BAYFIELD HIGH SCHOOL
2014: Grimaldi was one of New Zealand’s top para-athletes. She held New Zealand age-group and open women’s Paralympic records for the 100m, 200m 400m and long jump and hoped to compete at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio.
2024: A three-time Paralympic champion, Grimaldi won gold in the T47 women’s long jump in 2016 and 2020 and in the T47 women’s 200m last month. She also won bronze in the 100m in Paris and was a flag-bearer for the New Zealand team. A Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, she has a diploma in quantity surveying and spent a year working for Naylor Love (see separate story).
2014: Tay aspired to be a research scientist. At 17, he had already achieved NCEA levels 1 and 2 endorsed with excellence and NCEA level 3 music with a merit endorsement. He played clarinet in the Dunedin Youth Orchestra, saxophone in the Dunedin City Jazz Orchestra and was a member of the winning ensemble at the 2014 New Zealand Chamber Music Contest.
2024: Based at Ruhr University, in Bochum, Germany, Tay is studying towards a PhD in chemistry and recently submitted his thesis for review. The focus of his studies is investigating how molecules interact with each other and how stable those interactions are. He does this through vibrational spectroscopy, where he uses light to detect small changes in how molecules vibrate.
He has a bachelor’s degree of science with honours and a master’s of science. He still enjoys listening to music but doesn’t have a group to play with at present.
BLUE MOUNTAIN COLLEGE
2014: After dislocating her knee playing rugby, Hancox began coaching junior rugby and netball, threw herself into academic work and took on leadership roles, serving on several school committees. Also head girl, she planned to become a nurse.
2024: Hancox works for Gore Health Ltd as a registered nurse. She spends half her time in the community as a district nurse and the remainder of her time, working in the emergency department at Gore Hospital. Injuries ended her rugby career but she goes to a gym, runs and plays social squash, touch and netball.
2014: With a passion for animals and a background in equestrian riding, van Baarle was considering studying agricultural science or veterinary science. The year 13 pupil had collected the top scholar award for two years and was in the Southland netball development squad.
2024: Van Baarle is 50:50 sharemilking with her partner on her family’s 730-cow dairy farm at Heriot. She received the top academic award in the second and third years of her agri-science degree at Massey University and completed the Rabobank Farm Managers’ Programme. She stopped playing netball due to a knee injury but is still involved in equestrian events and recently joined the Eastern Southland Hunt.
COLUMBA COLLEGE
2014: A fascination with the arts had driven Deng to become a talented pianist and writer. She had also gained NCEA levels 1 and 2 with excellence endorsements. She hoped to become a concert pianist and a writer.
2024: Deng was co-dux of Columba College and received a Goethe Institut scholarship to Germany. She completed her master’s degree of music with first class honours on a Marsden Research Grant. She has a conjoint bachelor’s degree of arts (English) and music, and completed an advanced diploma at the Royal Academy of Music as a Sir Elton John Scholar.
She has performed at Wigmore Hall in London and given performances broadcast on BBC Radio 3, ABC Radio and RNZ Concert. Her debut poetry collection was published by Auckland University Press in AUP New Poets 8. She lives in Melbourne, where she is a paralegal, studying law and still performs when she has the chance to.
2014: One of New Zealand’s top hockey and touch rugby players, Steele felt living through the 2011 Christchurch earthquake had taught her to remain cool under pressure and never give up. She hoped to become a professional sportswoman and a doctor.
2024: Steele has continued to excel at hockey, playing in the Junior World Cup in 2016, making her Black Sticks debut the same year and touring to Argentina with the side in 2017. She also captained Auckland to a win in the national hockey league. Recently, she spent one and-a-half seasons playing hockey professionally for the Holcombe club in the English premier league, being named player of the year for the 2023-24 season.
After playing at the Touch World Cup in 2015 and 2019, she gave up the sport because the hockey and touch seasons started to overlap too much but she would like to return to it at some stage. She has a bachelor of science, majoring in zoology and marine ecology, and is a park ranger working in regional parks in Auckland. She is also studying for a business degree, majoring in accounting.
