Pahīatua teen aims high in university study

High achiever: Mason Carter is known as a quiet and humble young man, but he's worked hard to earn a place at university. Photo / Leanne Warr

When Pahīatua teen Mason Carter was little, he often played with Lego.

Now Mason is headed for university with plans to study aerospace engineering, but a year earlier than others his age.

At around age 7, he built a safe, using the plastic bricks and rubber bands that would not open without a specific pin.

He somehow worked it out, according to his mum, Joanna Laing.

“It was incredible,” she says. “The way he just worked out how to make it work.”

Mason says he didn’t do Year 10 at Tararua College, instead going straight from Year 9 to 11, with the encouragement of his teachers.

Joanna says he had a wonderful teacher who pushed him to “achieve a bit higher”.

While that did put him a year ahead of his friends, he quickly made more friends with other students, some of whom will be also going to Canterbury University next year.

While his mum says she wasn’t ready for him to leave home so early, it helps that she’s familiar with Christchurch as the family lived there when Mason was born.

They moved to Wellington when he was a toddler and then to Pahīatua, where he started primary at Pahīatua School.

Mason says his favourite subject at school is calculus, which will come in handy in the field of aerospace engineering.

When asked why that particular field, he says “planes are cool”.

Joanna says Mason’s always had an interest in aircraft.

“Finding out how things work and why they work in a certain way.

“Ever since he was little he was pulling things apart to try and work out why,” she says, adding that he’s always had a “mechanical mindset”.

Mason has already had a glimpse of university life, after attending a science academy in Otago, which also helped his decision in leaving school early.

“He could have come back to school next year and done a few uni papers, had a bit of a gap year, but he was ready to push himself,” Joanna says.

Mason’s university study has also got off to a great start with scholarships totalling over $18,000.

One of the scholarships, worth around $8000, will pay for his second year of tuition.

He has also received scholarships of $5000 each and through Tararua College he has been awarded the Amuri Shinfield Denise Pester memorial scholarship.

Mason says getting the scholarships felt “pretty good”.

He will still have to cover his living costs, but he and his mum are still working out all the logistics on that.

What he will do with his degree once he finishes university, he’s unsure, as right now he’s just focusing on the exams he has to take as his school year comes to an end.