Finn Kerby-Pinguet is pointing his education compass to the Far East after his selection to a prosperous programme northwest of Shanghai.
The Nayland College Year 12 student, who is also the Nelson Youth Council chair, will jet to China in August to begin a two-year International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) at United World College in Changshu.
The IBDP is an academically-rigorous pre-university programme recognised worldwide. It is noted for its commitment to service, its high academic standards, and for creating international mindedness through understanding multiple perspectives.
Finn says he was “thrilled” to be informed in the recent school holidays that he had been accepted.
“I had always thought it was quite a long shot applying… but I was really thrilled, it took a while to kind of take it all in and get used to what it means,” he says.
“I think it’s a really fascinating place to study… what really closed the deal for me was when I was hearing about all the people in my community that had already gone through these schools elsewhere in the world and have come back and done amazing things in Nelson.
“I thought, ‘wow, I should pay some more attention to this’… I applied last year, there were a couple of rounds of interviews, and I went up to Wellington for the final interviews.”
Finn says exactly what he’ll study on the programme is unknown at this stage, but he suspects a Mandarin course will be included.
“The main attraction is going to be the people that I meet there from all over the world who have been selected for the same reasons, they’re keen to make the world a better place,” he says.
“There are lots of different paths that this could take me on...what I’m really keen to do is take what I’ve learned and come back home and see how I can put it to use.”
