Alumni 2000 Print

Simon Ealson Alumni 2000

During his time at Kristin, from 1990 to 2000, Simon Ealson had a range of career interests. Initially he considered careers in Medicine and Law, but his passion for flying, a part-time hobby during his latter school years, proved a natural career path as his hobby expanded and presented opportunities to him. Simon is now a Captain with Air Nelson. In addition to his responsibilities as a Captain on the Bombardier Q300 aircraft on Air New Zealand’s regional network, he is responsible for training Air Nelson Pilots and Flight Attendants in Crew Resource Management skills, procedures and behaviours.

Since leaving Kristin, Simon has obtained his NZCAA Airline Transport Pilots Licence, Australian CASA Airline Transport Pilots Licence, as well as a Bachelor of Aviation Management (Air Accident Investigation/Human Factors/Airport and Airways Procedure Design), and is working towards a Bachelor of Science in Geography.

In addition to this, for the past three years Simon has been the leader of the Mangere Bridge Scout Group, in recognition of the role Scouting played in inspiring his career choice. It was through Scouts that he was given the opportunity to attend the Walsh Memorial Scout Flying School, and he has been hooked ever since. In 2007, when the group’s den (or hall) was destroyed by arson, Simon rolled up his sleeves and committed to helping the group rebuild. Over the last two years, Simon has organised temporary facilities and kept the group not only surviving, but growing. He has negotiated his way through architectural concepts, re-siting, funding and the resource consents process. This is no mean feat given the group is one of only two surviving groups in Manukau, and has faced some fairly vociferous opposition to the rebuilding of its hall despite the leadership development this group provides for young people. The group, having now obtained resource consent, is about to start detailed design of the hall, and hopes to begin construction later this year. If you have skills or can otherwise assist Simon in his mission to rebuild the Mangere Bridge Scout Group den, then he’d love to hear from you. Simon can be contacted on 021 502 207.

Simon has several fond memories of his time at Kristin. He participated in the Future Problem Solving programme, first established at Kristin by Sonia White. Simon was part of the first team that successfully travelled to the University of Michigan in 1995 to attend the international competition held for that year. That same year, he was also a recipient of the school’s Spirit of New Zealand scholarship and had a number of memorable experiences as part of the 270th voyage of the Spirit from Auckland to the Bay of Islands, Great Barrier and around the Hauraki Gulf.

Simon says his seventh form year (Year 13) was by far his most memorable, probably because it was most recent. Readers may recall his performance as the Elvis-inspired Pharaoh in the Kristin performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

On reminiscing about his school years, Simon has offered his own advice to our current students.“There is a lot of pressure for young people to pick a career path while they are at school and align themselves with that career by choosing subjects that are in parallel with that career. There is a lot of focus on academic performance while you are at school, which is important as it provides a greater range of opportunities when you leave and go on to university or working lives. Kristin provides a huge number of experiences and opportunities outside of the academic sphere and these experiences, I believe, are equally important in developing quality people who are going to participate in society, as well as academics. Many of my friends from Kristin and I often wish we had taken more of the opportunities offered to us at school, and not given up things to focus on preparing for School Certificate, Bursary or IB. It is important to remember there will also be life outside of school, so enjoy your time at Kristin and maximise every opportunity you have while you are there.”

With a successful career under way and his Scout Group rebuild on a roll, Simon has another large project on his hands as he is also in the midst of wedding preparations with fiancée Michelle. We wish them all the best for their impending nuptials.

Tom McRae Alumni 2000

Many viewers would have seen Alumni student Tom McRae on ONE News recently. Below, Tom reports on his own story since leaving Kristin in 2000.

“I attended Kristin from 1996 – 2000.

I wanted to become an actor. I attended Drama School straight after I left Kristin and set up a company with friends after finishing my acting degree. We wrote, directed and produced plays and short films, while auditioning for roles in films, adverts and plays.

I changed tact after getting the opportunity to present a documentary. It was called Nobody’s Heroes and retraced my grandfather’s footsteps as a Prisoner of War in WWII.

After that I got the opportunity to do some work experience in the TVNZ newsroom and then applied for the AUT postgraduate journalism course, studying while I worked for ONE News. I then got a full-time position on the Breakfast show in Christchurch which I did for six weeks before being promoted to become a 6:00pm ONE News reporter.

