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The North Harbour club was established on 18 May, 1995.
Originally, a group of North Shore business people met and established a constitution with the objectives below:
To qualify for the AIMES Awards, recipients must have shown outstanding ability or potential in the areas of the arts, information technology, music, education, sport.
Petra Bullock (18)A student at Takapuna
Grammar School, Petra is an accomplished musician from barbershop to
classical singing, song writing and performing.
In 2011 she was placed in the finals for the ‘Matariki Song Writing
Competition’, and received second place in the ‘University of Auckland
song writing competition’. Petra made it to the Smoke-free Rockquest
North Shore Regional final, and was also placed in the finals for the
Auckland Singer-songwriter competition. She was also invited to perform a
set at the ‘Kiwi Day Out’, held at Auckland Domain with a crowd of
70,000. She completed her Grade 8 Classical singing exam, and was
awarded with a High Distinction, placing her in the Top 2%.
During New Zealand Music Month, she was placed in the finals for the
‘Hook-line and Sing-along’ song writing competition; and she won the
‘Matariki Song Writing Competition’. Petra was also invited to perform
at The Langham Hotel to esteemed guests such as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and
Hon. John Key at ” The World Class Awards”, and was invited to appear on
TV One’s ‘Good Morning’ show, where she performed two of her original
songs live. She has also recently been announced the winner (from over
360 entries) of the National Lion Foundation Songwriting Competition,
the winner of the Auckland University Songwriter of the Year: Secondary
Schools Competition and the winner of an Adastra Scholarship.
Petra is currently working on a music video for her new single ‘Remember
the Rain’, to be released in December. She plans to release her debut
EP next April, and aims to travel to New York late next year and
distribute her music there.
Nick Hall (23)When in Year 9 at Rosmini College, Nick’s
music teacher announced that she desperately needed trumpet players for
the school Jazz Band; seeing an opportunity Nick put up his hand. By
2007 Nick was the First Trumpet in the Rosmini College Jazz Band and
applied for the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Secondary Schools Trust
Scholarship which he won. Nick completed a Bachelor of Music, majoring in Trumpet Performance at
the University of Auckland, in 2011 with First Class Honours. He was
the recipient of the Anne Bellam Scholarship and given a Senior Music
Prize (awarded to the 10% of students with the highest grades). Notably,
he was the first trumpet student to be awarded an A+ in a solo recital
and was made Principal Trumpet of the Auckland University Orchestra in
his first year.
Nick has played in various orchestras including the New Zealand National
Youth Orchestra, the Auckland Youth Orchestra, St. Matthews Chamber
Orchestra, Manukau Symphony Orchestra, the Auckland Symphony Orchestra
and the Auckland Chamber Orchestra. Highlights from playing in these
orchestras include playing with Placido Domingo at a charity concert for
the Christchurch earthquake and touring to America with the Auckland
Youth Orchestra in 2008.
Earlier this year Nick flew to Canada and America and was accepted into
the soloist program at the Manhattan School of Music and also the
orchestral/soloist program at the University of British Columbia –
choosing to study at the University of British Columbia.
Nick commenced his Masters of Music Degree recently and plans to study
to become a Doctor of Musical Arts at a University either in America or
Canada.
Teneale Hatton (22) A former student of Carmel College, Teneale
is currently completing a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in International
Business and Commercial Law at the University of Auckland, she was
awarded a Blues award for 2010/2011 and a National Blues Award in 2010.
Teneale was immersed in Surf Life Saving from a young age, which has
lead to her being firmly embedded into the NZ high performance squad for
both Surf Lifesaving and Sprint Kayaking.
At only 22, she has recently returned from her first Olympic Games in
London, where she was placed a very impressive 7th in the B Final. She
is very clear about her ambition to be the world’s best in the K1 500m.
Teneale is soon to represent New Zealand again, this time competing at the World Surf Lifesaving Championships in Adelaide.
From the end of February to May 2013, Teneale is to attend a training
camp in Florida with a group of top international female kayakers that
have invited her to join them, she will then continue on to the World
Cup series to meet up with the rest of the New Zealand Kayak team. 2013
is also the first ever under 23 World Championships for Sprint Kayaking,
which she is currently aiming toward.
