From Student to Student of The Year

Amelia Orr is The Student of the Year 2024, Co-Presidents of the Arts Education Student Association (AESA) and (Auckland University Psychology Student Association) AUPSA, Student Rep and Wellbeing Ambassador.

I came to university knowing exactly what I wanted to do when I grew up.  

I was one of "those" kids - I went to all the open days, emailed professors before I was even accepted, spent nights tucked into my books, hitting 'next page' on google scholar. My plan was simple - get the grades, get the degree and get out. My mind was permanently stuck in the future; one where I had completed my Doctorate of Clinical Psychology, and spent my days listening to patients bemoan their life from the comfort of a plush office chair. I was so focused on that future that I barely recognised my first year passing by in an uninspiring blur.  

I found one small caveat in my master plan - almost every professor I approached told me I had get my hands on some so called "extra-curricular experience" in a place called "the real world".  This makes complete sense;  I, as someone who barely dared to step foot outside of Kate Edgar was sceptical. At the end of my second year I begrudgingly applied to a couple of exec positions on student associations, thinking it would be a relatively effort-free way to schmooze with lecturers and network my way into a degree.  

I was dead wrong.  

I did things I never imagined were possible as a student;  Planning and hosting balls, mixers, company tours - traveling up and down across the country for camps, and conferences, racing to university from the airport, barely sliding into my tutorials. I found my gaze dropped from my future, refocusing instead to what was infront of me; long nights spent talking with friends, mario-kart tournaments, fancy lunch socials with our executive, and of course, the beloved weekly shads pub quiz. I was completely swallowed up by a maelstrom of opportunities that cascaded into one another, again and again and again. Looking back it feels like no time at all has passed - but every day felt visceral; my focus on the future ahead of me life dropping to where I was putting my feet day-by-day.  

Looking back on my achievements feels strange; I don't really feel like they belong to me because in my own mind, I was just jumping from day-to-day, task-to-task, interest-to-interest. I had no expectations of anything coming from it. Everything I’ve accomplished I owe to my friends, my family, my communities; the people who I am fortunate enough to be in the same place and time as. They dragged me out of living in my future, and into theirs.  

Now, when I’m asked what I want to do once I graduate, much to the dismay of my parents, I now say I have no idea. But I think not knowing is the ultimate privilege - it means that there are still opportunities open to you, and still time left to explore them. Opportunity is waiting for you, no matter where you are in your student journey. As a student, you might never have another time in your life where you get to spend your time hanging out with other young people, just doing whatever it is that interests you - even if it is just hanging out at shads throwing back 10 dollar jugs. As much as I thought I knew exactly what my future was going to look like when I came to university, the only thing I really learned is that if you spend too much time focusing on the future, you lose sight of what’s available to you right now. Your future isn’t some far off place; it’s happening right now, right in front of you.  

If you keep gazing into the distance, you might miss it.  

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in Craccum are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of AUSA, the Craccum Editorial Team, or the publication as a whole.