CROMWELL COLLEGE
2014: The youngest person in New Zealand and Australia to gain a full black belt in karate, Morton also gave her time to many voluntary causes. She hoped to forge a career in the outdoors and eventually run her own tourism business.
2024: After completing a diploma in adventure tourism management and a business management degree, Morton worked at The Helicopter Line in Queenstown and as an operations co-ordinator with Cabin Services at Sydney airport. When COVID hit, she returned to New Zealand and started a building apprenticeship with her father’s company.
Eventually, she hopes to move into project management. Although she is no longer active in karate, she gained her 2nd dan black belt after leaving school and has helped with self defence courses and coaching. Along with her family, she is also involved in helping community groups in Cromwell.
DUNSTAN HIGH SCHOOL
2014: The national junior freestyle kayaking champion, Rayner had enjoyed competing in the junior world championships in the United States. He hoped to continue with the sport while studying engineering.
2024: From the Taieri to the Zambezi, Rayner has kayaked around the world and says although he is no longer involved at a competitive level, the sport has given him friends and experiences he would otherwise never have had.
As well as competing in the freestyle kayak world championships in 2015 and 2017, he has paddled in places such as Zambia, California, Chile and India, also teaming up with friends to kayak the Taieri River from its source in the Lammerlaw Range to the Pacific Ocean 288km away.
Earlier this year, he and two friends also organised the kayak-cross Citroen Race on the Kawerau River. He graduated with a bachelor of civil engineering in 2019 and works for an engineering consultancy in Wellington on bridges, stormwater infrastructure and flood protection.
2014: Vessey had represented New Zealand in age-group road cycling teams for four years and captained the New Zealand under-19 cycling team. She hoped to represent New Zealand at an elite level and planned to study for a medical imaging degree.
2024: Vessey has a radiation therapy degree and is the head of treatment for radiation oncology at St George’s Cancer Care Centre in Christchurch. In this role, she is responsible for the day-to-day running of the radiation treatment machines and the future development of treatment in the department. She retired from cycling to focus on her career but still enjoys riding socially with friends.
EAST OTAGO HIGH SCHOOL
2014: Church played for the Otago Spirit rugby team and the South Island Maori rugby team and was a rodeo rider who had won several awards in the New Zealand Rodeo Junior Competition. She planned to train as a secondary school teacher.
2024: Church lives in Dunedin and works at Oceana Gold, operating heavy machinery such as dump trucks, loaders, wheel dozers and graders. She recently played her 43rd game for the Otago Spirit, and has played 98 club games for Alhambra Union. She doesn’t compete at rodeos any more but still goes to watch her family ride.
2014: Oldham’s leadership skills within the school and the wider community had earned her a Trustpower Community Spirit Award. She captained the school’s senior A netball team and coached both netball and volleyball. She wanted to become a physiotherapist.
2024: An associate physiotherapist at Recovery Room in Dunedin, Oldham is also team physiotherapist for the Otago University Rugby Club and involved with Otago Rugby, as academy and high performance group physiotherapist and as team physiotherapist for the Otago development squad. She plays netball socially, as an outlet from her job and study. As well as her physiotherapy degree, she has a postgraduate diploma in applied science (physical conditioning) and is studying towards a master’s of physiotherapy (sport).
GORE HIGH SCHOOL
(now Māruawai College)
2014: McIntyre hoped her excellence endorsements in NCEA levels 1 and 2 would help her into a career in medicine or medical laboratory science. She also excelled in music, playing the flute and achieving grade 6 piano in the Australian and New Zealand Cultural Arts (ANZCA) exams.
2024: McIntyre is the deputy warden at the University of Otago’s newest residential college, Te Whare Whakamaru O Te Rangihiroa. Since 2018, she has also been involved with Hands-on at Otago, giving high school students an on-campus experience and exposing them to the possibilities that exist at the university. She has a bachelor of applied science and a master’s of science, both in environmental management. Although less involved in music than she used to be, she plays with friends from time to time and enjoys learning waiata and other kapa haka with a group of university staff.
