Inaugural ROAR winners announced
ROAR has been a significant wellbeing initiative this year. To complement the framework and encourage students to live the values of this initiative, the ROAR Prize has been launched across the College. The prize recognises and honours the good character of one student in each year level who exemplifies the key tenets of Respect, Opportunity, Achievement and Resilience in their interactions and engagement at school.
This Years 5-12 peer-based nomination structure provides students with the opportunity to recognise fellow students who they believe display courage, determination, moral and intellectual character and respect for self, others and the environment. The nominees are recommended to and awarded by the pastoral level team.
We congratulate our inaugural winners and thank them for the wonderful example they set for their peers. The opportunity for another student in each year level to be awarded the ROAR prize will occur towards the end of this year.
You can see the full list of winners and read the wonderful comments made by their student nominators below.
ST KILDA ROAD CAMPUS
Above: L-Abbie Kleinitz Lister (Year 9); R- Lucy Hamilton (Year 7)
Year 5 - Ruby Moes
Whenever there is an opportunity, Ruby is always willing to give it a go and with her best effort too. She is caring and respectful of others and listens to everyone’s voice. She is always willing to help. She is happy and always makes people happy when they see her.
Year 6 - Harry Barker
Harry is a truly incredible friend who is always wanting to help others out. He is always kind to others and loves to take a challenge. He has won many awards for his athletic abilities and is committed to staying on task and completing work diligently. He displayed resilience when he was unable to attend camp with his class due to illness but was there to welcome them back upon their return.
Year 7 - Lucy Hamilton
Throughout Semester 1, Lucy demonstrated care and kindness to her classmates. On a number of occasions, she observed a deterioration in a friend’s wellbeing and took affirmative steps to assist or get professional help. Lucy did not let these actions replace her commitment to her academic pursuits and she demonstrated an eagerness to complete tasks. Modelling resilience through her achievements is something many observers have witnessed and she should be commended for her helpfulness and approach to all aspects of school life.
Year 8 - Katherine Hargest
Katherine is respectful to everyone and willingly accepts any responsibility that comes her way. She brings happiness and humour to any situation along with being a kind, caring, hardworking and empathetic person. In particular, she demonstrated the ROAR attributes during a challenging Art project. She made a mammoth effort to work collaboratively with her group during a clay-mation video project and approached the many challenges with good humour and resilience. Despite absence, Katherine continued to make an effort to keep up-to-date with her work. Katherine is consistently respectful and self-motivated. She made many efforts outside of class to seek help. She has always been polite, shown gratitude to teachers and has been gracious to her peers. Katherine continues to apply herself wholeheartedly and with good humour to her learning and provides an excellent role model to her peers.
Year 9 - Abbie Kleinitz Lister
Abbie conceived, organised and lead the inception of the Middle School Pride Club. From the outset, she saw the opportunity of having a MS Pride Club and the positive benefits it would add to the school's culture. In doing this, she was able to inspire and motivate others to help. In particular, she recognised that she needed to foster positive relationships with Senior School students in order start it up. This demonstrated resilience and determination. Throughout this year, she has been honest, enthusiastic, motivated and always had a smile, and has been willing to step in to support others when needed.
Year 10 - Gabby Osvath
Gabby is an outstanding student who establishes and maintains positive relationships with her teachers and peers. She is a kind and compassionate young person who brings a calming influence to those around her. Gabby seeks to challenge herself and develop a wide range of skills and talents through her participation in a variety of extra-curricular activities. A regular performer on the Adamson or Hamer Hall Stage, Gabby has joined with others to entertain and astound the audiences through her participation in the Pop Choir, Senior Choir, Jazz Choir, String Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Gabby led the College Table Tennis Firsts as their Captain and was selected to represent Victoria in the upcoming National Championships. Balancing a busy schedule, Gabby has maintained strong academic grades following on from her 2021 Principal’s Honour Roll achievement.
Year 11 - Luca Allen
Luca is the embodiment of the elements of ROAR. Always willing to get involved, she has an extensive portfolio of activities including volleyball, drama, debating, music and art. These are performed with an attitude of participation and achievement. She is striving to be her best with each pursuit. She is focused on her academic achievement with equal measure, as evidenced by being a Principal’s Honour Roll recipient and conducts herself with a high degree of pride and respect. Luca is respectful to adults and her peers. Luca participates in Wesmob and demonstrates a social conscience in her desire to integrate culturally sensitive practices at school. She eagerly mentored Middle School students to ensure the success of the WISSH Carnival and used initiative to explore a work experience opportunity during her holidays.
