The 44-year-old took over the principal's position at Taieri College on August 12 from acting principal Paul Bolton, and previous principal Christina Herrick, who resigned last year on medical grounds.
Mr Hunter said he had great ambitions for the school.
''A lot of schools will profess that they will open doors for students. But my philosophy is that I want to give students the tools to open the doors themselves.
''That's the way we are heading towards.
''I'm setting high expectations.
''I'm not accepting mediocrity and we are celebrating competition.
''Competition is something this college already does well.''
Mr Hunter said he had spent a lot of time in meetings within the school and the local community, making sure everyone was on the same page and building a team at the school.
The school was recently granted Ministry of Education funding to build a $3.1 million state-of-the-art facility to replace the school's main administration and classroom block.
He said the 76-year-old block comprised the school's reception area, staff room, administration offices and library and information centre, as well as eight classrooms.
A new 1600sq m block would replicate all the existing facilities, but within a more modern and space-efficient layout.
''It will allow the college to leap into the 21st century.
''The future is looking really bright for our college.''
Mr Hunter brings a wealth of experience in education from his work in rural schools.
For the past three years, he was the principal at Maniototo Area School.
For the three years before that, he was the deputy principal at Roxburgh Area School, and before that was head of physical education at St Kevin's College.
He started his career at Tauranga Boys' College as a social science and physical education teacher.
Mr Hunter said he was a former pupil at the college and although 27 years had passed since he left, he had noticed little change in the school's atmosphere.
''The one thing I've noticed coming back to the college is the openness and the up-front manner of the students.
''They're polite, respectful and they are also appreciative of the support they get from staff and parents.''
