Thursday 3 September 2026
My name is Harrison, and I am a member of the Round Square Democratic Society.
The pillars of Round Square are known as IDEALS: Internationalism, Democracy, Environmentalism, Adventure, Leadership, and Service. The biggest part of my role within the club is organising our events and guest speakers.
Last year, the Round Square Democracy Society’s (DemSoc) biggest event was a visit by Dr Carlos Cheung, MP for Mt Roskill, where students gained a great deal of insight into the ways people get into politics, and what being an elected representative is really like.
Since 2013, King’s College has been a Round Square school. Round Square is an international network of schools, whose ethos closely aligns with that of King’s. Both prioritise a well-rounded education, which aims for students to become good citizens. Part of this ethos is civic responsibility, and based on the incredible turnout for Dr Chung, it was clear that getting politicians in to speak to us was a great way to promote DemSoc and help get students at the College civically engaged.
Fittingly in this election year, events of this sort have become more numerous, more varied
and more eye-opening. Last term, we hosted Dr Max Harris, a barrister, former Rhodes
Scholar, and current Labour candidate for Tāmaki. It was an awesome opportunity for us to
hear about such an illustrious academic and legal career: He went on to earn an All Souls
College Examination Fellowship and has argued before the Supreme Court of New Zealand. He also set out his political values, his goals if elected, and fielded questions about Labour’s policies.
This all came about when I was getting fish & chips in Glen Innes, and noticed Max’s
campaign office was next door. Knowing I needed to find the next guest speaker for
DemSoc, I popped in and asked if he wanted to come to King’s, and he did! A few weeks
later, I was in St Heliers, getting fish & chips, and I noticed that James Christmas, the ACT candidate for Tāmaki, had his campaign office next door. Two weeks ago, we hosted him at DemSoc, where he told us about his time as a senior adviser to Chris Finlayson, Sir John Key, and Sir Bill English, and as a barrister, focusing on national security and the Treaty of Waitangi. Like Harris, he made his sales pitch to us, and talked us through his journey into politics.
Every one of our events so far has been hugely successful and well-enjoyed by students.
Although this is clearly great in ensuring that our students are politically informed, it is also
proof of the growth and integration of Round Square in day-to-day life at King’s. Moreover, it is tremendously valuable to have the chance to bring in aspirational stories of what can be possible. I believe that every student at the College deserves to hear from high achievers and needs to be inspired to get involved and be curious as to what is out there.
However, the best is yet to come - this Friday, Erica Stanford, the Minister of Education, will
be visiting and answering all our students’ questions about politics and government in New
Zealand, and we hope to continue to host many more politicians in the future.
Harrison Wong (Year 12, Marsden)