Gustav Legnavsky
"Respect can be for people, and for the environment," he said.
These nurtured values have become a part of his personal strengths through "trying to be a positive person towards everything, being social and inclusive".
At 16, Gustav has already made a notable mark in the ski industry, winning a variety of international titles and being the youngest Olympian at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
His achievements have not been without their challenges though — travelling overseas to compete during tight Covid-19 protocols, being one of them.
Another was the time pressures in qualifying for the Olympics.
"For my age, I wasn’t allowed to do the full three-year qualifiers for the Olympics. I could only do two years of it, which was pretty stressful," he said.
Among his achievements to date, a personal highlight was the Junior World Championships.
"It was a really cool feeling to come back from the previous not-so-good competition at the Olympics and ending the season really well," Gustav said.
He credits his role models — his mother, and other skiers "who are always happy about where they are and never complaining about stuff" — for inspiring him over the years.
Looking ahead, Gustav says it is hard to pinpoint exactly where he will end up, "but I will definitely keep on skiing and following the dream, until I find something new".
The potential thought is to head to university one day and study, but in the meantime he will be moving abroad with his family for the next few years.
Achievements: 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics — being the youngest Olympian at the 2022 Games, 2022 (Leysin/March) Junior World Champion halfpipe skiing — with a score of 96/100, finishing 8th at the Mammoth Mountain grand prix world cup.
Role model: Mum and "most skiers that just froth life and being there makes them happy"; "people that are always happy about where they are and never complaining about stuff".
Hopes for the future: My family will be moving overseas at the end of this year and living there for the next few years, "so it’s not pinpointed, but I will definitely keep on skiing and following the dream, until I find something new".
Kimiya Byrne
Excelling across arts, sports and academically, Kimiya has found enjoyment in the range of people she meets in each group.
"Something my mum’s always said is what you put out into the world is what you get back. That’s been part of her cultural and personal values. So I always thought if you’re giving to your community, supporting others and being a positive influence, that will be reflected back," she said.
She believes how well someone does at school is "not a reflection of how smart you are, but how much work you’ve put in. It comes down to what you do ... I think being dedicated and not giving up when I get to a point where it’s hard".
With a full schedule, a challenge has been finding a balance between keeping up academic studies and her extracurricular interests.
"Especially with lots of times where I would have karate at the same time. I’d have a practise for music and find time to practise for all the different things, but I think scheduling it out and not procrastinating about things, and getting on to it. That’s been my biggest challenge has been balancing social life, academic and the other things I like to do," she said.
Of all her achievements, the most fulfilling have been reflective of what else was occurring at the time, Kimiya says.
"Last year, I was really happy to get excellence endorsement for level 2, but I think that was also a reflection of being able to achieve that on top of everything else I was involved in, because it did become hard with everything to get sorted and I was really hoping to get good grades on top of all the other things."
Achievements: Level 2 excellence, 80+ hours of service in 2022, kaea of kapa haka 2022, clarinet grade six Trinity College exam with merit 2020, 3rd kyu (brown belt one tab) Samurai Karate achieved in August 2021, head of cultural committee.
Role model: Her mother — "She left her country against what her parents thought she should do, went and travelled and made a whole new life for herself, which has been pretty inspiring."
Hopes for the future: Studying health science at the University of Otago. Kimiya is interested in studying oncology because "it’s always stuck out to me from a young age, that every single person knows someone that’s been affected by cancer and it can be quite personal".
