Kallie Ngakuru-Syder, ko Ngapuhi tōku iwi, has been the Principal of Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate Middle School for 14 years.  She is passionate that all children deserve the best possible chance to achieve their goals and dreams.  In 2008 Commissioner of the Collegiate at that time, Gail Thomson, approached her about bringing Sir Ed’s home to the school campus and establishing it as a leadership centre.  Kallie was highly supportive then and has been a trustee since the inception of the Hillary House Leadership Centre Trust.

 

As a trustee she is interested in the potential of leadership programmes to help students at the Collegiate by strengthening and broadening their leadership skills.  She has noticed that significant opportunities for students have already arisen since Hillary House was opened.

 

Kallie considers that her skills as a teacher in the Otara area for 35 years, along with her more recent role as Executive Principal, have contributed to her ability to communicate with key community stakeholders.  This has been recognized in her recent appointment by the Ministry of Education as the Lead for Tara Te Irirangi Kahui Ako.

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September 2018