PLENTY HAPPENING AT ST ANNE’S

This year, St Anne’s College inducted its first leaders, including its eight house captains.

The captains will be in the first cohort of Year 12s to graduate from the college, in October, after starting their journey when the facility opened in 2019.

That year, the enrolment intake included Prep and Year 7 year levels only.

Next year will be the first year the college introduces all year levels.

News journalist Bree Harding caught up with the eight students who captain the college’s four houses to hear their thoughts on their secondary education experience.

Dante Mori, Montessori House captain

Q. How has St Anne's helped shape your educational journey?

A. St Anne’s has been pivotal in my education, offering diverse opportunities and fostering growth.

Q. What does it mean to you to be a house leader?

A. Guiding peers, promoting unity and helping share the story of the person my house is named after, Maria Montessori.

Q. What is your favourite thing about St Anne’s College?

A. Its supportive teaching staff and friendly students.

Q. What does it mean to you to be one of the first graduating Year 12s from the college?

A. I feel very gifted to have the opportunity like this because not a lot of people get to experience it.

Q. What are your plans next year?

A. I want to pursue a career in soccer. I currently play in the GV Suns Under-18s and 23s, and I aspire to play at the highest level possible.

Delana Cavallaro-Trask, Charles House captain

Q. How has St Anne’s helped shape your educational journey?

A. Having a supportive community environment at St Anne’s has been a key part in my educational journey. Teachers and students have provided encouragement and guidance while creating a nurturing environment where I feel valued and supported in my academic pursuits. It also offers a wide range of extra activities such as the swimming sports day, athletics day and winter sports day. These days are when I can excel with my sporting abilities and can engage and have fun with other students.

Q. What does it mean to you to be a house leader?

A. I find great significance in the role of house leader since it represents a position of leadership, responsibility and service within the school community. I consider myself a role model for my fellow students, someone they can look up to and rely on for guidance and encouragement in what I do as house leader. It involves providing an example for others to follow, living up to the school’s values and objectives, and motivating them to pursue greatness in all aspects of their lives.

Q. What is your favourite thing about St Anne’s College?

A. The diversity of the school. St Anne’s has different people from all different cultures and backgrounds, so for St Anne’s as a whole to be welcoming and showing inclusivity stands out the most to me. For example, we have a prayer room at school and during the time of Ramadan, where students had to pray, they were able to use that room where they could sit there peacefully without any distractions.

Q. What does it mean to you to be one of the first graduating Year 12s from the college?

A. I have been given the extraordinary opportunity to create a lasting legacy and define the character and reputation of our school. It entails living up to the values and expectations of the college, challenging excellence and motivating people to push themselves to greatness.

Q. What are your plans for next year?

A. I am a little undecided at the moment. I am looking at applying for university, looking into sports science; however, I also may take a gap year where I can explore interests and strengths outside of the academic setting.

Courtney Miller, Cooper House captain

Q. How has St Anne’s helped shape your education journey?

A. I feel like St Anne’s has given us a well-rounded education, not only through learning but through growing as a person. I feel that because we’ve overcome so many challenges, we’ve grown to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be.

Q. What does it mean to you to be a house leader?

A. Being a role model, showing the way of the college, not only just for sports, but also academically to encourage students to succeed well for Cooper House.

Q. What is your favourite thing about St Anne’s College?

A. The community, how warm and open the community is and how we’re always here to support each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

Q. What does it mean to you to be one of the first graduating Year 12s from the college?

A. I think it’s very sentimental because I started here in Year 7, so being the first to lay the foundations for the years to come means a lot.

Q. What are your plans for the next year?

A. I’m considering potentially doing a drafting traineeship or going to university to study architecture.

Riley Carkeek, Majella House captain

Q. How has St Anne’s helped shape your education journey?

A. I think it’s helped us build a lot of independent learning styles, so I’ve become an inquisitive and independent learner.

Q. What does it mean to you to be a house leader?

A. Being an outlet for the students to come and talk to you and raise concerns or innovations they have around the college, and also being a good role model.

Q. What is your favourite thing about St Anne’s College?

A. To pave the way for new year levels, set the expectations and standards as high as we can.

Q. What does it mean to you to be one of the first graduating Year 12s from the college?

A. It’s a bit nerve-racking to be the first, but it’s also a good experience to have that as an achievement personally, to say ‘I’ve done that’ and be one of the first.

