around with. I was terrified. But this new school wasn’t to be for long, as just the very next year I found myself coming along for my second ‘first day’ of school, as a year 1 in Arrowtown.
Arrowtown Primary School was where I would spend the next 8 years of my life, growing from a scared, culture-shocked 5 year old to a ‘too cool for school’ 13 year old. This was where St Hilda’s came in. I still distinctly remember the day when I got the call that I got into St Hilda’s. I was driving home from the pool after morning training and the phone rang to say I was in. I remember spending the whole rest of the day at school crazy excited to go to St Hilda’s next year! It was only Term 2 of Year 8 and I was already impatient to meet everyone and try out all the new things.
This hunger to try out new things never really faded right through my time at St Hilda’s. Since my very first day, one thing that has always excited me was the endless opportunities. I am so grateful not only for St Hilda’s offering so many opportunities, but also for teaching the importance of taking these opportunities. We are so lucky to have a school which encourages people to try out new things. There are so many different opportunities out there, and you can genuinely never know if you will like something until you try it!
The number of clubs, sports and subjects available has always amazed me. Coming from Arrowtown, where there was just Literacy, Numeracy and PE, even the idea of science was simply a foreign concept. Since coming to St Hilda’s I have cherished the opportunity to explore so many different subject areas - the huge variety of subjects on offer allowed me to find what subjects I didn’t so much enjoy, but most importantly, what I did.
For me, I figured out pretty quickly that my passion lay in the languages and science areas. Thankfully there are so many different activities in these areas to keep me busy. Over the years I have participated in numerous science programs, competitions, and made loads of friends with similar interests. Some highlights would be the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre Marine Science program, the New York Academy of Sciences Junior Academy, and the Healthy Harbour watchers program at Otago Uni. Recently, I was also able to compete in Concours Oral National - a French speaking competition which was absolutely terrifying, but a great experience to practice speaking French in a real life situation.
Aside from academics, St Hilda’s has also given me many extracurricular opportunities as well. I have loved getting to try out such a wide range of clubs - from Magazine Committee to Zonta and Chapel Committee. Over the years I’ve also had a go at a number of different sports - with very varying degrees of success! I’ve tried out swimming, waterpolo, golf, badminton, netball and even debating (although it might be a stretch to call debating a sport)?!
At the end of 2021 it was an absolute privilege to be appointed academic prefect. This is yet another amazing opportunity, which has taught me so much about collaboration, leadership, and organisation. I have loved being part of such a supportive, motivated team - and can’t wait to see what the prefect team is going to accomplish in the rest of 2022.
To answer the dreaded “what are your plans for next year?” question, I’m not all that sure. I still struggle to decide what I’m going to wear tomorrow, forget deciding upon any important life decisions! I know that I want to study medicine - but where I do this I really have no clue. At the moment, I am hoping to study somewhere in the UK or NZ, but I’ll have to wait and see how things play out in these unpredictable times. For the time being, I plan on enjoying my final months of high school and making as many incredible memories as possible.