Community, camaraderie, connections: leading the way

Samuel Hertz says being on the leadership teams at Redhill High School helped him to get involved in the community and facilitate things that he wanted implemented.

Hertz was a member of the Student Representative Council and went on to become chairperson of the arts and culture committee in Grade 11, and finally, student vice-president on the student council.

He said that though the role of student vice-president was more of a behind-the-scenes job, it was a lot of work. Responsibilities included planning assemblies alongside the student president, events, administering matric portfolio committees such as the yearbook and academic committees, and correspondence between the committees and the executive team. “The goal is to make things run smoothly and communicate effectively to the student body,” he said.

In addition to his leadership duties and academic commitments, Hertz was involved in the school’s cultural activities. “I had a successful high school career because of the opportunities that I was given, but also by making opportunities for myself,” he said. He was a member and conductor of the school chamber ensemble, which was named the Best High School Ensemble in South Africa. He was the musical director for the middle school’s production of Into The Woods Jr in 2022, and directed, conducted, and arranged the music for a play that advanced to the finals of Festival of Excellence in Dramatic Arts and was performed at the Redhill Arts Festival in 2023.

He also played lead roles in many of the school’s major productions. He was a member of the public speaking team for many years, and a finalist for Best Individual Speaker in his matric year.

Hertz took an unusual approach to balancing his numerous commitments, saying he believed that “people overestimate the idea of scheduling”. Instead of rigid planning, he said, “You need to try and find moments within your day in which you feel motivated to do things. Because if you aren’t motivated, it becomes a chore and unlikable. I would know that at some point in my day, I had to, for example, do this thing for leadership, practice something on the piano, and finish this assignment. But it was never scheduled to the hour.”

“I also think people are way more productive when they’re busy because you tend to utilise your time a lot better. I often found that when we were going through really hectic patches in terms of big leadership events along with a lot of school work, I would get more done in the little time I had.” But he admits to feeling overworked in matric at times, and occasionally falling victim to the mindset of “measuring your success in terms of how productive you are, which could have been slightly toxic for me”.

Hertz’s motivation to get involved in school activities always came from a sense of community and camaraderie, which made the COVID-19 lockdown period a challenging time for him. “Being busy, doing a lot of things, and being involved is fun only because you’re doing it with people and making important connections,” he said. “So for me, being in lockdown with people expecting you to have the same motivation to do things but completely online, was challenging.

“Although high school can be really difficult because of the workload and other issues, it becomes manageable because you’re surrounded by your community,” said Hertz, “especially at our school, where we have such a wide variety of different people and spaces and opportunities where you can fit in.” Though he felt demotivated and didn’t enjoy school as much as usual during the first few months of the pandemic, he eventually realised that there were ways to build community online. That being said, he was happy that things went “back to normal” before matric.

Hertz plans to study Business Science, but said he wanted the arts to remain an active part of his life. “I never want to give up playing music, reading, and things like that. I plan to continue to pursue those hobbies and find communities and societies outside of the career path I choose.”

Hertz was named Redhill’s Dux Scholar for 2023, achieving a 96% average with 11 distinctions, of which 10 distinctions were 90% or above. He was also on the Independent Examinations Board outstanding achievements list for students who were within the top 5% in six or more subjects and achieved a rating level of 7 in Life Orientation.