Q. What are your plans for the next year?

A. I’m wanting to go to university next year to study psychology.

Emily Zampaglione, Majella House captain

Q. How has St Anne’s helped shape your education journey?

A. It’s been an eventful few years at the college, overcoming obstacles, which has strengthened us and encouraged our persistence. It’s brought us together and created a culture that we can embrace when we’re in it. It’s empowered all of us.

Q. What does it mean to you to be a house leader?

A. It’s not only representing students in our House colours, but knowing that they feel comfortable around us and enabling us to represent them, not necessarily with any problems within the college, but with anything they might not feel comfortable bringing up or anything that they are interested in and want to embrace further. We all have the same intentions and can work together, embracing everybody in the college from all different perspectives.

Q. What is your favourite thing about St Anne’s College?

A. The opportunity to be the first. Student voice is a key aspect of the college, and the teachers have definitely embraced that, not just since we’ve got the roles (as

captains), but for the six years before that as well. We’ve always felt that involvement in the college. We felt we were being listened to, heard and considered. It’s just vitally important from a student’s perspective because it encourages us to persist in our education and to genuinely care.

Q. What does it mean to you to be one of the first graduating Year 12s from the college?

A. It’s a celebration. I feel like we’ve all developed as a year level, as well. From Year 7 to now being Year 12s is crazy to think how we’ve developed personally. Just like the structure of the building has, we’ve all grown. Q. What are your plans for the next year?

A. Working full-time when I leave school. I’m not too sure about university as yet, but I’ll definitely embrace a TAFE course. I’m interested in going into childcare. I have been looking into the police force, but that’s a later future.

Zoe Monteleone, Montessori House captain

Q. How has St Anne’s helped shape your education journey?

A. Being a new school, we’ve obviously had to overcome some obstacles, but that only helped us improve as individuals and as a college community. It’s made us more motivated and determined to do our jobs.

Q. What does it mean to you to be a house leader?

A. As well as just being someone students can talk to, it’s also about creating a healthy rivalry between other houses and creating a sense of community. Because we’re the first captains, we have to make it a community. (Note: When the captains were asked, Zoe was quick and definitive to let us know, with a proud smile, that Montessori — the house she captains — was sitting at the top of the leaderboard so far this year.)

Q. What is your favourite thing about St Anne’s College?

A. The culture that we’ve created — the combination between the primary and secondary year levels — we all really care about each other and we just want the best for the school.

Q. What does it mean to you to be one of the first graduating Year 12s from the college?

A. It’s just such a memorable and exciting experience because we’re laying the foundation for the school’s future, and it’s just amazing to be a part of.

Q. What are your plans for the next year?

A. I plan on having a gap year in 2025 and working full time and then going off to university in 2026, hopefully. I’m not sure what I’d like to study yet, but I’m thinking something to do with property and property management.

Charli Guppy, Cooper House captain

Q. How has St Anne's helped shape your educational journey?

A. St Anne’s has helped me become a more independent learner, which I’ll be able to apply in my future education and workplaces.

Q. What does it mean to you to be a house leader?

A. It means a lot to be a house leader at St Anne’s, especially being an inaugural house leader. I think it’s special that I will help shape our college’s community, spirit and future.

Q. What is your favourite thing about St Anne’s College?

A. My favourite thing about St Anne’s is the support from my teachers and the welcoming environment.

Q. What does it mean to you to be one of the first graduating Year 12s from the college?

A. It’s special to create history for our college, and I am very grateful for that opportunity.

Q. What are your plans for next year?

A. Next year I want to go to university to study midwifery or paramedicine in Melbourne or Geelong.

Matisse O’Brien, Charles House Captain

Q. How has St Anne's helped shape your educational journey?

A. St Anne's allowed me to thrive and become an independent learner. At the start, in Year 7, I was disengaged with learning. Fast forward six years, and now I’m excited to go to uni and I enjoy expanding my knowledge.

Q. What does it mean to you to be a house leader?

A. To be a house leader for me means to be an accessible and approachable leader. In this role, I strive to ensure those within Charles House are heard, understood and supported. This role, to me, is being a conduit for the rest of the students in Charles House.

Q. What is your favourite thing about St Anne’s College?

A. The teachers. They have bent over backwards to support myself and my peers, allowing us to get the most out of school and education.

Q. What does it mean to you to be one of the first graduating Year 12s from the college?

A. I feel we are the standard, the expectations that will shape our college and its students.

Q. What are your plans for next year?

A. I plan to go to uni and study science, particularly focusing on chemistry.