Premier’s VCE Awards

Each year, Victoria’s top performing VCE students are selected by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) and recognised with Premier’s VCE Awards. As a result of their outstanding performance in the 2020 VCE, four Trinity students received awards. We also congratulate Ruyton student, Simone Lin, who was recognised with awards for Geography and Product Design and Technology, both of which she studied at Trinity as part of the Coordinate Program.

Trinity’s Head of Year 12, Chris Amiconi, acknowledged that receiving these awards for the 2020 VCE is a feat in itself given how these students’ lives were upended by COVID. To have been able to maintain their commitment and motivation during a year when even examination dates were uncertain is remarkable. Chris noted that all VCE students at Trinity were well supported during a turbulent year by their parents, teaching staff, mentors, and, of course, each other.

Jesse Ash (OTG 2020)

Jesse Ash received a Premier’s VCE Award for VET Hospitality. Jesse’s work for VCE Product Design and Technology was also featured in the VCE Season of Excellence.

Henry Brown, a School Vice-Captain, received a Premier’s VCE Award for Accounting. Interestingly enough, I only picked up VET Hospitality at the start of Year 12 (in lieu of Mathematical Methods, much to my mother’s chagrin). I made this change because I struggled to study for Maths but found it easy to put in the time and effort to do well in Hospitality. By choosing a subject that aligned with my interests and skills, studying no longer felt like a chore, thus allowing me to sustain my energy for longer periods of time. This was much more valuable than any scaling bonuses.

Now I am putting my Hospitality skills to good use working for a contract butlering company, whilst studying Geology at the University of Melbourne. Despite initially enrolling in a Bachelor of Arts, the flexibility of Melbourne’s offering allowed me to study Science via their breadth program and officially switch to a Bachelor of Science after a short Mathematics catch-up course.

Henry Brown (OTG 2020)

Accounting is a subject I had loved ever since my first exposure to it with Mr Lucas in Year 10. Despite the common theory that Accounting is just putting ‘numbers in boxes’, I highly recommend this subject for those who are methodical in their thinking and who like numbers and Maths.

It sounds clichéd, but I owe any success I was able to achieve to my classmates for their entertainment and humour, as well as to Mr Pateman for his tireless efforts to engage with us and improve our understanding. I was also lucky enough to have boys around me who were eager to engage in discussions (sometimes heated arguments!) about questions and content. This highly competitive yet supportive environment was the key to success in Accounting at Trinity across the board last year.

It goes without saying that I am humbled by this award. At times last year I was moments away from dropping the bundle and giving up. But – and this is the lesson I learned – if your mindset is positive and you are willing to treat learning as a continuous process, accepting that you can never know everything, amazing things are within reach.

My interests in this area of study have extended beyond school as I am currently studying a Bachelor of Commerce and Actuarial Science.

Will Browning (OTG 2020)

Will Browning, Captain of Debating and Public Speaking during Year 12, received a Premier’s VCE Award for English.

Andrew Lim, who was Captain of Academics in his final year at Trinity, received a Premier’s VCE Award for Latin.

It is fair to say that ours was a less-than-usual Year 12 experience. Yet while many of those I speak to are quick to share their pity for a year they see as having been ‘lost’, I personally see it as simply ‘different’ than we expected.

What is easily overlooked is that 2020 at least began to teach us the value of working well in a selfdirected and self-propelled manner. Obviously, we’d all have preferred a face-to-face year – and for many, independent learning came with difficulty, or even not at all. But with the glimmer of extra perspective that 1.5 semesters of uni brings, I know last year brought with it many hidden learnings and silver linings, and they are important to acknowledge. I think that’s what I’ll take from 2020 the most, and what I’d hope others do too. Not the ‘self-directed learning’ bit specifically, but more the knowledge that even when things seem to be at rock bottom, there are always silver linings. And more importantly, if you can’t see them straight away, that’s OK. Have faith and patience. Often, all it takes is six months, and you have an entirely refreshed outlook.