Sarah Mitchell (23) A past-pupil of Takapuna Grammar School,
where she was Proxime Accessit in 2007, Sarah graduated in April with a
Bachelor of Engineering degree with First Class Honours, specialising in
Mechanical Engineering from the University of Auckland. She was on
the Dean’s Honours List for all four years of her degree.
The final year of her degree involved a year-long research project
equating to a quarter of that year’s grade. Sarah’s project involved
developing algorithms that would characterise the geometric variability
of carbon fibre materials to enable greater accuracy of simulation and
prediction of composite materials manufacturing methods. Sarah and her
research partner were awarded the Composites Association of New Zealand
Prize for this work.
Sarah was awarded the BECA Part IV Engineering Scholarship and graduated
third overall (and top female) in her class. Sarah sees a PhD as the
key to a pathway in ‘specialist’ professional engineering and wanted to
gain her PhD from one of the top Universities in the world. Impressively
she was accepted into a Mechanical Engineering PhD program at both MIT
and Caltech (California Institute of Technology in Pasadena). She chose
to study at Caltech (the 2011 and 2012 Times Higher Education Number
One University in the World), specialising in computational solid
mechanics within Professor Michael Ortiz’s Research Group (Professor
Ortiz is a world leader in his field).
Sarah has recently been awarded a Fulbright-Ministry of Science and
Innovation Graduate Student Award and commenced her studies at Caltech
in the beginning of October.
Her professional ambition involves utilising the skills and knowledge gained during her PhD in a commercial environment.
Mattea Mrkusic (17)Mattea is currently Head Girl at
Takapuna Grammar School. In June, she sat across the table from an
Australian asylum seeker who had once sewn his lips together as a last
resort protest about the conditions in the Christmas Island refugee
detention camp. In her words, she was riveted, tremendously saddened
and yet ultimately felt empowered. Human rights have always been her
passion. Now, at age 17, she has been selected
to represent NZ at The Hague International Model United Nations
(THIMUN) conference as the Head Delegate and has been chosen to lead the
NZ delegation of 22 to debate world issues.
Mattea has held a variety of community leadership positions including
being a North Shore Youth Councillor, School Prefect and Devonport Youth
Forum representative. She helped organise the North Shore Converge
Youth Leadership Forum, helped organise the Devonstock concert, wrote
for ‘Appleseed’ (a North Shore community website for youth) and has
volunteered regularly for the Wilson Home.
Accomplished at public speaking, Mattea won her intermediate school
speech competition with a speech on racism, and went on to win the
overall North Shore Rotary Speech competition. Mattea is a three-time
delegate for the national NZ Model United Nations in Wellington, has
been a delegate at Model Security Council and won “Most Thought
Provoking Speaker” at Auckland Model UN. Her ultimate dream is to work
at the UN or the International Court of Human Rights.
Mattea plans to study a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in International Relations and Human Rights.
Jeremy Reid (23)Educated at Kristin School, Jeremy went on to
study at the University of Auckland, graduating in 2012 with an Arts
Degree with First Class Honours in Philosophy, a Bachelor of Music in
Musicology, and a Diploma of Languages in Ancient Greek and Latin. He
received first-in-class awards for Ancient Philosophy, Philosophy of
Religion, Political Philosophy, and Epistemology. Earlier this year Jeremy was accepted into the six-year PhD programme in
Philosophy at the University of Arizona on full scholarship. He will
also be doing an MA in Classics concurrently with this. The University
of Arizona is currently ranked as the 15th best philosophy programme in
the world, on par with such prestigious schools as Cornell and the
University of California at Berkeley. In addition to this, the
University of Arizona has especial strengths in the main fields in which
Jeremy works, being ranked 7th for ancient philosophy, 6th for
epistemology and ethics, and 1st for political philosophy.
Impressively, Jeremy was one of six students to be given a place out of
over 200 applicants, the only one not affiliated with a top-10
Philosophy programme and the only one from outside North America.
