St Cuthbert’s 2011 Y13 student, Jade Leung, has topped the country. Last week she received the Prime Minister’s Award for Academic Excellence recognising her as the “highest achieving student in the annual NZ scholarship examinations” last year. She passed the most scholarship papers in NZ and attained the most at Outstanding level.

Jade attended the NZQA Scholarship Awards Ceremony today held at Government House in Wellington and Education Minister, Hon Hekia Parata, presented the Top Scholar Awards on behalf of the Prime Minister.

At the ceremony she not only received the Prime Minister’s Award for Academic Excellence but was also recognised as an NZQA Premier Award recipient and Top Scholar in Chemistry, receiving the Top of Subject: Chemistry Award.

As well as completing her 5 subject NCEA Level 3 course endorsed with Excellence last year, Jade sat and achieved 9 Scholarships with 6 at Outstanding Scholarship level - Chemistry, Geography, Painting, Physics, Science and Statistics and Modelling. Hon Parata said that “This is an amazing achievement as Outstanding Scholars are the top 1 per cent of the cohort for each subject.”

As a Prefect and the 2011 Dux, Jade demonstrated that she was an all round outstanding student. She combines extraordinary intellect with compassion and a sense of social responsibility. Jade is an accomplished musician, is adept at public speaking and her thirst for knowledge ensures she is an exceptional academic.

During her time at the College Jade has received 14 internal and external scholarships, including the World Vision Senior Scholarship, and countless external prizes such as the Pat Hanly Student Award for Visual Arts and Community Awareness, High Distinction in the ICAS Writing Competition, High Distinction in the Australian National Chemistry Quiz and 1st in the NZSS Speech Competition. Last year Jade represented NZ in the Chemistry Olympiad in Turkey as well and received a bronze medal.

Her St Cuthbert’s College Awards are also countless and include Subject Prizes for Y11 Double Science, Y12 Mathematics, Spanish, Visual Arts and Physics, Y13 Calculus, Biology, English, Painting, Physics and Statistics and Modelling and the Prize for General Excellence - Dux. Jade completes every task with minimum fuss, total dedication, a willing smile and a humble attitude. Her commitment to a wide range of pursuits has been beyond compare, including involvement in St Cuthbert’s Choirs, Orchestras, Cultural Groups, Drama, Tramping, Basketball, Dragon Boating, Student Council and more. Somewhere amongst all of this she also found time to help others. Her dedication to organisations such as Kidsline, reflect someone with a passion for helping those less fortunate. She has taken responsible offices at the College as a restorative justice facilitator, an Orakei Primary School tutor, a debating coach and a member of the Variety Voices Children’s Charity Choir. In 2011, over and above her role as a College Prefect, Jade was a member of the Service Committee, Peer Mediation programme, she founded and led the voluntary environmentally focused Roots and Shoots group and led the Amnesty International group.

Using her own initiative, Jade has organised street collections through the Auckland City Council for social causes to treat child cancer and cystic fibrosis. She has also created instructional material to illustrate the problems of women at risk and has put forward proposals to introduce Fair Trade practices into the College.

Jade is now studying a Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (BE Hons) at the University of Auckland where she entered on an Accelerated Pathway, beginning at Year 2 in March.

Photo: Jade Leung, recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for Academic Excellence with Minister of Education, Hekia Parata and Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae.