Kia ora, Ko Nicola Jordan tōku Ingoa. It is an honour to have received the Top Māori Scholar Award for 2021 and I am extremely grateful.

Next year I am enrolled in the Bachelor of Nursing degree at Toi-Ohomai. It has always been my passion to be a nurse. I can think of nothing more satisfying and rewarding than having a career where I am helping people and making a difference in their day to day lives.

No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa

Clay Fookes has excelled academically at Rotorua Lakes High School. Clay currently holds the leadership roles of prefect and peer support mentor at school. Academically Clay has achieved at a high level whilst at Lakes High, having been awarded top scholar for the past two years. Clay has endorsed both NCEA levels 1 and 2 with excellence, gaining over 100 excellence credits at each level. He is also working towards gaining a scholarship in several subjects this year. Furthermore, as a way of giving back academically, he does lunchtime tutoring, which is an initiative with the academic prefect committee. Outside school Clay volunteers at the local SPCA animal shelter each week as a way of helping his community. Clay intends to study a double degree in Science and Commerce, majoring in Accounting and Energy Management at Canterbury University.