Head students ready to help out
Will Mortimer, Samara Thatcher, Leroy Walker, Adah Williams talk about the year ahead.
Taupō-nui-a-Tia College’s head students for 2026, Leroy Walker and Samara Thatcher and deputies Will Mortimer and Adah Williams are glad to have got through the selection process.
“It was very stressful,” Adah says.
The four get on well together and cover a range of interests and activities in line with the students they will represent next year.
All have a sporting string to their bows with Adah rowing for Taupō Rowing Club and the school, playing netball in the Prems team and football.
Will, a keen volleyballer, is also interested in motorbike riding and motorsport in general. Samara, a hockey player, has had to cut back on cultural activities this year to focus on her study.
Leroy has previously played basketball, and cricket, and is a keen musician. He is also heavily interested in technology and science.
His enjoyment of learning, and teaching others will come in handy.
“The entire goal is to bring the younger set forward as well as we can, absolutely.”
They are immersed in Level 2 NCEA exams, and some Level 3 for Leroy, but all are happy with their academic progress and hoping for a merit endorsement or an excellence.
Looking ahead Adah says connecting with fellow students is the most important thing for the four of them.
“I feel like it's important that we get out there, get to know everyone, make sure everyone's comfortable coming to us and then taking their problems and ideas seriously and giving them a good shot at change.”
Samara says having observed other student leaders means they can take on board things done well in the past and avoid pitfalls.
“We can take all of these things and produce something that we think our year will need.”
This might involve the whole cohort being more visible around school as role models.
“We've been given some great guidance from this year’s head students… and they're always open to give advice and give some help if needed next year so it's really cool to have that in the locker,” Leroy says
Getting alongside senior students, house leaders and various committee members, would help spread the load but also reinforce school cohesion in between the big occasions like sports days and spirit week, Adah says.
One of the great things about the school is that there is a club for everything, from Minecraft to knitting.
“Some kids just have to make the first step to get involved and then they will find things much more enjoyable,” she says.
In his preparation for the role Leroy talked to principal Ben Claxton, who described the role as being similar in some ways to the principal’s.
“But on a more in-depth level your role is to connect with the students. And I think it'll be really amazing to see how we achieve that. A lot of the stigma around it is that it's just an organisational role but I think if we can get ourselves together in terms of logistics then we can turn it into a really cool role of that ambassadorship.”
Adah and Samara have contacted fellow head students from Tauhara College with a view to working more closely with them in future.