Student leader's whirlwind year

Sam Johnson's 2011 played out like the quote from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.

It was the best of times and the worst of times for the 22-year-old who 10 months ago was a content Canterbury University law and politics student.

His efforts to mobilise an army of volunteers after the February 22 earthquake won him high praise, but at the expense of his studies.

"It's been bizarre and remarkable how my life has changed a lot this year," Johnson says.

"After September 2010, we had ideas about what we wanted to do and each earthquake since, and every twist and turn this thing has taken, has been just incredible."

The Student Volunteer Army (SVA) he founded after the September 2010 quake – a group more than 13,000-strong at its peak – last year shovelled tonnes of silt and mud after every damaging quake and aftershock.

The result for Johnson was life-changing.

His highlights reel includes meetings with United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Prince William, an endorsement from Prime Minister John Key, a volunteer mission to tsunami-hit Japan, humanitarian and community awards, two nominations in the New Zealander of the Year awards and his face on billboards.

The Clinton meeting in November 2010 stands out as a "crazy day", Johnson says.

"I look at the photo and just can't actually believe it happened. The funniest part about it is I wasn't even an invited guest," he says.

"This whole year has just chopped and changed and I've never known what's coming next. We still don't – a bit like the earthquakes."

A highlight last year was trailing Prince William in the royal entourage's helicopter during William's Christchurch visit in March.

"I would have never imagined in my whole life I would be doing this, but it was all part of a bigger picture," Johnson says.

"It wasn't so much you were there for the thrill of it; it was part of what we had to do get this job done and help Christchurch.

"It's very much about furthering what we started out to do, and managing and growing it in the best way we can."

Since being thrust into the spotlight, Johnson has tried to shun it.

He finds being recognised "awkward", but loves talking to people.

A fear of being "overexposed" led him to initially decline appearing on the Canterbury Development Corporation's Love Christchurch billboards, but he relented after being convinced by the campaign message.

"It's about showing there's a huge group of us in Christchurch that really care about the place, and we're willing to live here and commit to the future of it."

Johnson is quick to praise the team around him, from the "diggers who are out there working away" to the residents baking muffins for the troops.

Despite the personal tributes, he says he is just a "perfectly normal guy".

"As my stepmum tells people, I still occasionally have a messy room and don't do my dishes."

The most challenging times have come days after the quakes, although Johnson says he does not become affected emotionally.

"I'm a very calm person under pressure, but there are moments like, 'how are we going to do this again and how's it going to work this time?' At the same time, it's become very much a job, and some very clear missions and challenges are my focus."

After an exhausting year, the quakes two days before Christmas tested the volunteer leader's resolve.

"It was exceptionally hard to get out of bed on Boxing Day after going to bed at 2am after doing all the mapping for this [cleanup] again.

"It's been exhausting, but it's been really worthwhile."

A casualty of the commitment to proving students are more than "couch-burning, letterbox-trashing imbeciles" has been Johnson's studies.

He quit university after the February quake and will finish his degree part-time over the next two years.

"It's put a huge dampener on my studies, but I don't think that's a problem.

"It's just going to take me more time," he says.

"Our generation rush through university at so much speed because we're fixed on getting a job, when actually you can take a bit of time if you've got other things on the go."

The year ahead is shaping to be just as busy, but Johnson is looking forward to it.

His focus shifted from the SVA club to the Volunteer Army Foundation, an offshoot project developing an international model for large-scale disaster volunteering.

He remains a member of the Riccarton-Wigram Community Board, aims to complete two law papers, and demand for his services as a keynote speaker at conferences is unabated.

"The next two years are pretty much all booked out," Johnson says.