Never Giving Up - Introducing Max Claxton -Our First Winner of 2026

John and I are delighted to welcome Max Claxton into our family of winners. Max is the 20th winner of our Scholarships - but he also a first for us in another respect. Max applied for last year’s awards and only missed out by the skin of his teeth. We sent him away with a letter asking him to apply again this year if he could demonstrate achievement is a small number of areas.

Not only did he achieve those things, but he did so in a way that left John and I astonished.

Max grew up in Rotorua. His parents didn’t get along, and his living conditions were volatile for a gentle young lad trying to find his way in the world. As a young boy he developed anxiety, leading to a loss of self-confidence. Eventually, after his parents split, he was living in a home which changed parents every two weeks as his parents did their best to not disrupt their children.

This had its own set of challenges as Max and his younger autistic sibling had to continually adapt to different parenting skills and attitudes. Last year, things came to a head when the family home was sold. Max and his sibling began to live with their mum fulltime in a rented home. After being made redundant from her role as a hospice carer, Max’s mum is a beneficiary and works on a casual basis caring for a young woman with Downs Syndrome. Her compassion and care for others in need has rubbed off on Max and he had an excellent record of helping more vulnerable people in his neighbourhood.

His particular attention was paid to his widowed grandmother. Max was very close to his grandparents. His Grandfather was instrumental in introducing Max to aviation. His Grandmother wrote the following in support of Max’s original application to us:-

My late husband Andrew had a lifelong interest in all things aviation and introduced Max to them at a very early age. As a small child he learned the art of paper darts and enjoyed kite flying and by primary school had learned to identify each and every aircraft flying above.

Andrew owned and built many model aircraft and Max was frequently taken to the Model Aero Club flying field, observing, learning and listening to the “pros” at social events. He was exposed to full sized aircraft many times at airshows, Hot Air Ballooning events, and at airports while greeting and seeing off visiting family members. During his years there have been many visits to various airports in New Zealand to observe aeroplane activity.

Max was introduced to Gliding at age 14 and became a member of Piako Gliding Club along with Andrew, who rejoined as he was previous member and instructor years before. Max had a break after his grandfather suddenly died in 2022 but was soon back into it.

Max has kept up his gliding ever since. By the time he applied last year, he had 40 hours and when he updated us in this year’s application, he’d added more. As part of his commitment to his community, he has volunteered at multiple gliding events.

Education is very important to the family and Max did not disappoint in his school achievements. He attained all three NCEA levels with Excellence and Merit results far outweighing his Achieved grades. He is a keen photographer and drummer. Uniquely, he was also a hobby apiarist via the school club.

One thing we wanted to see Max work on was to get a job and save money to assist his flight training costs. He promptly got a job with Pak n Save. On his very first day in the role, his store was invaded by two armed gangs after each other. Despite this shocking event, Max was resilient and stayed with the supermarket. In a period of six months, working initially part time and then full time, Max saved an impressive $10,000! 

Max is 19 now. He spent the early part of this year working on self-confidence. Through this journey he has become more reflective and self-aware, realising that all those years of high achievement whilst living through periods of high stress and anxiety demonstrated he is well placed to deal with challenges that will inevitably rise in the next few years. He is a well-adjusted and compassionate young man. He is a protector of his younger sibling as they go through an enormous life adjustment of their own.

Having done well in interviews and assessments at two Flight Training Organisations, Max chose to train at the Massey University School of Aviation. He began his studies there in July this year. As expected, he’s loving the academic studies as well as flying. So far, he has 11 hours flight time in a powered aircraft. He has kept his job at Rotorua’s Pak n Save and will work there during each semester break and over the Christmas Holidays to continue raising funds to supplement his student loan. He intends to remain connected to his gliding club, and he would like to give back to them as much as possible, considering they were so instrumental in his aviation development.

Max is sponsored by John and will be presented with his trophy shortly.