JOHN McGLASHAN COLLEGE
2014: Griffiths, who had raised large sums of money for school events and charities, said he wanted to use money to bring positive change to New Zealand. Chairman of the school’s student council, he planned to study business.
2024: A senior solicitor at Chapman Tripp in Auckland, Griffiths works as a commercial property lawyer. He has a law degree and a commerce degree (majoring in economics). Throughout university, he volunteered as a women’s rugby coach at Selwyn College, served as secretary of the Commerce Students’ Association, was the publications representative for the Society of Otago University Law Students (Souls) and acted as the treasurer of the New Zealand Law Students’ Association. He was the New Zealand Maori Business Case Competition champion in 2018 and spent several years on the board of trustees for Volunteer South.
2014: The Otago men’s tennis player of the year, Ou had also made a name for himself as a pianist and was in the winning ensemble at the Dunedin regional chamber music competition. He planned to study at the University of Otago.
2024: Ou has science and music degrees and teaches science and PE at Waitaki Boys’ High School. As well as playing in regional tennis competitions and for Otago, he has also done some coaching. He taught music while at university and jams in bands in Oamaru.
KAIKORAI VALLEY COLLEGE
2014: The school’s academic leader excelled in mathematics and sciences. She loved animals and wanted to become a vet.
2024: Coleman is a companion animal veterinarian at a Manawatu vet clinic. The job involves GP care, medicine, diagnostics, surgery, dentistry and emergency care for cats and dogs. She has a bachelor of veterinary science with distinction, and a Saint Bernard dog named Mo.
2014: Johnson had toured Australia as part of the New Zealand Touch Blacks (open men’s team), been selected for the First XV Highlanders rugby camp, played rugby league for the South Island under-17 team and been a member of the Otago under-17 basketball team. He hoped to have a sports-related career.
2024: A former member of the Otago Rugby Academy and the Otago Development Squad, Johnson spent six years playing for the Zingari Richmond premier team after leaving high school. More recently, he played for the Clutha Valley rugby team in the southern region competition, winning the competition with them three times and being named southern region player of the year this year.
He also played two years for the Otago sevens rugby team, winning the South Island tournament in the second year, and played two years for the Otago open mixed touch side, finishing as runner-up at both national tournaments. The Dunedin man has a bachelor of applied science in sport and health and has almost completed a building apprenticeship.
KAVANAGH COLLEGE
(now Trinity Catholic College)
2014: O’Leary had won a silver medal in the quad at the World Junior Rowing Championships, won the under-18 single sculls at the Maadi Cup and been named as one of three New Zealand rowers to compete at the Youth Olympics in China. He hoped to compete at the Tokyo Olympics and to study sport and exercise physiology.
2024: Part of the Ahuora research group at the University of Waikato, O’Leary is completing a PhD in chemical and biological engineering and working on finding robust, cost-effective solutions to create a sustainable energy future for New Zealand. His bachelor’s and master’s engineering degrees were both in chemical and biological processes.
He stopped rowing in 2023 after international success that included being part of the under-23 world champion men’s quadruple sculls team (see separate story).
2014: A drummer in the National Youth Pipe Band, Prince had just returned from a tour of Canada and Los Angeles. He also played the saxophone, clarinet and flute in the Dunedin City Jazz Orchestra and excelled academically. He hoped to study geography and become a developer or city planner.
2024: After studying in Otago, Prince received a Fullbright scholarship to complete a PhD in atmospheric and oceanic science at the University of Wisconsin in the United States. Through this, he is part of the Nasa Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment (Prefire) mission, which launched two small satellites to measure the heat being emitted by Earth, with a focus on the Arctic and Antarctica.
Prince’s research is examining how ongoing warming is changing our planet, from reducing sea ice cover to changing weather and extreme storms. Observations from the new satellites will help scientists more accurately understand these changes, with the goal of improving future projections. The graduate research assistant has a science degree (first-class honours) in geography, a master’s of science in physical geography and a diploma for graduates in music, all from the University of Otago.