Year 12 - Patrick Leong
Patrick is the embodiment of the positive values outlined in ROAR. He is a very high academic achiever; he was recognised by the Senior School Executive for both his efforts and achievements in the Term 1 academic snapshot, has been a consistent recipient of the Principal’s Honour Roll award while in Senior School, and achieved an outstanding GPA of 9.4 and BPA of 5.0 across his Semester 1 reports. He has demonstrated resilience in achieving this despite having significant illness this term. Patrick is an outstanding performer and musician, making the most of opportunities both large and small. He had the lead role in the Senior School play, is in a lead role in the Senior Musical and was selected out of students across the state to perform with professional musicians at the inter-school Victorian Jazz competition in term 2. Despite these achievements, Pat is distinctly without ego. He leads by listening and - most notably - by helping. In the absence of a professional repetiteur during Musical rehearsals, Pat has been stepping in to play piano while his fellow students learn their singing parts. He quietly and selflessly works with other students to develop their potential and ability. He is self-effacing, generous, kind, empathetic, mature, responsible and thoughtful.
GLEN WAVERLEY CAMPUS
Year 5 - Serena Zhang
No matter what, this person is always supportive. No matter who they have to work with, they help them if they are stuck. They have shown great strength through sports. They take various opportunities such as WINGS and all of their after-school work and sport. At the beginning of the year, they were shy and wouldn’t talk to anyone or put up their hand to say their opinion. They have shown strong resilience and strength by getting to know other people and coming out of their shell. If they have done something wrong, they think back and fix what they have done wrong. They have achieved a lot since the beginning of the year. One of their biggest achievements was winning a merit award. Overall, a great lifelong friend and someone worthy of winning the ROAR award.
Year 6 - Keila Enters
This person demonstrates respect in everything they do. From their interactions with staff and students to their outlook on Wesley Life, they always live our Golden Rule - 'Treat others' the way you wish to be treated.' This person actively listens to everyone and encourage their peers to share their ideas or just ‘have-a-go’. This person approaches all learning with a positive growth mindset. It is their self-motivation which is most admirable. When faced with challenges, they will persevere or seek guidance about how to tackle it but they never give up. This person is calm and level-headed in almost all situations. When something doesn't go the way they expected or hope, they are able to see the positives or find a learning opportunity in it. In our well-being sessions, they often share strategies for managing stress or challenges. They take up a great deal of opportunities offered to them. They participate in all areas with passion, dedication and kindness. Some of these include: Dolce Canto (leadership role), Swimming Squad, APS swimming and cross country, Science Talent Search, Musicals/Plays and the Reconciliation Assembly.
Year 7 - Milandra Barnard
This person consistently supports others in the class by offering to help set up or pack away equipment, particularly during practical work. They always ensure they check the equipment and classroom at the end of tasks and offer to clean up. This person has embraced their love of science, consistently sharing their ideas and knowledge in class. They have supported others in the classroom with challenging concepts or experiments and also assisted new students to the class and on the excursion to the Zoo. This person has achieved consistently good results in science this semester and is up-to-date with their work requirements and homework. They never give up on a challenge. They reflect on their performance and regularly seek feedback and guidance, acting on this to improve. When something goes wrong, they problem solve to make it work, or reflects on the process to determine what can be done better next time.
Year 8 - Theresa Lei
This person is the most enjoyable person to be around. They are endlessly kind, encouraging and helpful to absolutely every person they encounter. They make everyone around them feel welcomed, supported and respected using their amazing listening skills, willingness to help and friendly social conversation skills. They make life easier for our teachers by constantly acknowledging their efforts and wouldn't dare do anything that would cause issues in our class. Our classroom is a more productive, positive place when they are around. This person will never pass on an opportunity. This year, they have taken up every chance thrown at them, including debate club, music lessons, intermediate band, a role in ‘Wind and the Willows’, ‘Stand up for Shakespeare’ and multiple ‘service as action’ opportunities. This person puts in enormous amounts of effort in all they do. They play and train hard at sport and in the classroom. They put in the work and gets amazing results due to their commitment, drive and effort on a daily basis. I have never seen this person give up. They always find a way to make things work and if they miss out on something, they will come back next time with 100% effort.
