2023 Laureate Presentation Celebration

On Tuesday 21 February, our Laureate Presentation Celebration was held at St Mary’s following the Opening Mass. It was attended by the entire College as well as special guests.

The Laureate is a fantastic opportunity to recognise the outstanding creative and academic achievements of many students from the Graduating Class of 2022. Quite deliberately, each year we have this celebration on the same day as our Opening Mass, so that we may share these significant achievements in front of the entire student body. It is hoped that by highlighting and celebrating these outstanding achievements with all students, they will be encouraged and inspired to achieve their very best.

Students and families witnessed a significant number of our graduates and current Year 12 students receive recognition for their outstanding achievements in their VCE Units 3 & 4, VCAL and VET studies.

Our College Dux for 2022 is Lochlan Tresize who received an ATAR score of 99.35. He was the Subject Dux of English Language, Specialist Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. He also received the prestigious University of Melbourne Hansen Scholarship.

We were fortunate to have Lochlan address the audience and his speech focused on the importance of ‘getting comfortable being uncomfortable’. He found that his determination to embrace the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing the answer to a problem, or persisting with something that was difficult helped him achieve such a spectacular result. He urged the students to collaborate with their peers and to build relationships with their teachers.

Read Lochlan’s full speech here.

We also welcomed back a past student – Mr Jed Zimmer – 2022 City of Greater Bendigo Young Citizen of the Year. Jed, who is a mental health advocate, spoke passionately to our community about gaining confidence, and the importance of surrounding yourself with a great support network. He admitted that it was difficult to get up and speak in front of the entire school but he had ways to manage his anxiety and that included sharing his feelings with others.

Director of Learning and Teaching, Mr Matthew Angove said that the Class of 2022 had received outstanding results and the College was proud of their collective achievements. Indeed, many of the award recipients were not able to be present to receive their awards as they had already commenced their tertiary studies.

The Term 4 2022 Spirit of Catherine Awards for Year 12 were announced before the Subject Dux awards were presented.

Other impressive achievements, scholarships and awards were also recognised including the 2022 Musician of the Year, JRS Award, ADF Long Tan Youth Leadership Award and ADF Future Innovators Award.

For the full list of recipients, please see the download box below.

Sophie Barianos’ artwork Object in the Mirror was named the winner of the Art Acquisition Award 2022. The piece takes artistic and technical influence from the artist Robert Henri to try and imbue the balance between time passing but also the stillness of one key moment. Sophie was also the Subject Dux for Studio Arts.

Drama student Claudia Scott has been included in the VCE Season of Excellence. She was selected to perform her piece as part of the Top Class Drama and Theatre Studies presentations based on her excellent performance examination score for VCE Drama Units 3 & 4. Claudia was also the Subject Dux for Drama as well as Textiles (Product Design and Technology).

Lily Jones was the Subject Dux of Indonesian and Chemistry and was also named as the recipient of RMIT’s most prestigious engineering scholarship – The Sir William Tyree Engineering Scholarship.

Our most esteemed College community award is the Bishop Noel Daly Memorial Award which is awarded to a 2022 graduate who is deemed to be the best all-round student and member of our community. The 2022 award was presented to Lara Bish who was recognised for her inclusive leadership and support of her fellow students.

In closing, Deputy Principals Mr Tim Edwards and Mr Jim Baird each addressed the students with motivational speeches about focussing on being true to oneself (you do you) and using the resources of family and friends for support. Before dismissing the students, Mr Baird asked the audience to help him welcome the Year 7s to our community.