Class Act ten years on: King's High School

Where are they now?

 

BEN JOHNSON

2012:  Captain of the school 1st XV and the Otago under-17 mixed touch rugby team, Johnson was tossing up between playing rugby in England or staying in Otago. Ultimately, he wanted to become a sports physiotherapist.

 

 

 

 

2022: Johnson is a physiotherapist for Balance Physio and Physio NZ in Christchurch, as well as for Christchurch Boys’ High School and its 1st XV. He has physical education and physiotherapy degrees and after leaving school, spent a year in the UK, where he 
played club rugby.

 

 

 

 

SHAUN MARKHAM

2012: School dux and the South Island Secondary Schools Athletics shot put and discus champion, Markham, who has cerebral palsy, said his greatest challenge was getting people to accept him for who he was and see past his disability. He planned to study  economics and law and hoped to own his own business.

 

 

2022: Markham completed a master of economics, with distinction, and is a senior economist at the Reserve Bank in Wellington. He has been a member of an athletics club since moving to the capital in 2019 and still competes in shot put and discus.