The future’s looking bright

Laura Woolf is the third in her family to be named dux of Queen Charlotte College, which made for an emotional prizegiving earlier this month.

‘‘I was like, bawling my eyes out as soon as I knew it was me. They were reading out my top classes and I just started crying.

‘‘I had two older siblings who both got dux. It’s not really the title ... it was just overwhelming to be up on the honour board with my siblings,’’ Laura said.

She was first in geography, English, history, physical education and statistics, and was considering studying physical education and psychology at Otago University next year.

‘‘But I can see myself changing in terms of what I study, because I’m interested in so many things.’’

Laura was also a keen recreational sportswoman, playing netball, basketball, volleyball, badminton and touch rugby over the years, alongside extracurricular activities such as being deputy head girl, coaching PPP reading, CACTUS training, and a parttime job at Picton Four Square.

Queen Charlotte College’s head girl for next year is Donje Jamieson, of Waikawa, and head boy is Jack Clerke, of Linkwater.

Donje said the news was still sinking in.

‘‘We’re just very grateful to be chosen, it’s an awesome opportunity.’’

Donje has been riding horses and dancing for about a decade, but her favourite subjects are biology and physics. She is considering studying health science at Otago University in 2021.

Jack said he was ‘‘excited and surprised’’ to be chosen, pointing to where his name would be added to the honour board in the school hall.

‘‘We’ve made the list, now we’ve got to live up to the big expectations ... it’s a little bit nerve wracking but it’s exciting we can give back to the school, they’ve done so much for us.’’

Leading his peers required ‘‘a different approach’’ to other types of leadership, he said.

‘‘To get an effective team it will be about including them, so they can all contribute.’’

Next year he would be taking his favourite subjects, chemistry and biology, and was ‘‘definitely’’ going to study health sciences further down the track.

‘‘There are lots of people into science in our year, we’ve got a really big chemistry class at level 3,’’ he said.

‘‘I’ve had my mind set on it for a while now, because I want to become a doctor and go overseas with aid organisations, or go into a rural community ... Rural health centres are often understaffed.’’

Sophie Woodhouse was named Marlborough Girls’ College dux, saying she ‘‘knew she was up there’’ but was still taken by surprise.

She took a broad range of subjects in her final year, achieving first equal for French, first for classics, first for English, second in mathematics with calculus, and second in the Boys’ College physics class.

She was planning to study French and international relations at Victoria University next year, with possibly philosophy as a minor.

‘‘I’m just going to chill out til then.’’

Marlborough Girls’ College student Raumati Rogers said she was ‘‘quite surprised’’ to be named head girl. ‘‘There are so many other girls with so much potential.’’

She had not planned on even applying to be a prefect, as she had several other extra-curricular commitments, but this year’s Ma¯ ori prefect Aimee Sandrey encouraged her, she said.

‘‘I take Ma¯ ori performing arts and te reo Ma¯ ori. I was brought up with te reo Ma¯ori around me all the time, because my family is Ma¯ori. But I hadn’t been taking te reo because it didn’t really fit in with my subjects. And I thought I was missing out on something,’’ Rogers said.

‘‘So I took it this year. And it was quite challenging, it’s always hard to learn another language. But it’s also hard to learn your own language because there are different ways to pronounce things.

‘‘I identify as Ma¯ori and I want people to be comfortable with their culture.’’

Marlborough Boys’ College dux is Damien Bolliger, who was first in calculus, chemistry, economics, business and English.

‘‘I just couldn’t believe it, I was stoked.’’

Born in South Africa and raised in Hamilton, he moved to Blenheim at the start of last year and was surprised by how quickly he found a good group of mates, he said.

He had worked hard to get there around two jobs, as a surf lifesaver and also in the landscaping section at Bunnings.

His favourite subject was business, and had spent 10 days in Brazil with the Young Entrepreneurs Scheme run through the college.

‘‘It’s cool just being immersed in culture, it’s totally different to New Zealand. I think I got the travel bug.’’

Damien planned to study accounting and finance next year at the University of Canterbury.

Head boy for next year is George Glover, who said he wanted to use his position to make sure all students had a voice and were valued members of the school community.

‘‘Just for other people’s views that need to be shared, that weren’t getting out there.’’

The champion swimmer would be juggling business, English, calculus, physics and drama around his head boy duties in his final year.

‘‘Next year will be good.’’