Cambridge High School students (from left) Max Frith, Hunter Davis and Hanwen Xu all received scholarship awards last year in subjects they took at least one year ahead.
Hanwen Xu was in year 10 at Cambridge High School in 2025 when he took NCEA Level 3 calculus – a course designed for year 13 students.
He placed in the top three per cent of students nationwide and winning a New Zealand Scholarship award.
“I guess I’m just interested in maths,” he said. “I taught myself maths Level 1 and 2 in middle school.”
Xu, who moved to the Waikato from China three years ago with his parents, is taking a mathematics course through the University of Canterbury alongside his NCEA subjects.
He aims to study “something computer related at university”, and plans to enrol in a computer science paper at the University of Waikato later this year.
The 15-year-old was one of dozens of students recognised at Cambridge High School earlier this month at an assembly celebrating last year’s top scholars and 2026 school leaders.
Principal Greg Thorton said students had won 13 scholarships in 2025 across a range of subjects – an improvement on the previous year.
Most of those came from year 13 students – Hannah Goodwin (English), Emily McIntyre (French), Paola Velasco-Bazaldua (Spanish), Harriet Drake and Bronwyn Rees-Jones (biology), Cameron Diprose (music), Emily Drake (classics) and Kimiora Wynyard (Te Ao Haka).
Two students in year 12 last year also achieved the feat.
Hunter Davis won scholarships in calculus, physics and music, and received a Summa Cum Laude award for achieving excellence endorsements in NCEA Level 1, 2 and 3.
Thornton said he could only recall one other student – 2023 dux Anna Jago – claiming that honour.
“It’s quite unusual for a year 12 student to have three excellence endorsements,” he said.
Now in year 13, Davis is taking Maths 199 at the University of Auckland, a course designed for students in their last year of high school.
“It’s quite cool because they show some different areas of maths like cryptography and graph modelling,” he said.
A talented guitar player, Davis is also a member of the Cambridge High School Jazz Band and Big Band, the National Youth Big Band, and the Aotearoa Jazz Combo.
“I definitely want to study maths and music after school at university – maybe a Bachelor of Science majoring in maths and a Bachelor of Music majoring in jazz performance,” the 17-year-old said.
“I think I’d really enjoy something in the research area of university.”
He said winning the scholarships had taken “a lot of hard work”.
Max Frith, 17, won a New Zealand Scholarship award in chemistry.
“I was hoping for it because I’d devoted quite a bit of time to chemistry and it’s one of my strongest subjects,” he said.
“It’s by far one of the most significant things I’ve achieved at school. To say I’m proud is selling it short.”
Cambridge High School students who achieved the highest number of excellence credits in 2025 were Flynn Jenkins, Siddarth Manuvimal, Sophia Manipol, Anna Crouchman and Vivien Pettit.
NCEA excellence endorsements went to 28 Level 1 students and 13 Level 2 students.
Twenty-two students received Cum Laude awards for two excellence endorsements – Georgia Bertrand, Erin Bouwer, Jake Brugh, Anna Crouchman, Marinell Ferreira, Max Frith, Ethan Harvey, Myleigh Johnson, Aden Joseph, Laqueisha Lim, Laila MacDonald, Liam McGregor, Carter Milne, Isabella Penwarden, Ayla Petch, Vivien Pettit, Isla Read, Sophie Risi, Erin Silcock, Blake Williams, Georgia Wynne and Asalie Yiu.
Cambridge High School students (from left) Max Frith, Hunter Davis and Hanwen Xu all received scholarship awards last year in subjects they took at least one year ahead.
