Award will keep son's memory alive

PROUD PARENT: Sue Cameron presents the inaugural Year 12 Construction and Innovation Award: The Robbie Cameron Memorial Trophy to Year 12 student Stephen Miller.

Sue Cameron finally got the chance to be a proud parent at a school prizegiving.

In memory of her beloved youngest son, Mrs Cameron presented the inaugural Year 12 Construction and Innovation Award: The Robbie Cameron Memorial Trophy at Wairarapa College's prizegiving last week.

Robbie was in Year 12 at WaiCol when, on Queen's Birthday weekend, 2012, he died suddenly in his sleep, devastating his tight-knit family.

His death robbed the talented teen of a chance to win an award for building, his "absolute favourite subject" - so a prize for his fellow young inventors was the next best thing, said Mrs Cameron.

"Robbie was the youngest of five. We've had a long history with WaiCol, so we wanted to do something for school," she said.

"We wanted the trophy to be for a Year 12 student, who wasn't necessarily top of the class, but, like Robbie had some really cool ideas."

The trophy - fashioned by The Sign Factory and WaiCol Technology Head of Department James Maher - was presented to Steven Miller, who created an lamp using beer bottles and LED lightbulbs.

"I think Robbie would have liked that," said Mrs Cameron.

As part of her presentation, Mrs Cameron shared a small personal tribute to Robbie, who was designing a tree hut just before he died.

She said he excelled in maths and physics, but that English was his worst subject, drawing a laugh from the students.

She also spoke of his fun-loving side: of missing his "cheeky grin with his perfect teeth", him baking cakes and puddings, his practical jokes and "hamming it up" for the camera.

"I didn't want it to be a downer, as it was a celebration for the students - but I wanted to let everyone know how special he was.

"A lot of the hostel students came up to me afterwards, and said they remembered Robbie.

"It seemed to hit a chord with a lot of people, which was nice."

Mrs Cameron said last week was her chance to be "a proud parent at prizegiving", an opportunity which eluded her when Robbie was alive.

"His older siblings were very bright, but preferred to fly under the radar.

"Robbie did win an award for agriculture in Year 11 - but he failed to tell me about it.

"So, handing out that trophy, I got to have that moment as Robbie's proud parent."

Head of department Mr Maher said winner Stephen was a "very worthy recipient."

"He's a very talented lad. He gets engrossed in every project he does.

"He's always coming out of the bag with different ideas."