A Kaikohe teenager with big dreams wants to shatter Northlanders' stereotypes of Maori, her school and her home town - and she's made a great start to that with a poem that has taken social media by storm.
Seventeen-year-old Shania Howard recited 'Just Because' at the Northland College prize-giving, although she had never planned to deliver it in public, or even commit it to paper.
Those who were mightily impressed included Mayor John Carter, who said the poem distinguished Shania as a leader and invited every Northland newspaper to publish it.
"I was dazzled by the eloquent and heart-felt way she expressed her determination to succeed and her willingness to be an inspiration to others," he said, urging Northlanders to read the poem, and share it.
"We have some wonderful young people in our communities, but we don't always give them the credit and encouragement they deserve and need to succeed in life. Shania's poem challenges every one of us to look beyond stereotypes and recognise the potential in each individual," he added.
Shania said it was negative attitudes about her school, even from her own classmates, that inspired the poem. Many were convinced they would never achieve anything in life because they went to a Decile 1 college in a town with its share of social problems.
She is determined to prove them wrong. In February she is off to Waikato University to start a double degree in Maori development and law, despite having to overcome some serious challenges of her own, including the death of her mother when she was 11.
The poem also confronts stereotypes of Maori as no-hopers living off social welfare and getting drunk every day.
Shania (Ngapuhi, Te Rarawa), said being Maori was a "really, really important" part of her identity, but the poem was never meant to be read.
"I just wrote it for myself," she said.
"It was always in my head. I was getting annoyed by hearing so many people talking negatively about our school, about how they weren't going to succeed because we're from a small, Decile 1 school. They think we can't go out into the world and make a difference.
"I'm just surprised that a poem that was never meant to be heard has had such a big impact and touched so many people."
She first recited the poem at the college's graduation dinner, and principal Jim Luders made her repeat it for prizegiving.
"It just snowballed from there," she said.
The youngest of three siblings, Shania was raised in Wellington but has been living in Kaikohe with her great-uncle at Otaua for the past 18 months. She loved Kaikohe, she said. The town was full of love and support that outsiders rarely saw because of the "dumb things" that happened there.
Her aim is to come home after her studies and work with youth, hopefully inspiring them as she had been inspired by speakers visiting her school. Her other great inspiration was her mother, who had also been to university.
"I hope she's proud of me. I think she is," she said.
Shania was named Northland College's Proxime Accessit and won four scholarships, including Waikato University's Northland Future Leaders' Scholarship and the school's Lucas Scholarship. Her strengths included performing arts, maths, English and media studies. She is also a keen boxer, and can be found teaching novice fighters every weekday morning at Kaikohe's Te Mira Gym.