This year’s Young Achievers, as selected by the Hastings Heretaunga Lions Club, are Finley Duncan and Lanson Randell. Each year the Hastings Heretaunga Lions Club selects two students from each school in the area who have achieved notable distinctions in particular areas. These achievements run the full range from academic to sporting, musical and cultural and are intended to inspire other students to aim for distinction in all that they do.

The citations for Finley and Lanson are as follows:

Finley Duncan

Finley is a very high achieving allrounder. His academic performance is outstanding and he has achieved NCEA Level One, Two and Three with all Excellence credits as well as earning five NCEA Scholarships in 2020 as a Year 12 student. In 2021 Finley is completing several Stage 1 university courses while at school and will be sitting Scholarship exams over a very wide range of subjects.  Finley has represented Hawke’s Bay at a national level in his capacity as a Shakespearean actor and a chess player. Finley was outstanding in one of the lead roles in the 2021 College musical “Fame”.

Finley has been extremely active in community groups with his most notable ties being to the Hastings District Council, Irish Embassy, and Hawke’s Bay Breast Cancer Trust.

Throughout his time at the College, Finley has been involved with debating, football and tennis and is a key player in the brass section of the school’s jazz and symphonic bands making a superb contribution to the fine performances of these groups at the National Concert Band Festival.  As the College’s Deputy Head Boy, Finley makes an outstanding contribution in school wide leadership with a calm, considered and good-humoured approach to everything he undertakes. Finley is young man who will undoubtedly make a superb contribution in his chosen future pathway in commerce and law.

Lanson Randell

Lanson is an outstanding sportsman. He is multi-talented across a wide range of sporting settings and his  abilities have been recognised at both regional and national level. He has excelled in rugby and basketball in particular and in 2021 he was selected as the College’s Most Valuable Player in these sports, receiving his sporting “blues” for both. Selected to attend the New Zealand U17 basketball trial, Lanson awaits the naming of that final selection to represent New Zealand  at the 2021 FIBA U17 Oceania Basketball Championships in Samoa. In rugby, Lanson has been selected to represent the 1^st XV for the last two seasons and was named Captain of the 2021 team. He is an outstanding rugby player.

Selected as a College prefect and leader of his house, Lanson is a thoroughly respectful and determined role model for those in his House and sets a fine example for others to follow.

As an academic Lanson is superbly focussed with Excellence endorsement at both Level 1 and 2. He is entered for Scholarship in 2021 and is currently completing study in the very demanding Canterbury University extra mural paper in Calculus.  Lanson plans to attend the University of Canterbury to study a Masters in finance and mathematics with a view to pursuing a career  in business.

Article added: Friday 12 November 2021