This entails finding stories as well as covering any breaking news. My day normally starts at 7:00am by reading the paper and listening to the radio for any news that may have happened overnight. I get ready for the morning meeting where reporters pitch story ideas and the producers decide which ones we want to follow for the day. I will then make calls, set up interviews and organise pictures and get my head around what the story is about.
I will then go out with a cameraman and film the interviews.

I would normally then get back to the office and start logging all of the field tapes to work out the best bits to use and then write my script. We normally film about 45 minutes but only have 1 minute 30 seconds to tell the story. The Bureau Chief will then sub my story and I will record my voice and then sit with an editor to cut the story.

If we have to do a live-cross we would then rush back out to the location and set up, liaising with the Auckland studio to work out what I will be saying. After the live it’s back to the office to work out what’s happening the next day. I guess I would describe myself as having been a bit of an all-rounder at school. I loved my sport, playing both Cricket and
Football and I was involved with Athletics. I was heavily involved with Drama as well.

I really enjoyed school; it was a great place mostly because it was so social. School pretty much came second to hanging out with friends.

I guess one of the most enduring memories was starting the Fashion Show in 1999 after a
good friend, Thomas Bridgman, died of cancer. It’s amazing to look back and see we were just making it up as we went along. We had no idea what we were doing but it was great fun. It’s truly phenomenal to see what it has become. The fact it was even carried on after we left was amazing to see, let alone grow into the beast it is today. I remember struggling as a 6th former (Year 12) to try and convince the 7th Form (Year 13) guys to get into it, and can’t believe there is now so much competition in being involved.

Without Mrs Noyes it quite simply wouldn’t have happened. She saw that we were all struggling after Thomas died and she was so proactive in focusing us on something positive. My schooling years would’ve been so different without her as a mentor; the love and compassion and intelligence she showed in getting us involved with CanTeen was
phenomenal.

So my highlights since leaving Kristin would definitely be making Nobody’s Heroes, starting up a production company and then becoming a ONE News reporter.

My ultimate job would be the ONE News Europe foreign correspondent. They’re based in London and have the amazing job of covering all the big stories from around Europe. It would be the best of both worlds, being able to do what I love and travel to some of the world’s most amazing places and talk to some of the most interesting people.

My advice to current students would be to not worry if you don’t have a plan. You don’t have to know what you want to do for the rest of your life by the time you leave school. You can change your mind as many times as you want until you find out what it is you really love.”

Chris Rankin Alumni 2000

Kristin Middle School had a very special visit from an Alumni student in October when they welcomed back Chris Rankin a.k.a. Percy Weasley to speak to them at Middle School Assembly.

Chris is now a professional actor and at 24 years old, is best known for his role as the ambitious Percy Weasley, one of seven pure-blood wizard siblings in J.K. Rowlings famous “Harry Potter” series of novels.

Few know that Chris Rankin is actually a New Zealander, and for two years attended Kindergarten and Year 1 at Kristin School in Albany. His mother was also a teacher here. However his parents moved to England when Chris was six, where he continued his schooling. Although very young, Chris' first experience on stage was at Kristin, playing a “brown bear“ in the poem “There's a Spider in my Shower”. He even remembers his first lines!

At the age of 11, at Northgate High School in Norfolk he auditioned for, and was cast as a “dead body” in “Bugsy Malone”. The same year he also played Edmund in “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe”. Over the next 10 years, Chris continued to work with Dereham Operatic Society Youth Theatre Company on their musicals and plays. In August 2000, he auditioned for and landed the role of Percy Weasley in the “Harry Potter” movie series, which was the beginning of his professional on-camera acting career. He appears in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone”, “Chamber of Secrets”, “Prisoner of Azkaban”, and the latest, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”.

It was Chris' idea to come back to Kristin to visit the students and see how the school has developed over the last 18 years. He still remembers Kindergarten, although following a tour of the school, with Joel Granger and Hannah Foreman, admitted to getting a little lost amongst all the new buildings. Chris also mentioned he was disappointed that he didn't get to continue his schooling here. He had heard of the excellent reputation of Kristin School productions and would have liked to have timed his trip to see one.

A virtual mob of students waited for his autograph after his guest appearance at Middle School Assembly where he received a thousand cheers and whistles. One teacher pointing out that he almost cast a spell on them as they seemed to listen so attentively.

Chris' visit was the finale to a busy week at home where he entertained a number of other fans at the Armageddon Expo and spent some time with his godparents. He then returned to London where he has a small professional theatre company. Before he left he promised to come back for another flying visit soon. Wizards can do that.