Year 9 - Ava de Vos
This person shows respect by always helping others whenever the opportunity arises: when students look confused, when they are stuck and the teacher is busy, in fact, during any moment of struggle, they always assist their peers. This person is always willing to share with the class and engage with other students to achieve the best outcomes. They are always willing to separate themselves from their friends when they need to concentrate and get the best out of themselves. They always submit their work to the best of her ability and on time. Late in this term, this person looked overwhelmed, and I asked them what was wrong. They replied that they were stressed with everything due. I sat down with this student and laid out what was due first and last and brainstormed a way to do it. They then turned to me and said, ‘I’ve got this.' Their attitude seemed to change and they completed their work. It was small, but it showed their resilience. This student should be recognised for their ability to be inclusive of others, their commitment to their academic progression and as all-round nice person.
Year 10 - Jennifer Koehler
When others needed help revising for exams, Jennifer was able to give guidance online and in person, helping with resources answering and any questions. When I was absent from school due to Covid, Jennifer displayed leadership by ensuring I did not fall behind in our VCE Biology Classes by teaching me the information outside of school hours. For this display of leadership, she received a Biology award as she took the initiative to help me with my learning. Jennifer has been completing her studies to the highest standard, receiving 3 eights on her recent geography assignment as well as being the exemplar student, shown as a model for her excellent English work. A challenge for Jennifer this semester has been her injury during her first Wesley Volleyball game, however she has continually supported and encouraged her teammates at games and practices.
Year 11 - Mia Athanasopolous
Mia is always on time to class, present with her attention, and gives everyone else the opportunity to speak during class discussions and will involve as many people as possible. Mia will always opt to take notes, contribute to class discussions and do everything she can to obtain the best experience here at Wesley. Mia is always prepared for class, always ensures her work is up to standard and contributes equally to all group work. Regardless of missing out on Year 9/10, Year 11 stresses and issues never seem to move her. She bounces off them and always contributes to the best of her ability socially and academically. Mia deserves this award more than any other student I have come across at this school, she is ROAR.
Year 12 - Flynn Hymas
Flynn is supportive, positive and a real team player who is always there for you. He is a calm, respectful friend who always displays respect to his peers and his teachers. He is courageous and determined. He came back to school from Covid with a positive attitude, willing to get right back into it despite the stress of missing a week.
Learning in Residence - Thomas Wilson
Tom consistently goes out of his way to make other students feel included and valued. When other students have Covid or are unwell, he does their dirty laundry for them, checks on them and offers support, all without prompting from staff. He willingly gives up his time to show new families around campus without being asked and never expects any accolades or thanks in return for any of his efforts.
ELSTERNWICK CAMPUS
Above (L-R): Alice Waters (Year 9), Aliette Watine (Year 1-2 prize), Hudson Sumner (Year 7), Lucy Pearce (Year 3-4 prize), Sahra Blumenthal (Year 8) and Ted Bates (Year 5)
Prep-Year 2 - Aliette Watine
This recipient demonstrates outstanding RESPECT for their peers and teachers every day. They exemplify all elements of the Year group Essential agreements. In group discussions, they respectfully communicate their ideas. They are a diligent learner who actively seeks teacher feedback and thrives when opportunities challenge them. This recipient also demonstrates respect to others outside of the homeroom environment, in specialist classes and during Suzuki violin group lessons. They are a role model for other students.
Year 3-4 - Lucy Pearce
This recipient consistently demonstrates the attributes of ROAR. They have been nominated for always showing RESPECT in the library and around the school. They respectfully engage with their fellow students by being an active listener and through their commitment to their work. This recipient contributes to all group activities by ensuring they complete their role when in a group. They are open to taking on other students’ ideas while voicing their own ideas and opinions respectfully.
Year 5 - Ted Bates
This recipient has been nominated for making wonderful choices, giving their absolute best in class, and engaging in the many opportunities on offer at Wesley.
Year 6 - Charlotte Gibbs
This recipient has been described as a role model to their peers. They consistently demonstrate respect to fellow students and teachers by using outstanding manners. They have taken up opportunities to be in the musical, sporting events and leadership roles and demonstrated great resilience when things haven’t gone to plan.
Year 7 - Hudson Summer
This recipient has been described as a quiet achiever and someone who always lends a hand. They are always respectful to their teachers and peers, they work hard to achieve their best and seek out feedback to be better.
Year 8 - Sahra Blumenthal
Kind, helpful, academically successful, respectful and supportive are just some of the words that have been used to describe this recipient. This person has been nominated for their willingness to make friendships and always welcomes new students to the year group. They willingly share their academic learning and genuinely want to see other succeed in their own learning.
Year 9 - Alice Waters
Their achievement consists of not only great grades, but a reputation for being a spectacular friend and student, always with a smile on their face. Their resilience is unmatched, and their growth over the years incredibly clear. They truly seize the day!
