Victor Compton

Victor Compton comes alive in the bush. “It’s as if my senses become heightened and I become in tune with my surroundings, especially if I’m on foot.”

The son of Victor (1991, Churchill) from Barberton in Mpumalanga, the Grade 11 Hilton College boy loves nothing more than exploring the school’s nature reserve.

“I’ve a keen eye for spotting animals in the wild, identifying trees and bird watching.”

A recent recipient of an Ambassador’s Award for playing tour guide to a visiting professor on a trip to the nature reserve, Compton says being a good host is putting yourself out for your visitor, “making them feel welcome and helping them find connection”.

Since he will find any excuse to get into the wild, he wasn’t in the least bit “put out”.

“We make time for the things we enjoy,” he says. “And the more time you spend in nature, the more you appreciate it – and the more you realise how small we are.”

Describing his school as being “like a potjie pot – a mix of everything and everyone”, he says it’s good preparation for the real world. “Here you live with a wide range of people, and that’s where growth happens – outside your comfort zone.”

Compton says he doesn’t fear failure. “You need to fail to grow. My father would say, learn from your mistakes or the mistakes of others.”

With plans to follow his father into a career in farming, Compton hopes to study at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester in England, before working on the family’s macadamia farm.

Compton grew up on stories of Hilton College and thought of the place as “majestic”. As his fourth year here draws to a close, he has his own Hilton College stories to tell. They are magical and inextricably linked to the Hilton College farm and nature reserve.