After high school, he continued to drum in pipe bands, competing at the world championships in Scotland, and continued to play with the Dunedin City Jazz Orchestra and musicals. He has also played in folk groups in Otago and the United States.
KING'S HIGH SCHOOL
2014: An Otago age-group football and futsal representative, Aman had achieved NCEA levels 1 and 2 with excellence. He planned to study architecture or physiotherapy.
2024: A senior physiotherapist at a private practice in Melbourne, Aman is also head physiotherapist for an NPL1 soccer club. He stopped playing football and futsal in 2020 after moving to Australia in the midst of the pandemic.
With a physiotherapy degree and a postgraduate certificate in sports physiotherapy, he has a year of full-time study left to complete his master’s. He also has a Fifa diploma in football medicine and a level 1 qualification from the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association.
His article on minimising the risk of hamstring injuries in soccer players was published in the Sports and Exercise Physiotherapy New Zealand (SEPNZ) bulletin.
2014: A member of the Otago premier men’s softball team, Meiklejohn had also toured Australia with the New Zealand academy squad. The head boy planned to become a secondary school teacher or to study politics.
2024: A live sport producer and director at Sky Sport NZ, Meiklejohn has a degree in broadcast communication and worked as an onsite producer at the Paris Olympics. Other highlights have included being studio producer for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games and the 2023 Rugby World Cup, and being director for the 2022 NPC final and the 2022 Softball World Cup final.
Weekend work prevents the Auckland man from playing softball but he enjoys being able to stay involved in the sport through broadcasts.
LAWRENCE AREA SCHOOL
2014: After breaking her sternum playing rugby, Dickey traded the oval ball for a netball and went on to captain the school’s A netball team which won the Otago B grade championship. Also a black belt in karate, she hoped to become a medic in the air force.
2024: Dickey is a performance analyst with the Counties Manukau Rugby Football Union, working with its NPC team, the Steelers, as well as other representative teams and premier club sides. The job involves providing game review and opposition preview information, recording training sessions and obtaining live-capture videos to help coaches make decisions during games. She worked as the analyst for the Black Ferns in 2023 and the champion Chiefs Manawa team in 2022 and was assistant analyst at Moana Pasifika for the 2022-23 seasons. The Auckland woman has a master of applied science in performance analysis. She continued to play netball socially while studying but has since stopped due to work commitments and plays social basketball instead.
2014: Shaw excelled at western riding, and played for the school’s A basketball team and the Southern region football team. She planned to study law.
2024: Graham has spent the past eight years as an air warfare officer in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, a career that has taken her around the world. Her role is co-tactical co-ordinator on a P-8A aircraft, which is used for long range maritime patrols, search and rescue work and anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare.
While she doesn’t compete in western riding any more, she still rides when she can, plays basketball and has represented the New Zealand Defence Force in rugby.
LOGAN PARK HIGH SCHOOL
2014: Denys’ highlight of 2014 was attending the World Science Conference in Jerusalem and listening to 20 Nobel laureates at the cutting edge of science. He had gained a New Zealand Scholarship in mathematics with statistics as a year 12 student and was placed in the top 100 mathematicians in the University of Otago competition for secondary students. He planned to study physics and molecular biology.
2024: After completing a science degree with first-class honours and a master’s in physics with distinction, Denys moved to Wellington and worked as a software developer for a US-based company. He then spent a year as a research assistant in the physics-electrical engineering field and now works as a software engineer. In the past 10 years, he has become increasingly involved in outdoor recreation.
He was on the committee of the Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering Club and is on the Wellington committee of the New Zealand Alpine Club.
2014: Seddon excelled at public speaking. He won the Otago Secondary Schools Rotary Speech Competition, had been a member of the Otago-Southland secondary schools debating team for two years and was one of the drama students from his school who won the New Zealand Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Contest. He planned to study law and politics and hoped to become a diplomat at the United Nations.
