Meet the Captains
James Cortese
College Captain - Cranbourne Campus
What do you see as your role as a student leader?
My role as a student leader is to lead the college, the college of students. Student voice is at the forefront of everything we do as captains and our job as College Captains is to not only facilitate and support our executive portfolios and their goals but each and every students.
What is one of the positives about being a student at St Peter's College?
The opportunities available and the campus environment. St. Peter's offers something for everyone, not just subject-wise but extracurricular activities such as school musicals, SIS sports, Debating, SRC, Radio Club and Drama Club, the list is endless. Additionally, the atmosphere on campus, engaging with passionate teachers and enthusiastic students makes coming to St. Peter's so positive.
What are your goals as College captain in 2025?
Already Stella and I, along with the Clyde North Captains have created the 4’Ps. Participation, Positivity, Pride and Progress. Each pillar aligns with one of our cross-campus goals for the year. We are so excited to work towards these goals and watch them come to life within the college.
Our College theme in 2025 is "Be the reason for hope" 1 Peter 3:15 - How will you live this statement through your leadership role?
I feel I will live this statement through my role as College Captain because, as a leader, I am called to ‘Be the reason for hope’. This means actively listening to students concerns, encouraging collaboration and problem solving. Student voice is essential and in our speeches both, this year and late last year, ensured that a want to engage with the students and promote their voices was clear.
Stella Ploudias
College Captain - Cranbourne Campus
What do you see as your role as a student leader?
I see my role as a student leader defined by the title itself; being a voice and representative for the student body of the school. I applied for the position with completely selfless intentions, whereby I acknowledged that plenty of my time and efforts as a Year 12 student will be shared with the responsibilities expected of a college captain, yet I still was keen to take on the role and be a person students and staff alike can come to for assistance. I feel the students at our school deserve a committed, determined and hard-working set of student leaders, and I will always strive to fulfill this.
What is one of the positives about being a student at St Peter's College?
Being a student at St. Peter’s College initiates a sense of opportunity. Being Kolbe House Captain in 2024, now College Captain in 2025, and part of the house forum since Year 7 has shown me that if an opportunity presents itself in which you can prove your potential, the school gives you every means of support and encouragement to take it on. This also assimilates to the classroom, where extensions, advancing subjects in VCE and the enthusiasm of teachers and staff is always present to constantly guide you as you shape what type of student (and person) you want to be.
What are your goals as College captain in 2025?
James, my college captain counterpart, and I have agreed to always strive for what we call ‘’the 4P’s’, referring to pride, positivity, participation and progress - 4 points we wish to incorporate into all intentions and actions we take as captains. This helps ensure we always have the best interest of the student body in our minds as we plan our goals, set proposals and approach responsibilities throughout the year.
Our College theme in 2025 is "Be the reason for hope" 1 Peter 3:15 - How will you live this statement through your leadership role?
A student leader is greatly expected to lead by example, and this assimilates to the 2025 College theme where, as a captain, I can put myself forward to prove that no matter what difficulties you may be enduring at the time, nothing is stopping you from showing up and pushing forward. The Archaic definition of hope is to have “a feeling of trust”, and I want to model to students that you can push through school and have “a feeling of trust” that everything will work out in the end regardless of the bumps in the journey. My Year 12 experience will perfectly model this to students, where, although I will be bombarded with homework, studying, due dates and lots of stress, it is still possible to show up as a captain, be kind in my intentions, and always present myself with a positive attitude, because all in God we can trust.