For newly appointed Te Tipua School principal Gareth Scott, his goal was his new role, the principal of a primary school.
Mr Scott, a "Southlander through and through" started the role at the 30-pupil school near Mataura last Monday.
He completed his teaching degree at University of Otago College of Education in Invercargill and always knew he wanted to be a principal.
"It’s always been the dream ... I guess even from when I was a kid. I still go back and my favourite teacher was a principal," he said.
He was "excited" about the role and those closest to him were just as excited for him, he said.
He spent his first days at the job getting himself accustomed to it.
"The joys of being a teaching principal is that I’ve been in the classroom the last couple of days teaching and [it is my] first day in the office today."
His role meant he spent half of his time teaching and the other half on principal duties, he said.
He planned to spend a lot of time getting to know the pupils, parents and the community, to make Te Tipua School even more of a desired location, he said.
Before taking on the role of principal he had spent the past 11 years as a teacher at Aurora College.
Now at Te Tipua he had fallen in love with the "country feel" of the school, he said.
"When you walk in you just get that feel of community that you get when you go into small country schools.
"You can just sense that when you come in here and see what they’ve been building for a number of years.
"I love that it’s a small school, the kids are amazing, facilities are really good.
"We have got such a supportive board and PTA.
As for what the future held, he wanted to see how he could grow as a principal.
"I’ve got goals and ambitions and this was one of the first big things for me was to become a principal. Sort of starting that journey now and we’ll see where it ends up."
