Presented by Julie Scott – Chairperson, Carmel College Board

The BOT Excellence Award is in recognition of the outstanding achievements of students and staff, both past and present, who have succeeded at a national or international level in any of the areas of community service, academia, business, sport, music, and the arts.

Through their achievements, the recipients of this award will have brought honour to themselves and also to Carmel College.  They have been empowered by a Catholic Mercy education to pursue personal excellence, and have been prepared to challenge and shape the future.

I am thrilled to announce that this year’s winner of the BOT Excellence Award is Barbara Edmonds, or as I’m sure many of you knew her in her Carmel days, Barbara Poe.

Barbara hails from a well known and much loved Carmel family, of whom we still have students today.  She attended here from 1992-1998 and was our Head Girl in her final year.  On leaving school she attended Auckland University graduating as a lawyer before specialising in tax law.  She joined the parliament fold in 2016 working across both main political parties, and in 2020 she was elected as the MP for Mana of which she remains today.  As an MP she has been the Minister for Economic Development and Pacific People, the Minister of Revenue and Internal Affairs, and the Associate Minister of Finance, Cyclone Recovery and Housing.  Amongst all of this, she is also the mother of 8 which to be fair, probably deserves an award on its own. 

Barbara was nominated by our past staff member, Mrs Averill Waters.  In her nomination she wrote that Barbara has a mission to serve her community by helping to make a difference for others. Her maiden speech when she became a member of parliament speaks to the value of social justice.  She truly represents the Mercy values and I cannot think of a better role model for Carmel students, particularly our Pasifika students. 

Congratulations Barbara, you are a truly deserving recipient of this award.