Bernard Klos (2001-2007)

Since graduating from Lindisfarne I have studied and completed a Bachelors of Engineer with Honours at the University of Canterbury. This qualification instantly opened many doors allowing me to jump into a full time graduate position one weekend after my final exam. This was at a company which designed and built automated mooring machines. I worked there for about three and a half years before moving to my current position as an engineer for a power electronics company.

My current company has been the market leader for industrial battery charging and is one of the finalists for the NZ Hi-Tech awards. Innovation is one of the words that I use when people ask why I chose to do engineering, being allowed to think outside the box, rewrite the norm and all those other clichés are true in engineering. The possibility to implement positive change, and to do what possibly has never been done before constantly excites me. My time at Lindisfarne shaped me a lot. Notably the subjects of Calc, Physics, Stats, Tech and Chem assisted me greatly into my engineering career, however the teachers are what influenced me the most. Their worldly knowledge, experience and enthusiasm was unbeatable, from year 7 all the way through to year 13.

The friends you make at Lindisfarne are for life. Although thousands of kilometres of water separate some of us, we still chat on an almost daily basis, and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. A lot happens once you leave school. In the past 11 years I have attained an honours qualification, purchased two houses - with one now operating as a rental. I married the love of my life and travelled to many places all over the world.

To the boys at school today: Be the hardest working person in the room. I know for a fact that I wasn't the smartest. I was, and still am surrounded by incredibly talented individuals, and the only way you can get around it is by being the hardest worker you can be. That way you always get to go home knowing that you have done the best that you could.”