St John’s Catholic School Roma: Top students to watch out for in 2023 and where last year’s top students are now
With the first week of another school year done and dusted, find out the top students to keep an eye out for in 2023 as well as where other year 12 graduates are now.
Community News
Don't miss out on the headlines from Community News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
As a fresh cohort of year 12 students step through St John’s Catholic School’s gates, a fresh set of aspirations and achievements are to be made.
Meet some of St John’s brightest and most inspiring year 12 students who are ready to tackle their final year of schooling.
Amy Meacle, 16
Meet our first promising year 12 student Amy, who has her eyes set on pursuing a career in teaching.
“In year 10 I decided I wanted to be a teacher and a lot of my teachers told me I would make a good primary school teacher,” she said.
“I just loved working with kids and my mum encouraged me to do teaching.”
Amy said she plans on graduating with an ATAR ranking all while continuing working at McDonalds and Rex on weekends.
“I’m a bit stressed about it, because I’m doing an ATAR pathway,” she said.
“But I’m looking forward to graduating and finishing school.”
Lalitha Cooper, 16, Xaverian leader
Mitchell resident Lalitha said she’s “nervous but excited” to start her senior year as Xaverian leader.
Lalitha plans to pursue a career in pharmacy just like her older cousin.
“My cousin works at the Mitchell pharmacy and that topic really just interests me,” she said.
When it comes to the year ahead, Lalitha said she was most looking forward to doing all of the year 12 rites of passage.
“What I’m most looking forward to is either the senior jerseys or formal,” she said.
Recently, Lalitha collaborated with the school choir and taught them how to sing an Indigenous song Ngarra Burra Ferra in the Yorta Yorta language which stemmed from her father’s side of the family.
Despite not singing herself, she guided the choir each step of the way as they performed the song at an eisteddfod and then again at the awards night last year.
Jeffery Lunney, 17, Theresian leader
Jeffery has opted to follow a vocational pathway which will enable him to complete a school-based apprenticeship, where eventually he can start his own business.
“I’d like my own electrician business, one day hopefully,” he said.
“I did a bit of work experience for a couple of fellas around town over the course of 12 months and then got offered an apprenticeship from my placement.”
Jeffery began his five year electrician apprenticeship last year and will complete another three years after high school.
When he’s not studying, Jeffery likes spending time and bonding with the men at the St Vincent’s men’s village which he has done for about four years.
“I do Big Brekky at the St Vinnie’s men’s village every Thursday morning and make them breakfast and cook a barbecue and just talk to them,” he said.
“I really enjoy it, just talking to them and listening to their life stories.
“They’re always happy to see you.”
Cadence Ogilvie, 16
Not many year 12’s can say they’ve sailed along the east coast of Australia with a bunch of strangers while battling storms.
Meet Cadence who faced her fear of boats head on and signed up for a leadership sailing trip despite having no prior experience.
“You get pushed to your limits, but it’s really good. On the first night we climbed up and over the mast,” she said.
“The best part was all the people you meet, I miss them so much.
“None of us had ever met each other, there was a boy from Darwin and people from Canberra, so people from everywhere.
“RSL Roma was looking to sponsor someone and my parents and friends encouraged me to go.
“I generally do not like boats. Dad has a boat and we would go out and I hated it. So I was scared to go out on a boat for ten days. There were a lot of challenges, we went through a storm which was terrifying.
“I learnt that I should give everything a go, even if I’m scared, because I didn’t know I was scared of heights until I was climbing a mast.”
Now it’s back to the books for Cadence as she pursues an ATAR rank.
“For a while it was engineering, now it’s teaching. But I’m not really sure what I want to do,” she said.
However, like most year 12’s Cadence was most looking forward to getting senior jerseys and formal.
Now let’s turn to last year’s St John’s Year 12 graduates and find out what’s next for them as they enter the next stage of their lives.
Hannah Coffey, 17, Marian leader
Meet year 12 graduate Hannah Coffey who has dished out all the highs and lows of her academic journey to becoming the 2022 school dux.
“When I was little and growing up on a property, I definitely wanted to be a vet,” she said.
“But then I sort of got in year 6, 7 and 8 and I had to work very hard. I wasn’t very naturally smart and I thought then it would be too hard (to become a vet), so I thought about doing other things.”
However, things took an upward turn for Hannah when she landed a job as a junior assistant at a local vet clinic.
“Within the past year I did work experience with our local Roma vets down at Bassett Park and got a job there and loved it,” she said.
“They’ve been really good at supporting me. I wouldn’t have gotten dux without their motivation to keep me studying.
“They all know I want to be a vet, so they let me sit in and watch surgeries. They really nurtured me.”
Hannah’s biggest tip for students with their eyes set on winning the dux prize is to just work hard.
“Start everything at the beginning and just work so hard,” she said.
“It was a very tight race, but I definitely think I deserve it. I couldn’t have worked harder this year.”
