Adelaide Hills and Murraylands school student to watch in 2023
From talented sporting stars to academic high achievers and those making a name for themselves in the arts, find out the students in the Adelaide Hills and Murraylands to watch in 2023.
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Students in the Adelaide Hills and Murraylands regions are shining brighter than ever and The Messenger is putting the spotlight on some of these high-achievers.
From community-minded leaders to acemedics with aspirations of becoming surgeons, from singers making their mark on the national stage to stars on the sporting stage, the Adelaide Hills and Murraylands regions boast some impressive students with bright futures.
We’ve searched the region for the senior school students set to do big things in 2023 and beyond.
See the full list here.
Briannah Griffiths
Unity College
17-year-old Briannah Griffiths has her community at heart. Participating in Ski for Life for the last four years, Briannah has raised money and awareness for mental health and suicide prevention and was awarded the 2022 Mannum Lions Youth Achievement Award.
The Year 12 student is studying English, child studies, integrated learning and completing a Certificate 3 in Early Childhood Education and dreams of being a primary school teacher.
Riley Franke
Unity College
Year 12 student Riley Franke is setting his sights high with a dream of studying medicine and ultimately becoming a cardiac surgeon.
With a challenging subject load – including biology, physics, specialist maths and maths methods, Riley is also a senior school student leader, working hard to support and encourage his fellow students at Unity College.
Outside of school, Riley enjoys playing sport and being a part of the Murray Bridge community.
Gabriel Cregan
St Francis de Sales
Gabriel (Gabe) is a Year 11 student who swims with the Barossa Swimming Club. He has an intensive training schedule, swimming six times a week and is also attending the gym twice weekly. He is a state medallist in both non-multiclass and multiclass events.
Last year he competed for Australia at the Virtus Oceania Asia Games in Brisbane where he won a staggering nine gold medals from nine events.
In June he will travel to France to compete at the Virtus Global Games.
He will also be competing at the Australian Open Championships on the Gold Coast in April against Australia‘s top para swimmers. Gabe values sportsmanship and this is evident every time he competes.
Gabe enjoys studying maths, physics and chemistry and wishes to become an Aerospace Engineer while continuing to compete in swimming at a high level.
Stephanie Formby
St Francis de Sales
Stephanie is an up-and-coming talent in the basketball ranks in South Australia and is part of the college’s basketball academy.
In 2022 Stephanie was an integral part of the SA Country under 18 women’s successful campaign at the national championships being in the top 10 for scoring and rebounding in the nation. She also went on to being a regular starter for the Eastern Mavericks in the NBL1 competition.
In 2023 Stephanie has already been to the under 20 national championships representing South Australia where she was a dominant player on her team.
In what will be her second year at NBL1 level, Stephanie will be looking to come an even more dominant player for her club while also taking on the heavy workload of Year 12 and as a college captain. Stephanie aims to balance her sporting and studies in her ambition to play at the College level in the USA.
Penzy Hocking
St Francis de Sales
Penzy is a multi-talented student athlete who excels both in the classroom and on the basketball and netball courts.
She consistently achieved high grades in the classroom while balancing a heavy workload with SA Country Basketball, Eastern Mavericks Basketball Club and Strathalbyn Netball Club.
Penzy is member of the College‘s Basketball Academy. Penzy has been selected to represent SA Country at the under 18 national championships in April, this will be her third time representing her state.
She has also just signed a contact with the Eastern Mavericks NBL1 team as a bottom age under 18 player at the club also. On top of this, she has also started playing A grade netball for Strathalbyn in the Great Southern Netball Association, a fantastic achievement for her age.
Penzy has a bright future ahead of her both in the classroom and with her sporting endeavours
Sienna McClean
Cornerstone College
Sienna McClean is a singer-songwriter who wants to share her music by touring and performing.
She is turning 17 on March 17 and – along with her older sister, Ella, who graduated from Cornerstone College in 2020 – is releasing her debut EP.
They are also performing their first ever Fringe Show on March 12.
They are proving to be one of the most exciting emerging artists. They have recently had some awesome success, including winning SA Music Award – People’s Choice Country Artist; Groundwater Kix Start competition; NQ’s Rockin’ Country Reboot competition; Winners SCALA (Songwriters Composers and Lyricists Association) 2021 and 2022. Prizes include some amazing performance opportunities all over Australia, and also a trip to Nashville to do some recording.
They were on the recent season of The Voice, where they earnt their way to final six on Rita Ora’s team.
It has just been announced that Sienna has been selected as a finalist in the 2023 SA Young Achiever Awards.
Macie Wheeler
Cornerstone College
Diving since the age of six, Macie Wheeler has developed into one of Australia’s most promising springboard divers. Macie, 17, has starred while moving up the ranks in local, national and international competitions. This culminated with her representing Australia at the FINA World Junior Diving Championships in Montreal, Canada in December last year.
She will get another opportunity to represent Australia internationally this coming April having just been selected as part of an Australian Junior team to compete in Dresden, Germany.
Macie, a seven-time national champion trains 26 hours a week.
One of her best open results was fifth in the 3m Springboard event at the 2021 Australian Open Championships/Tokyo Olympic Games Team Trails. Macie’s ultimate goal is to represent Australia at Olympics and Commonwealth Games.
She is well on her way to achieving this dream as she is already part of the Diving Australia 28/32 National Dream Squad.
Tahlia Cain
Cornerstone College
Tahlia was born and raised in the Adelaide Hills and is currently a student at Cornerstone College.
Having a trade has always been a career goal of hers and, as her father has a history in carpentry, this was her motivation.
Through multiple work experience positions with various builders she has found that she enjoys manual labour and working with her hands.
She also loves the diversity within the building industry – even sweeping.
She has completed the Pathways to Construction VET course at Heathfield High School and thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the course, including competing in the Regional Carpentry World Skills Competition.
She is currently doing a VET course in Advanced Carpentry as well as completing her year 12 studies.
Chad Reschke
Mannum Community College
Chad Reschke is a high achiever both on the sporting field and with his studies. The 17-year-old is undertaking year 12 and a school-based apprenticeship while training with Sturt’s league side since November 2022, hoping to debut in round one at league SANFL level.
Chad has been undertaking an Australian School Based Apprenticeship (ABSA) in bricklaying.
Chad has managed to balance his schooling, high level football commitments and working apprenticeship commitments, doing so while battling adversity with the recent lost his father after a long battle with cancer.
Chad enters 2023 after an impressive list of accolades last year which saw him the runner up best and fairest and leading goal kicker in the SANFL’s under 18 competition, Sturt’s under 18 best and fairest award winner and a Sturt reserves premiership player in his second senior game.
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