Education Champions

Tom Collin



Tom is an English teacher at Tauranga Boys College. He has had considerable experience travelling in Europe and Asia, having overlanded from Ho Chi Minh City, where he lived for 18 months, to London.

Getting Asia on the mental map of his students is one of Tom's major goals. He has put together a range of resources directed towards getting the travellers of the future interested in a world that is phenomenally different to their own experiences. 

He says being a Champion will allow him to continue to explore a world of literature and storytelling with the kids of Aotearoa, which is too often left untapped.

Before travel restrictions, Tom led school groups on trips to China and Russia. He is passionate about getting young people on planes so that they can get a taste for a world so much bigger than theirs.

Tom says, the most important thing is that we expand our experiences so that we can truly understand why the whole world takes an interest in us. He says Aotearoa is a special place and the best way to truly understand the value of our own whenua is by seeing it through the eyes of others.