Whitby Collegiate alumnus creates unique Vax-Scan machine, helping over 10,000 New Zealanders
Whitby Collegiate Alumnus,
Roman Avery (Head Boy 2020), has made national news with his innovative Vax-Scan invention, helping over 10,000 New Zealanders get to their movie safely, and on time.
Whitby Collegiate Alumnus, Roman Avery (Head Boy 2020), has made national news with his Vax-Scan machine that has helped over 10,000 New Zealanders get to their movie safely, and on time. It’s made life a whole lot easier and safer for Shoreline Cinema Waikanae staff and customers.
Roman is in his second year of study of a Bachelor of Science at Victoria University and is working as a systems engineer at Shoreline.
His machine enables customers to scan their vaccine pass QR code either from a smartphone or a printed copy at the cinema entrance. A ticket is issued stating the person's name and time/date of entry after the machine verifies the pass.
Roman explained to Seven Sharp hosts that he came up with the idea before the COVID-19 Protection Framework came in. “We were wondering how to reduce the burden on staff. At busy times we get up to 65 people coming in the door at once, so if we can get a machine to do the scanning, that means we can leave the staff to do what they do best, which is hospitality.”
Roman’s Vax-Scan machine is already gaining traction, selling models to other cinemas. He explained to Seven Sharp hosts that the Vax-Scan “would work well for any business with front-facing staff that need to scan vaccine passes, especially hospitality businesses like restaurants, bars, cafés and cinemas. It would work really well for them and help to reduce the overheads of the business.”
The former Head Boy is not shy of making an impact, having inspired Whitby Collegiate junior students with his guest speech and impressive academic achievements at last year’s Whitby Collegiate Scholars’ Assembly.
Former Head Boy inspires Whitby Collegiate junior students
Junior students, Dhilan and Daniel, found Roman’s speech at the 2021 Scholars’ Assembly particularly inspiring and asked to have their photo taken with Roman.
“After listening to last year’s Head Boy, Roman Avery, speak during this weeks’ Scholars’ Assembly, I now have a new role model to look up to. Roman seems so cool, and Daniel and I got to meet him after assembly which was a real honour. He told us about the rocket in the upstairs office block and how they launched it into the sky. They needed a field bigger than Adventure Park which would probably cost a lot of money. Roman would have been a special leader for the students last year - it looked like he was handling himself pretty well with all of those badges that he got during the Scholars’ Assembly.”
- Dhilan P (June 4, 2021)
Roman maintained an outstanding academic record throughout his secondary schooling. In his NCEA assessments he excelled, having gained Level 1 and 2 Endorsed with Excellence and being awarded Academic Colours for both sets of results; the highest level of school recognition for academic performance.
At Whitby Collegiate’s Inaugural Prize Giving in 2020, Roman was the recipient of the Tony Hanning Proxime Accessit Trophy for gaining 1st in Geography, 1st Equal in Digital Technology, Calculus, Chemistry, and 2nd in Physics. He was also the recipient of the Winton Shield for Leadership and was awarded a Tangiwai Scholarship from Victoria University.
It is fantastic to see our old collegians living our school motto of respect, resilience and excellence, and contributing and assisting in the community wherever they can. Outstanding work, ka pai Roman!
Watch the full clip on Seven Sharp here OR Read the full story on NZ Herald here