OLD HALEIANS
Andrew Enfield-Kirk
Matt Dawson and Dan Kempin on top of Kilimanjara
Brandon Hayward Climbed Mt Aconcagua - Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas at 6,960.8m
Making their
mark We often read in the media about the youth of today being selfish, self-centred and self-indulgent. Well, think again, I say! They don’t just travel the world, climbing mountains. The OHA can demonstrate many different instances when ‘its’ youth has acted thoughtfully, selflessly, voluntarily and made an impact on the lives of many others. Take Matt Dawson (1999-04) for instance. The story in the last Haleian about the 2012 Bishop Hale Medal winner, Rob Barbour (1978-82) really struck a chord. Matt had been in Zambia, working on a project for the branch of his consulting firm that works in development: he helped a mining company set up a sustainable, supply chain programme to increase
46
their procurement from local Zambian companies and reduce reliance on their international supply chains. “Easily the best thing I’ve ever done!” Whilst in Africa, he and fellow classmate Daniel Kempin (200004) travelled to Tanzania to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. Since his return, Matt had been wondering how he could become more involved in that part of the world, and thought Rob would be an ideal person to speak with and asked if he could be put in contact. We, of course were only too happy to oblige and Matt and Rob have since ‘met’ using Skype: Rob happily agreeing to help Matt with his aspirations to continue to do more development work in his region. Then, there is Brandon Hayward (2008-10). Brandon was a busy boy whilst at school and nothing has changed! He has just begun the third year of a Science degree (at UWA), specialising in nanotechnology - which you would think would keep him pretty well engaged. Well, since leaving school he has climbed Mt Aconcagua, started playing rugby (with no previous playing experience) and volunteered for a month in Peru,
all whilst holding down four part time jobs!
Andrew Enfield-Kirk (200004) asked if he could come back to school. He is certainly not sick of his job, wanting to hide away from the world or missing the school in any way. On the contrary, “Everything is going well, really,” he says. He works for Woodside as a Drilling Engineer and sees himself doing that for a couple more years yet. He has just come back from a month in Central America visiting places such as Guatemala, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. So why would he be interested in coming back to Hale School? Woodside is just one of many companies who pro-actively promote themselves to future employees and Andrew had been asked to prepare a presentation on what ‘they’ do as a company, what the oil and gas industry is all about and more importantly, how you go about finding a job with a company like Woodside. Andrew knew this presentation would be ideal for Hale School students and hence asked if he could make an appointment to come and speak with them, which he did.
And this leads me finally to the Careers Investigation Series. This has been a hugely successful collaborative programme run through the school, involving Old Haleians of all ages. The CIS is in its fifth year and during that time areas of interest covered have been quite diverse. The first session for this year, Healthy Career Choices, drew together a wide range of practitioners and tertiary students from a variety of medical fields who came together to talk with boys and parents about career paths and choices. All those approached agreed absolutely enthusiastically to be involved, including Aditya Eranki (2004-09) and Binu Jayawardena (2007-08) who had been at the School that same afternoon talking to a smaller group of boys. They didn’t have to be asked twice to come and help out again that night with the careers night. They were more than happy to give their time and share their experiences. So, next time you read stories about ‘the youth of today,’ take a moment to reflect on the way ‘our’ youth are conducting themselves and the way in which they are making an impact: their mark on the world.