Last Word

By Ayla Johnstone

We all know that High School is about learning and preparing you for your future, whatever that may look like.

At Pukekohe High School, I learnt so much more than just differential equations and the difference between a colon and a semicolon. I learnt adaptability and how to seize an opportunity and that is something I will always thank Pukekohe High for.

I walked through the Pukekohe High gates as a student for the first time in 2016, standing with my best friends and trembling. A little 13-year-old girl surrounded by daunting and giant teenagers with phones and opinions and adultlike personalities. And now, walking out, I’m one of those daunting and giant adult-like teenagers. And all of those worries that kept me up at night all of those years ago, they’re just life now, they are just how we live. Going to different classes, with different teachers all in different buildings. Carrying around a giant bag for six hours a day, five days a week. I never forgot that bag, never left it anywhere. Not even once. Those worries seem so silly now.

Pukekohe High teaches us to adapt to things like that. We change, and we get things done. In 2020, there’s been a LOT of adapting. Because, when a devastating pandemic struck the Earth, there was also a lot of stress. At the beginning of this year, I wanted to study economics and finances for the rest of my life. But just recently I’ve been offered a scholarship in Marketing, which I will be studying alongside Event Management at AUT next year. This extreme change of heart was prompted during lockdown, so I can safely say that, as one of those privileged enough to not be affected directly by Covid, there was a silver lining.

If I could give one piece of advice to anyone younger than me, it would be to really get involved in anything and everything. I am a prefect and have been in a council every year, I have always been involved in house events and cross country, I coordinated a school group to go to the School Strike for Climate, I joined a leadership and peer support group, I am a peer support leader, I’m in a debate team and I’m a school club practicality manager. Those are just my ‘in school’ activities, and on top of all of that I still had fun, did my homework, enjoyed my life AND got 8 hours of sleep EVERY NIGHT.

All of this was made possible at Pukekohe High School and my teachers really pushed me into getting out of my own skin, while accommodating my needs. I learnt how to seize every opportunity that fell on my lap. I found a group of girls who were in love with theatre and I decided to get them together to have fun with words, gestures and emotions. I was pushed into cross country and athletics and am now a house leader.

Pukekohe High School has its good days and its bad days, like every school, but it is undeniable that Pukekohe High School turns students into the best people that they can be. With realistic and achievable goals and aspirations and provides opportunities to help them get there.

I will never forget the amazing things Pukekohe High School, and all of the teachers and the students, have done for me and I hope that I too, may have made an impact on the lives of my friends and peers.