“Coming to SAMS was like a turning point for me. I had just moved to Auckland a year before coming to the school, and up until then had been home schooled. It was my first experience with an ‘official’ school system, and I attended for one year in year 10 before moving onto high school where the school was much bigger! It was a great middle transition point between home schooling and a school of 2000 students, and I felt like I got the support I needed in that time from the teachers to make the transition well. It was a step up from what I was used to, but overall it felt really comfortable. My class was small, and we were forced to bond which led to a good little friend group who supported each other well.”
“SAMS prepared me well for both High school and University in the sense that it introduced a ‘self-checking’ element. At University you have to keep yourself up to date with assignments. You’re taught the information in the class, but at home your work is self-driven. SAMS gave me plenty of support from teachers in my work and taught me how to manage my time well in my work. I really enjoyed the practicality of the schoolwork at SAMS, with the afternoon lessons being more open so we got to go out and do a lot of things. The classes had a practical element that meant you weren’t just taking notes, but actually being much more physically involved in what you were doing. My favourite subject was technology, and there was one project I can remember really liking around ‘design a product, sell a product’. This led to me doing 3 years of Business Studies at High School and I'm now studying a Bachelor of Business Studies majoring in Economics. I’m in my third year now and really enjoying it. I am grateful to SAMS for helping me get to where I am.”
“A piece of advice that I would give would be to start your projects early! I learnt that quite quickly. Don’t be afraid to bounce your ideas off of your classmates; If there’s something you don’t understand, just ask your classmates or teacher. You’ll be able to understand it much better.”
– Hamish Hippolite, SAMS Class of 2015