One of those groups is the No 48 Squadron Air Cadet unit, which Hanne joined in 2017, serving six years as a member.
Over that time, he progressed up the ranks, finishing as the unit’s Warrant Officer, lead cadet. While he officially left in December last year, his connection with the unit, and Air Cadets as a whole, remains. He is currently working towards commissioning as an officer with the No 2 Squadron Air Cadet unit in Hutt City, which he describes as being a way to give back to air cadets.
“I gained a lot from air cadets over the years, especially organisational and leadership skills.”
Another skill would be perseverance, he said.
“I’m not a natural at some things. It took me six years to get my rifle competency qualification.”
One thing it could be said Hanne is a natural at, is academics.
He started his schooling in Taranaki at St Joseph’s Stratford, then headed to Francis Douglas Memorial College for high school. Both schools had teachers, he said, who “really made you want to learn”. He also enjoyed being part of both school’s Kapa Haka groups.
At FDMC teachers encouraged him to take on extra curricular challenges, he said.
His English teacher encouraged him to work on his creative writing skills, resulting in him having five short stories published across two editions of New Zealand’s annual ReDraft book.
Hanne was also one of 20 rangatahi across the country selected to me a member of the media team at Youth Parliament 2023. During his term, he had several articles published on the RNZ site.
As a year 11, he represented Sweden as a delegate at the Model EU Parliament where he was named best delegate, for which the prize was a scholarship to take a university paper with the University of Canterbury through distance learning. He took the paper in year 12, achieving an A+ grade.
Hanne also achieved well in school academically. He was awarded Premier Academic Colours for achieving over 100 excellence credits at Level 2. Over his NCEA career, Hanne achieved a total of 404 NCEA credits, with 254 of those being at excellence level.
Hanne also did well in the NCEA scholarship exams, achieving scholarship grades in history and classical studies and an outstanding scholarship grade in English last well. This year, he returned to FDMC to give a tutorial to the scholarship English class.
“I like teaching or tutoring. I’ve learned a lot about it through cadets, with teaching lessons a key part of being a senior cadet, and it was good to return to FDMC to help.”
Outside school and cadets, Hanne served as a youth councillor with Stratford District Youth Council for six years, and also volunteers his time at the local movie theatre.
He is a volunteer usher and projectionist at Kings Theatre in Stratford, a place he said is a real taonga for the town.
“It’s probably the coolest place in Stratford. I love volunteering there.”
He makes sure he puts his name down for shifts whenever he is in Stratford, he said.
At university, Hanne is studying a triple major in international relations, anthropology and religion. His plan is to work in humanitarian or emergency recovery work.
“I want to be on the ground, making sure people get the help they need, be it here or overseas.”
Disclaimer: Editor Ilona Hanne is the mother of Achim Hanne. Fortunately for him, he takes after his father not his mother when it comes to academics.
Ilona Hanne is a Taranaki-based journalist who covers breaking and community news from across the region. She has worked for NZME since 2011.