Whilst committed to his studies, Jeremy is most passionate about
teaching and aspires to teach for many years to come. He is fortunate to
be working under the supervision of Regents Professor Julia Annas,
whose PhD students have all gone on to receive extremely competitive
postdoctoral research scholarships or tenure-track positions at major
universities.
Ben Sanders (23)A former student of Long Bay College where he
received honours for top student in both years 11 and 12, Ben is the
author of two novels published by Harper Collins New Zealand: THE FALLEN
(2010), and BY ANY MEANS (2011). His third novel, ONLY THE DEAD, is due
for publication in June next year.
THE FALLEN was submitted for publication in 2009, one week before his
twentieth birthday. Upon release the following August it was a number
one New Zealand fiction bestseller for five consecutive weeks, remaining
in the top ten for two months. THE FALLEN was also included in The New
Zealand Listener Magazine’s top 100 books of 2010. His second novel, BY
ANY MEANS, reached number three on the New Zealand fiction bestseller
list, and remained in the top five for five consecutive weeks.
All of Ben’s books are crime novels set in Auckland, and revolve around a police detective named Sean Devereaux.
Impressively, all three novels were written while Ben was studying civil
engineering at the University of Auckland; he graduated in April with a
Bachelor of Engineering with First Class Honours and was named on the
Deans Honours List. Whilst writing is a passion it is also a hobby and
he is currently employed as a graduate structural engineer with Airey
Consultants Ltd in Takapuna.
Ben plans to travel to European literary festivals in 2013 in order to meet foreign publishers and secure an overseas contract.
Alexandra
first found her love for music as a student at Takapuna Normal Intermediate
School where she learnt the piano and guitar and joined the school’s rock band.
In 2003, she received the Vocal Cup at the school’s prizegiving and started
private singing lessons before beginning at Rangitoto College.
In 2005, Alexandra moved to The Corelli School of the Arts where her main focus
was acting. After graduating from the school at age 17, she auditioned in
Australia for a place at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts, one of the
world’s most prestigious acting schools.
A short time later, she was accepted into Auckland’s Apollo Theatre School
where she discovered a love for dancing and learnt the different dance styles
of jazz, ballet, tap, hip-hop, funk and cabaret. Next, Alexandra pursued
musical theatre and, through the Apollo Theatre School, received many
professional
opportunities. In her second year, she was cast as the lead
in the show The Love Cruise, based on the famous 80s television series The Love
Boat, and most recently has been starring as a lead in Anything Goes, receiving
great reviews.
Her latest and most exciting project has been her girl pop group Sugarfix.
Formed in late 2010, the group writes and records its own music.
Alexandra intends to use her AIMES Awards funds to further her experiences in
the world of musical theatre and recording professionally.
Adam’s academic and performing career started at
Northcote College in 2005, where initially he took drama solely out of interest
and to compliment his heavy academic timetable.
Over the next few years, he became as involved as possible in drama both at the
school and at various North Shore venues. He was involved in Northcote
College’s Stage Challenge entry each year, the national Sheilah Winn
Shakespeare Competition, the Northcote Talent Quest, various school plays, and
productions at The Rose Theatre, The Pumphouse, Devonport Theatre Company and
Titirangi Theatre.
Musically talented, Adam also played lead trumpet for the Northcote College
Jazz Band for five years, and played The Last Post at the Northcote Anzac
Memorial Service for the last three years of his school life.
During year 13 at Northcote College, he completed NCEA Level 3 Drama with
Excellence and managed to secure an NZQA Drama Scholarship. He was also
thrilled to receive the Northcote College Drama Prize.
Adam has recently been awarded a highly sought-after place at Guildhall School
of Music & Drama in London, an outstanding achievement given that he was
one of more than 2300 candidates applying for just 26 places on the three-year
acting course. Guildhall is also a School of Music and Adam hopes to have the
opportunity to further develop his musical talents whilst there.
Ultimately, he looks forward to representing New Zealand and the North Shore on
the stage.
Seok Jun Bing is currently a student at Albany Senior
High School. He topped his year level at years 11 and 12, and aims to
graduate this year with the Dux Award.
