Sam Tommas is on an exchange to Chile this year and he returns to Year 13 in January. He sends this report of his experiences:
"I was embraced by Chilean culture with a warm welcome as soon as I stepped off the plane and got to know my new family for the year. I couldn't keep the feeling out of my head of how strange all of this was for me. I remember one of my first thoughts being how small everybody here was compared to New Zealand. These feelings of strangeness almost instantly vanished as my new family made me feel
right at home from the outset.

19 September, 2012, Parnell. Having the drive to change something is what sets apart effective leaders. Josh Chevin, Year 13 student prefect at ACG Parnell College, recently saw the Auckland City Mission was down $100,000 on its usual donations this year and decided he could help do something about it.

Congratulations to the following students who have achieved their '12 Hours in 2012'! Students have participated in Street Appeals, Tree Planting, Bake Sales, Sensory Garden Clean-ups and the Newmarket Park Project to reach their 12 Hours.

Alumni Oliver Brown, providing more opportunities of community service for his '12 Hours in 2012' participants, led a group to Motutapu Island recently. He reports:

"On 6th August a group of 29 ACG Parnell College students, parents and alumni when to Motutapu to participate in some tree planting! The group broke up into pairs with each planting 20 to 35 trees each. Following the tree planting, we walked through an area of Motutapu which had trees that had been planted 15 years ago - a walk which allowed us to understand what our trees would look like in just a few years' time."