Adam Houston Alumni 1998

Adam Houston attended Kristin from 1989 to 1998. Throughout his schooling Adam knew he wanted to be a pilot, although he hadn’t decided quite how he was going to go about it and whether his focus would be military or commercial flying. Adam has since found himself in a fascinating role with the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

“I joined the Air Force in 2001 and have spent the majority of my time as an Iroquois Helicopter Pilot based at Ohakea near Palmerston North, from 2003 to 2007. I live in Palmerston North with my girlfriend (Jenny) and dog (Missy).

The job is very dynamic as we work with a wide range of military and civil agencies within New Zealand and overseas. I am currently spending a year working at Defence Force Headquarters in Wellington as the Personal Staff Officer to the Chief of Air Force. This entails managing his private staff and liaising with the wider Air Force Headquarters staff on his behalf, co-ordinating and managing his official and ceremonial duties in New Zealand and overseas.

Although I always aspired to be a pilot I never could have imagined what an interesting job it would be until I entered the Air Force. At school I was mostly well behaved (although it might depend on who is recalling me there!) and an academic with a broad range of extra-curricular activities. I believe this was a great foundation for the variety of skills I’ve had to develop in my role.

I remember highlights at school were my involvement with the Drama department (both on stage and behind the stage) in school productions, and the wide variety of school camps, especially in Year 11 when we spent a week learning paragliding.

Of all the wonderful teachers I had, the three that stand out in my mind were Graham Gottard (Physics), Rodney Ford (IT) and Andrew Churches (Chemistry). All were very enthusiastic about their subjects and I learned a lot from them. In particular, Rodney Ford and Andrew Churches both supported and encouraged my involvement in commercial IT work (outside of school hours of course) and technical theatre work, and were always willing to answer my annoying questions. Much of what I learned from them helped me settle into life and study after Kristin.

I can honestly say that my decision to join the Air Force has been satisfying, and it too has come with its own set of highlights so far. I have flown helicopters for the Air Force all around New Zealand and been deployed overseas to fly in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and East Timor, and it’s all been pretty exciting. While the work around New Zealand has been constantly varied and challenging, the two highlights are probably my deployment to East Timor in 2007 where we supported the UN Observers for the elections, and being in Gallipoli on Anzac Day in 2008.

Right now, I am finishing my tour working at the Headquarters, before returning to Ohakea at the end of the year. The next step in my flying career is to complete a Flying Instructors Course and start teaching new pilots, before hopefully returning to No. 3 Squadron as a Helicopter Instructor. In the last 12 months I have travelled a lot in Europe and Asia, so I am looking forward to a more settled training job.

My advice for Kristin students? Listen to your teachers – they’re there to help you. Kristin is a great school with heaps of opportunities, so make the most of them.”

Amelia Sharman Alumni 1998

When I walked through the door of the Kristin Kindergarten in 1985, little did I know that over 20 years later I would still be a student. My first 14 years of education were spent at
Kristin, making me one of only five in my year who went through from Kindergarten to Year 13.

Following a further five years at the University of Auckland where I completed a BA, then an MA (Hons) in Geography, I found myself living down in Wellington, working for the Ministry of Economic Development. There is a small Kristin contingent working as analysts for various government departments, and the intellectual stimulation and ability to know you’re making a real difference to New Zealand’s future makes it a pretty good job in my opinion!

But, after three years, I was keen for something different and, in particular, something that developed my interest in environmental issues. I looked around at my options and having such rose-tinted memories of my student years I thought university was worth another shot. I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of six Commonwealth Scholars from New Zealand in 2008/09, which gives me full funding for my studies (all academic and living costs).

I’m now living in Oxford, in the UK, where I’m reading towards an Msc in Nature, Society and Environmental Policy at the School of Geography and the Environment at the University of Oxford. It’s a 12-month course and they really do cram two years’ worth of work for a traditional Masters degree into one year!

Oxford is another world, one whose quirks took a bit of getting used to at the beginning, but is a place that I absolutely love. A fundamental element of the Oxford experience is your college. Oxford, while having a co-ordinated front to the outside world, is actually made up of over 30 separate colleges which operate completely independently of each other. For a graduate student, a college is where you live, eat and socialise. Undergraduates also get most of their tuition within their college, with classes ranging from between one to five students. I’m at St John’s College, one of the oldest, with tradition seeping through every pore, and walking through a quadrangle on my way to the library that was built over 500 years before the Treaty of Waitangi was signed takes some getting used to!

For those of you currently studying at Kristin, I cannot recommend highly enough reaching for the stars and aiming to spend at least part of your university career at a world-class institution like Oxford. There are 73 New Zealanders here at Oxford this year – it could be you next!