Hetty Finney Waters
WHETHER it be on the page or up on stage, Hetty Finney Waters has plenty she wants to talk about.
A passion for sharing her ideas has led the 18yearold to success in writing, debating and public speaking.
She first started writing essays in her spare time when she started high school, but began entering competitions and taking it more seriously in year 11.
She always writes on issues she cares about, one of her most passionate topics being climate change.
She believes it is an issue that is universal and urgent for everyone.
Her essays act as an outlet for her thoughts, but also as a way for her to learn more about topics. By spreading awareness and communicating those ideas in writing, she also helps develop her own understanding.
In 2020 she won the National Council of Women Dawn Ibbotson Essay
Competition with a piece on the link between gender inequality and climate change. Last year she won the national Charles Brasch Young Writers’ Essay Competition and had her essay published in literary publication Landfall.
Her passion for the environment does not stop on the page, as for two and ahalf years she acted as regional chairwoman of the Town Belt Kaitiaki Student Leadership Team, a group which works with the Department of Conservation and local councils to help preserve the Dunedin Town Belt.
Hetty first became interested in activism in intermediate school, where she started to explore some of her ideas.
She also has a passion for public speaking and debating, which she sees as other outlets to voice her opinions and promote activism.
Last year she placed second in the school Speech Fest and was on the senior A debating team.
She is proud to colead the school’s Amnesty Team, which looks at issues within the school and promotes equality.
She is also the Otepoti Youth Vision Partnership Group LGBTQ+ youth representative and cochair of the school’s QueerStraight Alliance.
She feels honoured to act in so many leadership roles and sees it as a way to ensure younger pupils have the representation she wished she had as a junior.
Achievements: Academic prefect (2022); Blake Inspire scholarship (2022); Town Belt Kaitiaki regional chairwoman (2022), committee member (2021); Amnesty leader (2022); Otepoti Youth Vision Partnership LGBTQ+ youth rep (2022); Senior A debating (2021); Dawn Ibbotson national writing competition winner (2020); Charles Brasch national essay competition (2021). Role model: Former debating team member Louis Cavanagh and Town Belt Kaitiaki cochairman Ben Burrow. Hopes for the future: To study at the University of Otago and continue being involved in social issues.