2024: Seddon is still involved in debating through judging and coaching. He represented the University of Otago at the World University Debating Championships three times, ranking 30th in the world in 2019, serving as New Zealand team captain and being in the winning team at New Zealand’s oldest national university debating tournament, the Joynt Scroll Championships.
He is now a lawyer and associate at Dentons Kensington Swan in Wellington, working in the financial markets team. He has a bachelor of laws with honours, and a bachelor of arts in philosophy, politics and economics.
MANIOTOTO AREA SCHOOL
2014: Head girl at her school, Albert hoped to become a professional photographer. She had won the ‘‘most outstanding photograph’’ award in a Maniototo competition, as well as various trophies in highland dancing.
2024: Albert and her partner have their own garden maintenance business and have turned their Ranfurly property into a small-scale flower farm. Day-to-day, she juggles caring for their three children with office work, growing and drying flowers, helping with garden work and prepping their own garden for tours. She has a New Zealand diploma in photography and a New Zealand certificate in te reo Maori. She still enjoys photography and would like to return to highland dancing, possibly alongside one of her daughters.
2014: Neilson was a New Zealand under-21 curling representative and had played the bagpipes at the Basel Tattoo in Switzerland with the Pipes and Drums of Christchurch City. As well as continuing with these Scottish traditions, he hoped to train as an engineer.
2024: Neilson is an electrician and team leader at EIS in Christchurch. He continued curling for the New Zealand under-21 team until he aged out, then played for the New Zealand men’s team for a year. The sport has taken him to Finland, Sweden, South Korea and China and he still competes in the national championships each year.
He also travelled to Switzerland twice for the Basel Tattoo. He hasn’t competed in a pipe band for many years but still plays for social events and his own enjoyment.
OTAGO BOYS' HIGH SCHOOL
2014: Pelet was in the New Zealand Chemistry Olympiad training squad and had been selected for the Rotary National Science and Technology Forum and the Youth Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science Forum. He planned to study sciences at the University of Otago.
2024: As the solutions group lead at Syft Technologies in Christchurch, Pelet manages a team of 12, including mechanical, electrical and software engineers as well as scientists.
The company uses real-time direct injection mass spectrometry to develop products that enable fast detection of trace chemicals in gases. These have applications across the environmental, semiconductor and life sciences industries. Pelet has a first class honours degree in chemistry with a minor in physics and mathematics.
OTAGO GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL
2014: Mun had achieved NCEA levels 1 and 2 with excellence and high distinction awards in Australian maths, language and chemistry competitions. She attended an international science camp in Finland, was a black belt in karate and in the senior A debating team. She hoped to study international law, politics and environmental science.
2024: Based in Geneva, Mun recently completed a master’s in international and development studies. Her research focused on the efforts of international biodiversity institutions to weave indigenous knowledge with Western science, in a bid to improve policy and decision-making for biodiversity conservation. She has a bachelor of laws with honours and a bachelor of science.
After leaving school, she was the national president for UN Youth New Zealand and joined other young people paddling kayaks made from recycled plastic bottles along the Abel Tasman coastline to raise awareness about plastic pollution and conservation. She hosts a podcast called The Ecologist and is looking for a job in the environment/climate change sector in Europe.
QUEEN'S HIGH SCHOOL
2014: As well as excelling academically, Scholten had won several Otago Science Fair awards and sang soprano in the school’s Madrigal Choir. She planned to take a gap year overseas before undertaking tertiary study.
2024: Scholten says she quickly learned science at university was not for her: ‘‘I love learning and the knowledge of science but never could fully get into the scientific writing, stats reports style.’’ She completed a bachelor of arts and a master’s of politics and works at the Ministry of Social Development in Wellington.
As a senior adviser (operational policy), her job is to ensure that policy and legislative design can be delivered in a practical way in New Zealand’s welfare system. While at university, she helped run the Politics Students Association and established a mentoring programme for Otago politics students. When asked if she is still involved in singing, she said ‘‘Only to myself when the house is empty’’, adding, ‘‘I’m a bit out of practice’’.