I am currently studying undergraduate Medicine at Monash University and absolutely loving it – I can’t wait to see what other silver linings from 2020 are still to present themselves.

Andrew Lim (OTG 2020)

After interdisciplinary offers from Presidential Honours at NYU to Physics/Philosophy MSci at KCL, I’ve settled at the University of Melbourne for a BSc in Physics and a Diploma of Latin. To me, Classics was always about liberal arts – integrating literature, linguistics, history, philosophy and more. I chose it not on practicality or job-readiness, but obscurer opportunities: discovering forgotten civilisations, dreaming of common humanity, and hoping yesteryear answered today’s impetuous yearnings. So, my best Latin advice likewise sidesteps the corporeal: immerse yourself in the subject. Hear great orators – Kennedy echoing Cicero’s cadence (use it yourself!). Read and write poetry – Dickinson and Whitman blurring intimate and epic like Ovid and Vergil. Ponder linguistics and philosophy, how and why we communicate.

For beyond curricular confines, challenges become opportunities. While 2020 meant screen fatigue and ‘SAC Hell Week’ (three SACs, six labs, plus the SAT!), it also enabled co-founding The Trinity Inquirer, penning international research papers, and writing tricolon-filled speeches. I couldn’t do everything I planned…but maybe I shouldn’t have. I had more time to write, think, speak – and was all the better for it. After all, those original artes liberales were ‘the freedman’s arts’: developing engaged citizens, offering new perspectives over factoids. There’s a reason why, answering a nation’s grief, RFK invoked Aeschylus. Why Jefferson read of ‘nothing…but…heroes of Troy…Pompey and Caesar.’ Why college ‘core curricula’ still contain ancient epics. Our experiences shape our reading – and it shapes us. Through these texts, we consider our world and inhabit those infinitely different from it: finding lessons in literature…thus, seeking lessons.

Modelling the UN

Given the high interest in international relations amongst our student body, and the continuing realisation that global issues affect all countries equally, Trinity and Ruyton organised an online Model United Nations in conjunction with the United Nations Association of Australia (Victorian Division). The key topic for this year’s Model UN was Combating Climate Change: Committing to Global Action, and students from Trinity represented a diverse range of countries in debating, discussing and negotiating a United Nations resolution on climate change. The Year 10 students who participated in this event researched their topics thoroughly, and had to present the genuine views of the country that they had been allocated, understanding both the national interest and how this intersected with a global issue. The eight teams from Trinity negotiated with teams from five external schools, as well as with each other, to try and reach agreement. The following are some reflections from students who participated on the day.

Team China thoroughly enjoyed being part of the Model UN. We learned about many concepts related to peacekeeping and were thrilled to take part in discussions between a variety of nations (represented by students from a range of schools). The event was well run and we relished the opportunity to be involved. – China

(Henri du Toit, Oliver Horan and Joshua Moss)

The Model UN experience is about working cooperatively with students from different schools, which was

At this year’s Model UN hosted by Trinity and Ruyton a very enjoyable experience. I would highly recommend students participate in this program if they have the opportunity to do so. –

Saudi Arabia (Chase Cai, Liam Furlong and Tyler Roche)

The Model UN was a great success, and an opportunity for everyone involved to gain an insight into the viewpoints of different countries regarding the global issue of climate change. It allowed students to generate proposals and ideas to suit the nation they were representing and its climate change goals. At the same time, this necessitated students putting aside their own beliefs and speaking from the perspective of their allocated country. We found that our public speaking skills improved significantly throughout the day, as we were forced out of our comfort zones and had to talk to people we had never met before about a global issue. – Ukraine (Noah Dekker,

Daniel Marcou and Tom Ross)

The Model UN was an incredible experience, giving us an insight into the diverse views of countries all over the world. It was amazing to see the proposals, amendments and debates centred around climate change, and to have a glimpse of what real international delegations might entail. Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day, and even in an online format, it was a great opportunity for all of us. – Finland

(Justin Kwong, Hugo Lie and Lucas van den Berg)

Dr Samuel Koehne

Deputy Director of Teaching and Learning and Director of Professional Learning