School News

I have now been at Harrow School in London for five months, and so far my time here has far exceeded my expectations. I work at Harrow as a gap student or 'gappy' and my responsibilities include coaching rugby, cricket and football, working in the School Office/Sports Centre/IT Department, running Year 9 PE lessons, and working in one of the 12 boarding houses.

Obviously I was nervous, but at the same time excited, about coming to work at a school in the UK when I only knew a few people over here. But I learnt very quickly that you need to be prepared to step outside of your comfort zone and that it is easy to make new friends and adapt to the environment.

An outstanding Waikato mathematics graduate and HBHS Old Boy is spending the next two years in one of the most exuberant cities in the world.

Jethro van Ekeren gained his doctorate earlier this year at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston in the United States, and has now begun post-doctoral work at the Instituto Nacional de Matematicas Pura e Applicada in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

“I’m having to get my head around Portuguese – luckily I did a bit of Spanish at high school, which helps,” says the former Hamilton Boys High School student, who’ll be researching the complex algebras that lie at the interface of mathematics and theoretical physics.

The Massey University graduation season is under way. Around 1320 students will be attending graduation ceremonies for three campuses, or have graduated in council.  The following former HBHS students are included in this number.

Thomas Bowen, PG Dip in Planning

Luke Bowman, Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Philosophy, Second Class Honours (Div I)

Tim Bradding, BBS Management and International Business

Mark Gupwell, BBSFinance

Lonic Harkness, Bachelor of Aviation Air , Transport Pilot

Mathew Templeton, Dip Fashion Design and Technology

New Zealand's team for the 2010 International Olympiad in Informatics has arrived in Canada for the 2010 competition.  Boris Pfahringer, a student at the University of Waikato (HBHS Yr 13, 2009), last week joined the other three team members, Jamie McCloskey, Logan Glasson and Tony Sun for an intensive pre-departure training camp hosted by the University of Auckland.  Margot Phillipps, director of the New Zealand Olympiad in Informatics organised the camp to give the students a chance to practice their skills built up over the year, and focus on the upcoming event.  “The students have been working steadily towards the competition," said Phillipps.  “They have been getting competition practice in on-line contests hosted by Australia, the USA and Croatia.  All that remains is the final build-up to make sure we do as well as possible."

The annual competition features over 300 of the world’s top computer science high school students, who are selected through national computing contests.  250,000 young people from some 100 countries compete each year to represent their country at the IOI, the world’s premier high school programming competition.  Troy Vasiga, chair of the IOI 2010 comments “These are top students from around the world who will be the leading computer scientists in their respective countries in the years ahead.  They are motivated, ready to learn and eager to solve the world’s problems.”

18 year old Stan Walker is currently excelling on Australian Idol. Recordings of his performances to date are available on Youtube, and the official Australian Idol website. Stan attended HBHS as a Year 9, and was identified by Mr Botting (HOF Arts, Music) as a particularly gifted singer. He and his family moved to Australia, where Stan continued to sing – his soulful style has made him a strong contender in Australia’s largest talent show. 

HBHS Old Boy Ben Latham, one of the first students to be taken on as a member of the Gateway Programme when it began five years ago, has recently been recognised in the Registered Master Builders Awards, after placing two years in a row in the Apprentice of the Year awards. For a full report on this accomplishment, and on his achievements in the building industry, click on the link below:

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