ROXBURGH AREA SCHOOL
2014: As well as being the winner of the school’s speech competition and leader of the senior debating team, Wise had taken the lead female role in several of its productions. She hoped to become a stage actress.
2024: An assistant manager at Audit New Zealand, Clearwater has a commerce degree and a graduate diploma of chartered accounting. She is also a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.
The Dunedin woman is no longer involved in public speaking or acting, saying outside of a high school and university environment, she gravitated to more active and nature-based hobbies. She and her husband have a son and another child on the way.
2014: Head girl and a member of the New Zealand Area Schools’ netball team, Moir had also achieved NCEA levels 1 and 2 with excellence. She aimed to do arts and commerce degrees and to work in media communications.
2024: Moir is an associate digital director for a media agency in London. In the past, her clients have included New Zealand brands such as The Warehouse and Villa Maria. She has a bachelor of arts, majoring in communications, a bachelor of commerce, majoring in marketing management, and a diploma for graduates, endorsed in information and communications technology. She still plays netball socially.
ST HILDA'S COLLEGIATE
2014: A high academic achiever, Keown was also a successful athlete, winning bronze medals in the 800m and 1500m at the South Island secondary schools athletics championships and competing at the New Zealand secondary schools cross-country. She hoped to work in publishing, preferably for a fashion or pop-culture magazine.
2024: Since moving to Paris earlier this year, Keown has been working as a writer and content creator at creative communications agency Von Peach. She previously spent nine years in Auckland, where she completed a bachelor of arts with a double major in media studies and French, worked as a digital content producer at Bauer Media and was communications lead for the Child Cancer Foundation.
At university, she was named on the dean’s honour list for her arts degree and received a ‘‘first in course’’ award for a third-year media studies paper. Last year, she also demonstrated her proficiency in the French language by passing the DELF B2 exam. She spends much of her spare time running and is training for a half marathon.
2014: A successful rower, Paterson had achieved NCEA levels 1 and 2 with excellence and was first in chemistry, biology and French in 2013. She planned to study either medicine or engineering.
2024: Paterson completed a medical degree at the University of Otago and did her three-month elective placement in Australia, Italy and the UK just before Covid began. She spent two years as a junior doctor at Middlemore Hospital and is currently doing a PhD in surgery full-time at the University of Auckland while working occasional locum shifts. She plans to go back to fulltime clinical work in 2026. Although she is no longer rowing, she says she is grateful for the life skills the sport gave her.
ST KEVIN'S COLLEGE
2014: A North Otago under-18 rugby rep, Kearney was also in the winning team at the 2013 AA New Zealand secondary schools basketball championship and a member of the lightweight four rowing team which was a finalist at the Maadi Cup. He planned to become a lawyer.
2024: Kearney is an in-house commercial property lawyer for a company in London which has carparks and business sublets throughout the UK. Basketball and rowing have taken a back seat since high school but he has continued to play rugby.
A highlight was playing for Selwyn College against Knox College at Forsyth Barr Stadium as a curtain-raiser to the Highlanders versus the Crusaders. He has law and commerce degrees and in 2020, was admitted to the bar by his sister, Caitlin, who was also a lawyer at the time.
ST PETER'S COLLEGE
2014: A Southland football representative, Hurrell had also gained NCEA levels 1 and 2 with excellence. She said that she liked arguing so hoped to become a lawyer.
2024: Hurrell was three years into a law degree when she was offered the opportunity to work in logistics and says she ‘‘hasn’t looked back’’. Based in Christchurch, she is procurement category manager at ANZCO Foods, overseeing commercial relationships across a range of supply chain categories.
Before moving north, she founded the Southern Stars Football Academy and coached over 150 children from Otago and Southland. Career commitments mean she no longer plays football but she has taken up long-distance running.
2014: Martin had represented Southland in age-group basketball and netball and was in the New Zealand netball talent identification development programme. She planned to study physiotherapy.
2024: Martin gained a physiotherapy degree with honours and started her own business, Smart Recovery, in Gore earlier this year. She plays basketball socially and netball, both at a local premier level and in the Invercargill-wide league competition.
