Ryan Thelin and James Matthews have bounced off each other at Nelson College, and the incoming doctor and lawyer had clinical academic performances to be awarded joint dux.
The astute school leaders have the top marks in every internal assignment this year, before the release of finalised results in January, and NCEA levels one and two with an excellence endorsement.
A cogent academic record has been indispensable to head boy and Nelson Giant point guard James ever since unearthing the determination to pursue a higher education and the gold standard of basketball institutions in the United States.
“Basketball has always been the thing I’ve loved above all else in terms of my future for what I want to do, and there’s nowhere better for basketball than the States,” he says.
“I was always told that if you want to be able to compete and play at the best schools in America, you have to be able to study there as well, so that was always the biggest focus for me, studying hard to help me reach my goals.
“A degree I’ve always wanted to study is a PPE [philosophy, political science and economics], then I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer since I read a book called Just Mercy, the author Bryan Stevenson inspired me to want to be a lawyer, so I’d pursue that as a postgraduate,” James says.
He got first in four of his five Year 13 subjects, which were history, statistics, te reo Māori and English.
He’ll play another season with the Nelson Giants in the first half of 2026 and, depending on his December-released application outcomes for the University of Chicago and the prestigious MIT in Massachusetts, he will jet off mid-year.
James’ deputy Ryan developed a late passion for academics in Year 9, most notably in the sciences.
“I wasn’t forced into academics… It has culminated over the years, and it’s just allowed me to keep pushing through and keep learning, simply because I have that passion,” he says.
“All the resources at school, the teachers, and the opportunities inside and outside the school make it possible.”
