Jared Sewell taking on the world

Princeton University will be a far cry from the rural Puriri Jared Sewell has grown up around.
But the 18-year-old is taking everything in his stride as he embarks on his latest journey: studying electrical and computer engineering at one of the USA’s Ivy League colleges.
The former Hauraki Plains College student was awarded scholarships to both Princeton and Yale universities, and opted for the former as it had a stronger engineering programme.
He’ll be heading across oceans come August, and told The Profile he was looking forward to learning alongside people from all over the world under the tutelage of distinguished, Nobel Prize winning professors.
“I’ve spent a lot of time away from home travelling since finishing high school at the end of 2022, so I’m comfortable making the move,” he said.
Jared started taking his NCEA exams in Year 8 and was NCEA Level 3 endorsed with excellence by Year 10 – three years ahead of the curve.
While at high school he also completed six university papers towards an engineering degree with A+ results; and graduated from the Universal College of Learning with a certificate in IT.
Since leaving school, he has walked the Te Araroa Trail – documenting his efforts on his Youtube channel, On the trail NZ – and has spent time in Norway, France, Montenegro, and Germany.
Eventually, he would like to create his own start-up company.
“I would definitely say I enjoy the process of learning – every little piece of knowledge helps me understand the world a little better,” he said. “Higher education is just another step towards my goals.”
Jared said that after he’d outgrown his primary school’s curriculum, he was fortunate to be in full-time correspondence school from Years 6 to 8. When he started full-time at Hauraki Plains College in Year 9, the school was “very accommodating” and placed him into classes at the level he was working at.
His advice for anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps was: “to always go beyond what is required and show initiative anywhere you can”.
“These highly prestigious universities really value these things. They want to see that you can think for yourself, make and achieve your own goals, and not just go along meeting the requirements. Always set the highest goals, even if they sound crazy – at least if you don’t reach them, you will still have achieved something great.
“I’m really excited to be entering this next stage in my academic journey,” he said, “and I’m just really happy that my work has paid off.
“The work is far from being done though – this is just the beginning.”