SOUTH OTAGO HIGH SCHOOL
2014: Goal shoot for the Otago under-17 netball team and the Southern Steel development squad, Erwood said her role models were her twin sister, Abby, and her grandmother and former Silver Fern, Shirley Annan. She aimed to make the Southern Steel and to become a secondary school teacher.
2024: Erwood played for the Southern Steel alongside her sister and continues to play, although not at the same level. She is also president of the Central Southland Netball Centre and coaches the senior A Central Southland College team.
A self-employed farmworker, she contracts to properties close to where she lives in Lora Gorge, Winton, and runs her own leased 225ha sheep and beef block. ‘‘I love giving new things a go,’’ she says, adding that she has also worked as a polo groom and completed a seeding in Western Australia. She has certificates in business management and personal training and has almost completed a business diploma.
2014: A New Zealand under-17 touch representative and a member of the Otago women’s sevens team, Latta said she had learned a lot from her father, David Latta, who captained the Otago rugby team in the 1990s. Also an Otago age-group netball representative, she planned to study accountancy.
2024: Latta was selected to train at the High Performance Sport New Zealand training centre for touch sevens but eventually gave the sport up when work, study and injuries became too much. She played netball in the Dunedin A grade competition for several years and Otago premier league touch last year.
The Dunedin woman, who has a commerce degree, is a chartered accountant and an assistant manager at Findex. She also has her own sports recovery/wellness e-commerce store, selling products such as saunas and ice baths.
TAIERI COLLEGE
2014: Lind had represented his school at the Greater Otago Model United Nations Assembly, taken the lead role in its major productions and was an outstanding basketball player. He planned to study law and anthropology.
2024: Lind is a senior course adviser for an education provider which partners with universities and governments to help people start or progress their tech careers. Because he is able to work remotely, he has lived in various places. He has a bachelor of laws and a bachelor of arts, with a politics major, and recently completed a data science and AI certification.
He coaches, referees and plays basketball and says although it ‘‘might be a little cliched’’, being a husband and father has been the ‘‘greatest privilege’’.
2014: Murray had turned down a scholarship to study ballet in Sydney in order to complete her NCEA qualifications. She was named top dancer in the South Island by the British Ballet Organisation of New Zealand and hoped to eventually join a professional ballet company.
2024: After graduating from the Queensland University of Technology with a bachelor of fine arts in dance performance (distinction), Murray joined the Victorian State Ballet. For the past seven years, the professional ballerina has toured and performed across Australia. She also has a Royal Academy of Dance teaching qualification and teaches ballet to students of all ages.
THE CATLINS AREA SCHOOL
2014: Ford excelled at several sports, representing South Otago in rugby, being the school swimming and athletics champion and in the bronze medal-winning Kaka Point lifesaving team. He hoped to begin a carpentry apprenticeship.
2024: A qualified builder, Ford lives in Alexandra. After leaving school, he played touch in the Otago under-21 mixed team, which was runner-up at the nationals, continued with surf lifesaving at weekends, played rugby league for the Otago under-19 team and trialled for the junior Warriors.
He now plays at centre for the Alexandra premier rugby team, serving as captain when the side won the Central Otago premier competition last year and was runner-up this year. He captained the Central Otago rugby side in this year’s Topp Cup and has played for the Otago Country team for the past two years.
A serious knee injury made him unavailable for selection this year but he coached the Otago Country under-18 side. Last summer, he spent six months playing rugby in Banbridge, Northern Ireland, also coaching at a school where he was working as a teacher aide.
2014: Head girl, Sharp spoke of growing up with dyslexia and finding difficulty in things others took for granted. She had her own business doing floral arrangements for weddings and hoped to get an apprenticeship in floristry.
2024: Sharp completed a diploma of commercial floristry and worked as a florist for eight years. She is now the garden centre manager at Winton Mitre 10 and was selected for the company’s frontline leaders programme in 2023. She lives with her fiance on a farm in Dipton and still likes to create flower bouquets when she has an occasion to do so.
