As a third former attending the co-educational school, McAleese found the words of board-sailing Olympian and New Zealand's "Rainbow Girl", Barbara Kendall, equally inspirational.
Yesterday, he discovered few things had changed despite some recent renovations.
"The big school assembly is still there and I asked the teachers where the staff room was and it's still in the same old place," he revealed, pleasantly surprised to find there were still four or five teachers still plying their trade from his time.
Asked what sort of a student he was, a chuckling McAleese replied, "Stellar."
Jokes aside, he clarified the teachers were complimentary towards him as a scholar and a sportsman.
"The beauty of Colenso in those days was that we had a small group of about 30 seventh formers so we didn't just learn but we created friendships with teachers so they were also supporting us on the sidelines when we played sports and got a buzz out of that."
A student who always found time for sports, including lunchtimes, McAleese also had the foresight to bury himself in books.
"If someone threw a ball outside, never mind how wet and muddy it was, I was always out there," says the man whose bias towards sports was undeniable, but he likes to think he has found a modicum of balance these days.
Next month he graduates with a business management degree before setting sight on post-graduate studies towards acquiring a masters degree.
Add to that his degree in sports science and his qualifications as a personal trainer and the mould of an all-rounder become a testimony to his career appraisal.
During his stay here until August 16, he hopes to visit other Bay schools to share his experiences at the pinnacle of elite sports, especially his old schools which include Ahuriri Primary, Nelson Park Primary and Napier Intermediate.
Impressing on the youngsters to set incremental goals towards a big one, he uses video clips to share indelible experiences of the Games' opening ceremony, the Olympic village lifestyle and meeting celebrities such as Roger Federer.
Yesterday he highlighted the passages of play in hockey, such as goalscoring and goalkeeping, that determines the calibre and quality of today's athletes.
"I share with the setting of goals in chasing those dreams so I used some video clips on that, too.
"I tell them to set attainable goals that they can reach before setting higher goals, to push themselves higher regardless of whether they want to be a police officer, Black Stick, plumber or Olympian so I give them an athlete's perspective of myself."
McAleese was a late withdrawal mid-last month from the World League semifinal in Rotterdam due to injury, returning home to New Zealand after breaking his toe in the men's final training session before their opening game against the Netherlands.
"I broke my big left toe in the final 20 minutes of practising short corners so you don't really realise how much you can miss your big toe," he said, having rested four weeks but still needing as much time yet to recover.
"It's frustrating but accidents happen and you hope there isn't any more in the future."
The New Zealand men have joined their female counterparts in securing a spot at next year's World Cup in The Hague.
England's win in the third-fourth match at the world league 3 hockey tournament in Malaysia on Monday was enough to get the Black Sticks to the 12-nation tournament which starts on May 31.
The Kiwis were the higher-ranked of the two fourth-placed finishers at the world league tournaments.
Had Korea - ranked eighth, two places lower than New Zealand - won, the Black Sticks would have had to beat Australia at the Oceania Cup in Taranaki in October to advance.
The New Zealanders will also contest the world league final in Delhi in January.
McAleese, who spends five months playing professionally in Holland, four months living and training with the national squad in Auckland and the remaining months in the Bay, is delighted to have what he believes to be the first representative player, man or woman, in the National Hockey League, to become player/coach of the Central team this year.
"I'm definitely capable," he says, looking forward to the challenge.
