The extraordinary contribution of our 90 Prefects in a very disrupted 2020 was celebrated with a High Tea and alumni leadership panel this week.
It was an extra-special celebration to acknowledge the hard work and determination of the students, who had persevered to become exceptional role models and achievers, through the challenges of lockdowns and condensed time frames.
Our three alumni (pictured above from left) shared their stories of life at Westlake, and their career progression since they left high school.
Sam Scott (MNZM) is Founder and Artistic Director of Massive Company. Her 34-year career has involved directing theatre, television and film. She founded Theatresports In Schools in 1990, and was a Shortland St Director from 1998- 2007. Massive Company makes new work for theatre and specialises in developing emerging artists and making sure they are valued as fabulous practitioners.
Jennah Wootton is General Manager Partnerships and Communications at Sport New Zealand, with extensive experience in leading and delivering commercially successful mega events. She was Chief Executive of the highly successful World Masters Games and has worked on some of Auckland’s most high profile events.
Dayeon Lee is a graduate of the Bachelor of Health Sciences majoring in Population Health at the University of Auckland. She is now completing her Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, working to combine her degrees toward a career in global health development rooted in medical expertise. Dayeon currently works part time as a Health Economics Research Associate at Health Economics New Zealand. Her work experience is largely research-based in the areas of health services, policy and economics.
Pauline Harrison, who started the leadership programme for our Prefects a couple of years ago, shared some background around its vision and purpose.
The afternoon included a presentation by our Head Prefect Kaia Tupu-South, Deputy Head Prefect Darcy Frank, and five House Captains – Beth Naylor, Sania Jafarian, Anya Powell, Lara Remo and Maddison Gerbes (who couldn’t be there in person but appeared via video). The students shared insightful results from their leadership project, which investigated cultural inclusivity at Westlake Girls.
All 90 future leaders were presented with a certificate and memento from their time as Prefects.
