“We learnt that if you’re confident and passionate and you have got the vision, you can do it.” Jasper Moss
Jasper Johnson’s group got away to a slow start. “We were so stuck at first. We couldn’t come up with a problem which everyone could agree to and run with, but it finally came together for us. We came up with the app to help teenagers quit vaping, and it was the eventual winner. In fact, the judges said they would take it up as an anti- vaping idea with the Ministry of Education.” Jasper Moss’s group surprised itself with what it could do. “We learnt that if you’re confident and passionate and you have got the vision, you can do it,” he says.
Each group worked with advisors and mentors who helped but did not act as drivers. “Anyone who has done Lab 5 work in College’s Year 10 Immerse & Inspire will have an idea of the kind of programme we were following – only a much bigger step up.” As well as working on their own problems, the group came together to listen to four or five speakers each day across a broad spectrum of topics. “There was former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw speaking on pressure and mindset. A barista spoke about diversity and employing a staff of mainly deaf people; and
we were addressed by people helping those in war-torn areas.
It was mind-blowing and eye-opening,” James says.
The boys found that more than anything else, they learnt about social entrepreneurship at the Brave Thinkers event. “It was more important than anything else.” The boys say they all left with a few key concepts about business firmly embedded in their minds – the concept that win- win businesses make the best businesses; and the concept of trying to solve a problem rather than working around it.
Diversity bracelet worn with pride
The College community has been challenged by Wellbeing Prefect Tom Stephens to ensure that a celebration and acceptance of diversity are also part of what it is to ‘be a man’ in the school context. He addressed the school assembly, reminding everyone that the world we live in needs to be inclusive and accepting. Specially designed ‘diversity’ bracelets have been made available as a sign of College’s desire to accept and acknowledge the LGBTQ+ within and beyond the community, to embrace kindness and acceptance as characteristics of how we relate to each other and to love through our words and actions. Foremost, we must live and let live through our expectations of mutual respect.
In tandem with the wider community, College continues to redefine what we see as an education for the ‘whole boy’ as he becomes a ‘whole man’. We hope that this is a man in touch with his emotions, strong in his purpose and committed to justice for all.
College Issue 41 2021
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