She says she has learned how to deal with dyslexia in the workplace and there is more technology to help these days: ‘‘It’s all about understanding your strengths and weaknesses and never being afraid to ask for help, but also having a laugh when you have used the wrong word... ’’.
TOKOMAIRIRO HIGH SCHOOL
2014: A member of the South Island touch team, Hammersley had demonstrated her leadership qualities in a variety of school roles. She wanted a career that would allow her to travel and provide help to children.
2024: Hammersley played social touch after leaving high school and completed a bachelor of teaching endorsed in primary education. She moved to Rarotonga at the start of last year and teaches a year 3-4 class at a local primary school.
2014: A school prefect and peer support leader, Scott had been nominated for the youth section of the TrustPower Community Spirit Awards. Her teachers had inspired her to become a primary school teacher.
2024: Working as a release teacher at Kaitangata School gives Morrison the flexibility she needs as a busy mum of three children, aged 7, 4 and 2. She is also a casual reliever at two other schools, on the committee of the Milton Toy Library, and treasurer and secretary of the Kaitangata School PTA. She has a bachelor of teaching endorsed in primary education and lives with her husband on his family’s Inch Clutha dairy farm.
WAITAKI BOYS' HIGH SCHOOL
2014: A gold and silver medal winner at the New Zealand Trapshooting Championships, Craig also excelled in the classroom. He planned to study agri-science.
2024: Craig is chief executive at Bowalley Free Range farm, his family’s poultry (egg) and cropping property near Herbert. Supplying eggs to almost every supermarket in the South Island, the farm has movable, solar-powered hen houses and a circular system, in which hen manure is used as a natural fertiliser to grow wheat and barley that is fed back to the chickens.
He still enjoys trapshooting but, being busy with his two young children, is not involved competitively. He has a bachelor of agricultural science with first-class honours and went on a study tour to Indonesia while at Lincoln University.
2014: After taking up lawn bowls to spend more time with his grandparents, Kitto achieved success at regional and national level. He was also an academic achiever, being first in maths and graphics and first-equal in chemistry in 2013. He wanted to study architecture.
2024: Kitto became a New Zealand registered architect at the relatively young age of 27 after eight years of study and is now a lead architect at Petone’s Re-Design Architects, working mainly in the education sector. One of his school modernisation projects featured on the Ministry of Education website as an example of innovative design collaboration between the architect and school.
Completing a bachelor of architectural studies and a master’s of architecture (professional) left no time for bowling, he says. ‘‘But my bowls are still in the garage and the temptation is still very much there ... ’’
WAKATIPU HIGH SCHOOL
2014: McCorkindale’s band, Love Lost Demons, had played at Big Break and Winterfest and a song she wrote won the lyric award at the Smokefree Rockquest. The 15-year-old had also achieved NCEA level 1 history with distinction in 2013. She wanted to take her music as far as possible.
2024: McCorkindale says she kept a promise to herself, getting on a one-way flight to the United States a month after finishing high school and has had some ‘‘incredible experiences’’ around the world since. ‘‘Life is constantly dragging me in different directions and has recently brought me to Brisbane where I was drafted into Australia’s national pickleball league ... which is not something I had even heard of two years ago.’’
She works for Volunteer Marine Rescue Queensland as the state administrator, supporting 25 squadrons with 1500 volunteers, and is sitting her skipper’s ticket to allow her to work further in the marine industry. She still sings when she can but recently sport has been her main priority.
Could not be contacted or declined to take part: Laura Bolger (Gore High School; now Māruawai College), Eden Brown and Kasper Humphrey (both Mt Aspiring College), Andrew Trembath (Otago Boys’ High School), Shirley Zhang (Otago Girls’ High School), Matawai Uitime-Nicolls (Queen’s High School), Isobel Ryan (St Kevin’s College), Gabriela Napier and Iri Smith (both Waitaki Girls’ High School), Steph Arrowsmith (Wakatipu High School.)
Deceased: Rachel Clark (Cromwell College).
