As I am now in my last year at Craighead it is an honor to receive the role of deputy house captain of Te Rawhiti. Since joining the Craighead community in 2017 I have had the opportunity to immerse myself in multiple sporting, cultural and extracurricular activities.
Craighead’s flexible learning system has enabled me to build a lot of discipline around my academic work. With the support of teachers and staff I’ve always been able to work around any issues that have arisen. Whether they’ve been needing some extra tutoring time or the accessibility to resources, I know by communicating with my teachers I can rely on their support throughout.
From a young age I have always found myself getting involved in as many sporting activities as I could and creating a real passion for myself out of physical activity. Although I had never been a huge stand out on the sports field, just getting out there and being involved felt like a huge sense of achievement, especially when representing Craighead. Looking back on this now, I couldn’t be any more thankful for the wide range of sport Craighead has continued to encourage me to be involved with. From the tennis court to the show jumping ring, from netball to rugby, I have felt supported with whatever pathway I have chosen. These opportunities have then led me on to further personal development in terms of how to work in a team, show integrity and be a leader.
Over the years I have developed a lot as a character by learning how to build relationships with younger year groups as well as staff. For me it has become really important to set an example for the younger students and help them build confidence into putting themselves out there and being involved in the Craighead culture. Fortunately I have been able to apply this to my leadership role in Te Rawhiti which has really helped me understand what being a leader truly means.
The sister community at Craighead has helped me build invaluable relationships that I look forward to taking outside of school in the future. Through learning the importance of respect and integrity I couldn’t ask for better values to be taking to university with me.
Abi Hyslop
Te Rawhiti Deputy House Leader