Heath Waugh, 17, Marian leader
With sky high ambitions, all Heath knows is that he wants a career to match.
At just 17, Heath has graduated high school with an ATAR and already has a Certificate II in aircraft maintenance under his belt.
“In year 9 I had one of my first ever flights on a Qantas jet and it interested me,” he said.
“I was brought up around cars and trucks, and it really intrigued me how fast planes could go and all the mechanisms behind it all.”
In an already challenging final year of school, Heath juggled working towards his ATAR alongside fulfilling the demanding course.
Heath completed the TAFE course remotely by going into school early each week to fulfil the theoretical requirements and then travelled to Toowoomba and Brisbane to fulfil the practical requirements.
“There’s a hangar at Brisbane airport where I worked on helicopters and a few Fokker planes. I also worked on a few engines in Toowoomba as well – all the basic sort of stuff,” he said.
“We covered everything really, including the electrical components, aerodynamics, flying components and avionics.”
Heath said eventually he would like to become a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer, however he said he was in no rush.
“I’m going to take a bit of a gap year and get my commercial drone licence so I can do a bit of aerial filming for businesses around town like real estate agencies,” he said.
“There’s a lot of pathways you can take, I’m quite interest in joining the ADF and there’s always been a part of me that wants to go to university as well to study dual degree in engineering and aviation.
“I’ve got my ATAR anyway even if I don’t use it, that’s the way I looked at it when I started year 11. Even if I don’t use it, it’s always a good thing to have really.”
Logan Walsh, 18, Theresian leader
Meet the year 12 graduate kicking goals both on and off the field.
Logan proved that athletes can have brains after achieving an ATAR ranking all while playing numerous sports at a competitive level and being a school house leader.
“The main sports I play competitively are rugby and touch,” he said.
“I played in the touch carnival at the Gold Coast and rugby carnival at Mackay last year. I also made the southwest team for the state championships for both rugby and touch.”
Born in Roma, Logan has always been passionate about sport and has dreams of studying physiotherapy at university in Brisbane.
Logan said the most rewarding aspect of his final year of schooling was mentoring younger students in his leadership role.
“I liked working with the younger students and helping them,” he said.
Logan said the most challenging parts of year 12 was public speaking and juggling all of his pursuits.
“I definitely got much better at public speaking and more comfortable,” he said.
“At the start it was more challenging but as I progressed as a leader and did it over and over again it got easier.
“Balancing everything I did and making sure I was organised was hard, as I did a sport and also got my ATAR which was pretty tough.
“Enjoy it and have fun. Grade 12 is over pretty quick, so make sure you have no regrets.”
Thomas McCoy, 18, School Captain
One of Tom’s highlights from his final year of school was winning the 2022 Apprentice of the Year award for his school-based diesel fitter apprenticeship.
He spent two days a week for an entire year gaining his qualification all while landing the role of school captain.
“I’ve grown up with my father owning trucks and graders and loaders, so I thought why not,” he said.
Tom said his two favourite parts of year 12 was playing in the school’s rugby team in Mackay and spending lunchtime with his mates.
“Don’t stress, work hard and study and just enjoy it,” Tom advised upcoming year 12 class.
Tom said it was the actions of previous leaders who inspired him to put his hand up for the role of school captain, especially those that shared his love of rugby.
“Watching previous leaders and what they’ve done,” he said.
“The 2017 school captains were really good footy players as well as school leaders.
“Speaking was the hardest part (being school captain). It’s still nerve-racking, but it’s easier.”
Tully Stone, 17, Xaverian leader
Tully is set to trade the dusty, outback town of Roma for a wintry wonderland as she takes a long overdue break from her studies by travelling overseas.
Tully plans on pursuing a dual degree in secondary education and sports science, but first she’s taken the leap to work in a Canadian ski resort.
“I’ll be taking a gap year and going to Canada,” she said.
“I also do highland dancing and will be going to Scotland to do that for six weeks.
“I’m a dance teacher so I love sharing my knowledge and I’m a big sports person, I live and breathe it.
“That’s why I chose to do an exercise science degree as well so I can expand my knowledge.”
Other than dancing, Tully said her favourite part of year 12 was going away to represent her school playing netball in a week-long carnival.
“I love playing netball, so a week of that was great,” she said.
Tully explained how the external exams were the most challenging aspect of year 12 and imparted some advice to upcoming students.
“Just take it day by day, don’t over think it.”
‘Trying to give these rural kids more opportunities’: Roma STEM teacher top 10 in Queensland
A Roma STEM teacher who was announced as one of Queensland’s top 10 teachers in News Corps Australia’s Best Teachers series says he is using technology to give rural students more opportunities.
Balancing: Maranoa Council reveals ‘responsible’ budget
The Maranoa Regional Council say their new budget has put them on track to break even by the next financial year while ensuring rate rises don’t impact financially struggling families.