Come Thursday, 17-year-old Samuel Paton will become the fourth — and final — Class Act recipient in his immediate family.
The East Otago High School student has two sisters and a brother, all of whom were head students at the school, and all of whom dominated the school’s speech competition.
The Class Act Awards are the Otago Daily Times’ annual recognition of outstanding achievement by students from Otago schools. They are being held for the 26th time this year and 56 recipients will be handed their awards by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at a ceremony in Dunedin.
"... and they know sort of the reputation of the Patons, but we’re so different in so many ways."
Hannah, the eldest, was a Class Act recipient in 2019 and was now a physiotherapist in Gore.
The more musically-inclined Luke, the second-eldest, received the award in 2021. He was now overseas doing missionary work.
Abigail, the second-youngest, who played rugby for Otago Spirit, was a Class Act recipient in 2023, Samuel said.
His siblings set "a very high bar to achieve", but any pressure came from himself.
"That’s the great thing about my siblings, is they never made me feel like I was less of, or I wasn’t as worthy, if I didn’t reach that sort of accolade that they achieved."
He had admired them for their Class Act Awards.
"[It’s] sort of a bit of a prestige in the sense that you do have to work quite hard to be recognised by your school community as being someone that’s worthy of that award."
Samuel’s parents Traci and Paul Paton said they were very proud of all their children, but it was not all about achievement all the time.
"It’s about trying your best. You know, stay in your own lane, do your best," Mrs Paton said.
Identity had to come from something besides achievement.
"Ours comes from God."
Beyond that, it was about applying yourself and putting the work in to achieve what everybody else achieved.
Mr Paton agreed.
"I realise that achievements are nice to have, but I’ve told the children that your character is more important than how much you achieve, and I’m proud of you for who you are, not so much what you do."
They appreciated their rural community and though keeping the children in their local school came with some challenges, it had paid off. They had benefited from being in a small, close-knit community that cared for one another and had learned what a privilege it was to be able to participate in things such as sports, speech competitions and youth groups, they said.
What made her most proud of her children was not the achievements or awards, Mrs Paton said.
She recalled times when all four children were doing dishes, singing together and bantering.
"That would probably be my proudest time: more than getting an award is just seeing them get along."
Samuel finishing high school will be the end of a chapter for the family and, while she did not want her children to stay at home forever, she would miss having them all together.
"I love family and ... there’s this dynamic with our family that when everybody’s together, it’s really fun," Mrs Paton said.
