Charting New Waters
Charlotte Rozen – Class of 2010
Charlotte and her mother Tracey helped RROGA correspondent Charlotte Gray to find out how Rangi Ruru’s first girl with Down Syndrome has achieved so much.
Charlotte is a swimming star and has helped pave the way for swimming athletes with intellectual and physical disabilities in New Zealand. She started swimming at 12 years old, when her family moved to New Zealand, and simply finds it “good fun”. But more than that, she enjoys the challenge of striving to be her best by constantly setting and achieving new goals for herself.
Charlotte enjoyed her time at Rangi Ruru and especially representing the school in swimming races. Tracey says that the pathway Charlotte forged was enabled by the inclusive nature of the school and the leadership of the then principal Mrs Julie Moor. Together with Mrs Jean Brouwer, the head of the Learning Centre, these enlightened leaders recognised that diversity and inclusion would benefit the whole school community and provided Charlotte with the chance to fulfil her potential.
2025 Swimming Success
Charlotte currently swims for Wharenui Club and is an S18 para swimmer. Her achievements for her various clubs over the years have been many. In 2025 she had another record-breaking year, claiming four New Zealand records and three gold medals at the South Island championships in Blenheim, followed by another three New Zealand records, one gold and three silver medals, at the New Zealand short course Championships in Auckland. She was duly awarded the Wharenui Club Para swimmer of the year award for the 2024/25 season.
Challenges
The path for Charlotte has not been without its challenges however. Charlotte says that competitive swimming for people with intellectual disabilities has been very slow to develop in New Zealand.
“When I swam in the New Zealand secondary school swimming championships for Rangi Ruru, there were only two events for people with intellectual disabilities and we were all lumped together.”
Charlotte used to have to travel to Australia to swim in their national Down Syndrome championships as there were no comparable competitions for her in New Zealand. Finally, New Zealand now has an S18 para category. It means she and other athletes with Down Syndrome now have a level playing field to compete on. Charlotte says that although there are still not events for her at every swimming meet, it is getting better.
Another challenge for Charlotte was missing the 2020 World Down Syndrome Swimming Championships in Turkey. Just before she was due to leave the event was cancelled because of the Covid-19 outbreak. So, it is perhaps predictable that her next goal is to break the New Zealand 100m freestyle record and to compete at the World Down Syndrome Swimming Championships in Portugal in November 2026. We look forward to reporting on her future triumphs!
Tell us about your school days. What did you enjoy at Rangi Ruru?
“When I was at Rangi Ruru I loved everything there. I liked being deputy form captain and having fun with my friends. I was in Dunvegan and my most memorable moment was the clan singing.”
Do you remember what it was like at Rangi Ruru during the earthquakes?
“It was very stressful! The Learning Centre got demolished and we often had to go and evacuate on the field and stand in our form groups. I remember a boy called Angus in my computer studies class. We didn’t normally have boys at school.”
Advice for the next talented generation of school leavers?
“Find something that you love doing and keep setting and trying to achieve new goals.”
Words by Charlotte Gray
RROGA Committee Member
This article appeared in the Winter 2026 issue of the Rangi Ruru school magazine, Wide Sky. Read the full magazine here.