If The Catlins Area School had a "Quiet Achiever" award, it would be handed to Alyssa McDougall immediately. Not with a flashy ceremony, because that’s not her style, but with a smile and an entire school community nodding in agreement.

Alyssa has been part of TCAS for nine years. Nine years of calm confidence, steady capability, and that unmistakable Alyssa magic that somehow makes even the busiest days feel manageable. From the moment she arrived, she became a constant: the person who helps before you even realise you need it, who organises anything with ease, who remembers the small things, and who notices the people who need noticing.

Over the years, Alyssa has taken on a wide range of roles, from Structured Literacy and relief teaching to Pet Day Planner, Home and School president, and the unofficial keeper of school sanity. She does it all with the perfect blend of practicality and kindness. And let’s not forget, she is super organised. Her binders have binders. Colour coded ones.

Ask anyone at TCAS or in the wider community and the chorus is instant: She is dependable. She is kind. She is organised. And she is quietly hilarious when you least expect it. Ask the students and their answer is just as clear: She is patient. She is caring. She is always ready.

Her influence isn’t loud, but it is lasting. It lives in the routines she has shaped, the people she has supported, and the calm she brings into even the busiest moments. TCAS is better because Mrs McDougall has been a part of it.

As she steps into her next chapter, we know she will bring that same grounded kindness, capability, and steady spark to everything she does. And we count ourselves very lucky that Alyssa will still be gracing our classrooms, (and hopefully our staffroom tables with her legendary cakes and lemon loaf), as a reliever next year.

Ka kite anō, Alyssa. Thank you for leaving TCAS a little stronger, a little kinder, and very, very grateful.