Alongside his studies, Seok Jun has been working with a friend to develop a
working prototype of a carbon dioxide filter for cars with internal combustion
engines. This project was done under the Team Gold CREST programme run by the
Royal Society of New Zealand and is a progression from a previous project that
he completed for Team Silver CREST in which he successfully produced a filter
capable of absorbing carbon dioxide production from the respiration of two
people.
His project to produce a CO2 filter for cars has been entered in a global
science fair called Google Science Fair 2011 and was selected as one of the top
60 semi-finalists from 7500 projects entered by more than 10,000 students from
around the globe. Seok’s project was the only one to be chosen in Oceania
and has subsequently received much recognition in New Zealand and
internationally.
Seok Jun likes to innovate and embark on projects that have the potential to
have big impact on a global scale. He would like to consider himself as a
creative scientist and an innovator who has the desire to change the world.
His AIMES Award will help him with purchasing equipment and materials to further
develop the filter.
A current student at Pinehurst School, Aine has always
regarded music as an indispensable part of her life. This passion started
at age four when she was living in Ireland and showed a keen interest in the
flute while visiting a friend. In later years, she moved to Canada and
then to New Zealand.
Aine is blind. Initially, she could not read Braille music so she learned
all of her music by ear. She started sitting piano exams at age seven.
Then, as a nine-year-old, she was extremely grateful to be given the
opportunity to learn Braille music. This meant she could read music by
herself which, in turn, allowed her to glean significantly more information
about the music and more easily determine her own interpretations.
A dedicated flute player, Aine spends many hours memorising pieces and is
currently working towards her ABRSM Diploma exam which she plans to sit at the
end of 2011. Looking further ahead, she intends to take flute playing professionally
and would like to study for a BMus, majoring in flute performance, as well as a
BA majoring in Spanish and English literature.
In addition to Aine’s musical abilities, she also achieves incredible results
at school and is an outstanding swimmer who has been selected for the
Paralympics New Zealand team to compete at the Pan-Pacific Champs in Alberta,
and unofficially ranked in the top five in the world for S11 400m freestyle and
100m backstroke and 8th for 100m freestyle.
Aine intends to spend her AIMES Award on a Piccolo, ABRSM Diploma costs and a
new Flute.
Pinehurst School student, Lydia Ko, is described as ‘a
golfing phenomenon’.
After moving to New Zealand, she began playing golf as a five-year-old and, in
May 2011, at the age of 14 years and 1 day, became the youngest person to be
ranked Number 1 Female Amateur in the World.
At age 12, Lydia became the youngest-ever member of the New Zealand Srixon
Academy, New Zealand’s national squad, and – in Christchurch – became the
youngest person ever to make the cut in a Ladies European Tour event.
Early in 2011, she narrowly missed making history: on the last hole of the New
South Wales Open in Sydney, she missed the title by just one putt. Winning
would have seen her become the youngest winner in a professional event anywhere
in the world.
As well as practicing golf at the Institute of Golf for 30 to 40 hours a week,
Lydia manages to find balance between her golfing and academic life, and
maintains great grades at school.
She says her most spectacular shot was in 2010 when she holed a 30-foot putt to
win the New Zealand Interprovincials for North Harbour.
Lydia has travelled with the New Zealand team to Argentina, India and Australia
on numerous occasions, always loving to wear the New Zealand silver fern and
represent her country. She hopes to turn professional in 2014.
Rebecca
is a current student at Carmel College. A paralympic swimmer, she is a
level 2 carded athlete with the Academy of Sport and a member of the
Paralympics New Zealand High Performance Programme.
In March 2010, Rebecca achieved a world record in the Women’s s7 800m
Freestyle. She holds New Zealand records in the Women’s s7 800m, 400m, 200m,
100m and 50m Freestyle and the Women’s s7 200m, 100m and 50m Backstroke. She
also holds the Oceania record in the Women’s s7 100m Freestyle.
Her current dream is to represent New Zealand at the 2012 Paralympic Games in
London where she aspires to achieve medals in the Women’s s7 400m Freestyle and
the Women’s s7 100m Backstroke in which she also hopes to break the world
record.
Rebecca would like to continue swimming after the 2012 Paralympics and compete
in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
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