Young Kiwis at Harvard University on meeting Dame Jacinda Ardern, campus culture

Harvard University is the United States’ oldest and one of the world’s most prestigious institutions of higher education. Walking its hallowed halls are two ambitious and talented young Kiwis hailing from the Bay of Plenty: Tauranga’s Samuel Taylor and Rotorua’s Koan Hemana. Reporter Michaela Pointon catches up with them about Ivy League life, their 2024 plans — and running into Dame Jacinda Ardern on campus.

Former Mount Maunganui College student Samuel Taylor, 21, was living his dream as he wrapped up his third year at Harvard University.

Taylor was offered a place at Harvard in 2019 after scoring a perfect 1600 points in the US university entrance exam, the SAT.

In 2023 he was in his junior (third) year studying an Artium Baccalaureate at Harvard’s historic campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“You are surrounded by some of the most interesting people in the world,” Taylor said.

Former Mount Maunganui College student Samuel Taylor (left) attending a sports game with friends from Harvard University in Massachusetts.

“I mean, you sit down, you’re having lunch with someone who’s the … best newcomer science journalist in the world … Or you’re sitting with someone who’s an Olympian.

“I’m just a little boy from this little place called Tauranga.”

Taylor said it was a “great privilege” to study at the university.

“You really are permanently surrounded by today’s leading academics and people who tomorrow will be … the leading sportspeople, the leading politicians, the leading technology innovators [and] scientists.”

Taylor said the appeal of Harvard was “the opportunity to study at the best university in the world, according to some rankings”.

Samuel Taylor, 21, was accepted to Harvard University in Massachusetts after gaining a perfect SAT score.

He said it had been his ambition to attend the university for most of his life.

“I was dead-set on going to the best place I possibly could and this turned out to be it.”

Taylor said there was a “pretty awesome group of Kiwi students” who would meet regularly to check in on each other and share experiences.

Taylor said he had met former New Zealand prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern “a couple of times around campus”.

After stepping down as prime minister last year, Ardern was appointed to two fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School.

“Jacinda’s had a huge profile overseas and it’s awesome that she’s been recognised here for her contributions to New Zealand and beyond as a leader,” Taylor said.

“It’s awesome to have her joining our little Kiwi Harvard community.”

A photo Samuel Taylor posted on social media welcoming Dame Jacinda Ardern to the Harvard Univeristy campus.

He said New Zealand might be “left off most maps” in the US but locals usually knew either Ardern or the Lord of the Rings film series.

Taylor will continue studying towards his undergraduate degree on-campus in 2024 and was weighing up an extra semester to study his honours degree thesis.

For his thesis topic, he was considering researching the impact on indigenous governance and central governance with Crown Tribal Treaties in Canada and the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand.

“It’s a very wordy title, but it’s really exciting for me,” Taylor said with a smile.

Rotorua's Koan Hemana, 19, is studying at Harvard University in Massachusetts.

Former Rotorua Boys’ High School student Koan Hemana, 19, planned to continue studying medical science at Harvard University this year after completing his freshman year and returning home for a summer holiday.

“At this point in time I haven’t declared a major study yet but I’m looking along the lines of either neuroscience or molecular cellular biology,” Hemana said late last year.

The medical student won a scholarship through the Te Ara a Kupe Beaton fund to help him apply to one of the world’s top educational facilities.

Hemana said the culture at Harvard was “very diverse” and he had enjoyed experiencing the US “melting pot” of “people from all sorts of different places”.

He described the student culture as being “big” on joining organisations and clubs.

“It’s sort of a culture they’ve been doing since high school. The more things you’re part of the more mana you hold.”

Koan Hemana plans to continue studying medical science at Harvard University this year.

“Everything is just so intense and constant. There’s a constant flux of workload and social life,” Hemana said.

“It’s nothing like home. I definitely miss home. One thing I noticed is the air quality is just so different. I can feel the really bad air quality.”

Hemana said he had also bumped into Ardern on campus and she had stopped to have a conversation with him.

Michaela Pointon is an NZME reporter based in the Bay of Plenty and was formerly a feature writer.