Adele Barlow Alumni 2003
 Another Kristin Alumni student who is attending Melbourne University is Adele Barlow. Adele was at Kristin from 2000 – 2003.
At the time, she tells us she wanted to be a director, a writer, a film maker - but mainly she wanted to travel - choosing to study overseas solved that one.
Adele is currently completing her Honours Year for a Bachelor of Arts in Media and working with the yMedia group (www.ymediagroup.org) that connects community groups with media students and is also a youth social innovation hub. Pamela Minett, a fellow Kristin Alumni and Adele started up the yMedia group and continue to manage it. (They had also started up the Octagon while they were at Kristin, with Aarni Singh…this shows how the small ventures at school can lead to bigger opportunities later down the track).
Adele enjoyed school where she had a range of interests, and hung out with a variety of people; she says she was always curious and wanted to pack as much as possible into her time.
Her favourite thing about Kristin was the atmosphere, “It was easy to start up something like the Octagon, there's a very warm, supportive, encouraging environment that you don't often find out in the real world. So many resources are within such easy reach, whether you want to excel at sport, culture, academics, whatever. I remember that positive energy backstage before a drama production...Year 13 camp at Raglan and Prefect camp was a huge highlight. Mr Clague continues to be a huge influence in my life. My conversations with him taught me vital life lessons. I still remember his pearls of wisdom, overall, that it's important to do the right thing even when no one is watching...it just makes sense...you have to live with yourself.”
So far, Adele has also really enjoyed the variety of experiences at Melbourne University, she started up a theatre company in her first year that has just been handed over to someone else, she loved getting to write and direct the plays.
yMedia has opened a lot of doors for Adele, she says it would not have been possible without the leadership and project management experience from Kristin. Pamela Minett and Adele presented at the Digital Future Summit last November alongside the Minister of Communications, David Cunliffe.
The biggest highlights out of school for Adele have been trips around the States, Fiji and the South Island. In 2006 she did an Outward Bound course, which she explains, changed her perspective on everything, “It just brought me back to basics and reminded me of what's actually important.”
Adele plans to continue to do what she loves (and get paid for it!); to see the world, particularly Africa and South America; interview fascinating people; and work on edutainment projects overseas.
If she has any advice for young people, it's to leave your comfort zone as often as possible: you write your own life. And do Outward Bound!
Andrew Meakin Alumni 2003
 Mr Peter Clague and Mr John Lane recently received this update from Alumni student Andrew Meakin who attended Kristin from 1997 to 2003.
“This is what I have been up to since I left university and New Zealand.
“I am currently living in Vancouver where I have been for the past year. It has been a fantastic city in which to be living, playing Rugby and working. I have mates from all over the world and even one from Kristin as Simon Taylor is up here also.
“Recently I had trials for the Canadian Sevens Rugby Team, which was a great experience and I am gearing up for another Rugby season beginning in September.
“I had been working in marketing for a small sportswear company which was a really good experience as it allowed me to work in the sports industry, which, as you know, I love. However, approximately a month ago, I received a call out of the blue for a job that I had applied for a few months previously at Electronic Arts or EA. If you are not aware of EA, it is the biggest video game producer in the world and produces titles such as Madden NFL, FIFA Soccer, etc. I interviewed successfully and now I’m about to take up a position with Electronic Arts as a Marketing Assistant which I am extremely excited about.
“I will be working on their largest title, Need for Speed which is the 4th-biggest video game franchise ever and has a marketing budget of over $10 million. The company is young and vibrant and the office is an amazing place – it even has a full Soccer field, indoor Basketball gym, Beach Volleyball court and workout gym, all within the complex. It is fair to say that I am over the moon and very excited to begin this new adventure.
“I felt that it would be good to share this with you as Kristin, and particularly both of you, had a great influence on my development throughout school. I want other students at Kristin to know, that if you give it your all and take advantage of what Kristin and the world have to offer, anything is possible.
“I hope things are going well in New Zealand.”
Stefan Oehlers Alumni 2003
 Stefan Oehlers attended Kristin for Years 9 to 13 from 1997 to 2003. His excellent academic record allowed him to achieve the honour of Proxime accessit in Year 13 when he decided that he would follow his Secondary schooling with a Bachelor of Science, satisfying his interest in all things Biology.
Stefan is now starting a PhD and is already fascinated by his unique choice of topic.
“I am using the zebra fish as a model system for studying innate immunity. The biomedical application of my work is in the field of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) research. IBD includes both Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, diseases of rising prevalence in the developed and developing world for which no definitive cure exists. Hopefully my study of genetic and environmental factors in gut immunity will shed light on therapeutic targets for both IBD and other gut diseases.
The PhD is a three-year minimum degree based on hands-on practical research within a laboratory environment. Working as a student in Science, at least in my lab, is great because we choose our own working schedule and have the freedom and support to investigate aspects of the lab’s research goals that we find interesting. The work that we do is never the same day-to-day, unlike some of my my ‘wage-slave’ friends, and there is always the chance to learn or try some new piece of laserequipped gadgetry. Some of the coolest work we get to do is making transgenic fish with fluorescent proteins expressed in a particular cell type and then infecting them with fluorescently labelled bacteria to watch the immune response in real-time; stuff that can’t be done with other vertebrate model
animals.”
Despite being overwhelmed with interest in his studies, Stefan does miss having time to enjoy his other interests like when he was at school.
“I remember taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Programme throughout Senior School and playing a variety of sports that I have since regrettably lost the spare time to pursue. I also remember really enjoying taking the Year 11 camp group up to a remote Northland farm for a week of turkey hunting, armed with knives and sharp sticks, having enough free time to play guitar in a band and the excellent support from my teachers.”
It’s not surprising that he has no free time when you view the range of achievements he has obtained during his studies: Senior Prize Biological Sciences (2006), Postgraduate Tuition Fees Bursary (2007), Runner-up winner HealthEx 2007 poster competition, Session prize BSc Biomedical Honours research symposium, and TEC Bright Futures Top Achievers Scholarship (2008). On top of this, he plans to complete his PhD in three and a half years.
Stefan also has some aspiring plans when he has completed his study and it is clear that he is gaining wisdom, as well as knowledge, from all his hard work.
“I personally feel that biomedical research still has a lot to offer people not fortunate enough to be born into wealth and that wealthier societies have an obligation to help those less fortunate, not just themselves. As such, after finishing the PhD I would like to work on a project with applications to neglected infectious diseases, rather than curing male baldness!
To those students who are soon to leave Kristin; take a greater and more open interest in the world around you. Seek different opinions when you can. The arguments against genetic engineering in this country are an excellent example of often one-sided evidence working its way into the popular psyche. He who shouts loudest is not necessarily right.”
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