Alumni
Marina Penderis
Alumni transfer knowledge to current students
This year Swinburne Senior Secondary College started an alumni program to connect with former students. As part of that, we invite past students back to school to talk to current students about life after Year 12.
Past students who’ve already participated in that this year include:
Phoebe Meldrum (class of 2015), a provisional psychologist and PhD candidate at Monash University, where she’s looking into late diagnosed autism and ADHD.
Jarni Blakkarly (class of 2012), an investigative journalist. He has done work for news services like Reuters, Al Jazeera, the ABC, Radio National, BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle and Choice.
Benjamin Dawe (class of 1998), the Senior Creative Development Manager at Australia’s leading independent film distributor, Roadhouse Films. Ben also developed the concept and illustrations for Penguin’s Holly Horror series.
Adrian Mayer (class of 2004), who came back to talk to Year 12 Business Management students about how his work at Telstra’s Vendor Management and Negotiation Centre of Excellence uses tools like procurement to create positive social impact.
Lev Whitelaw (class of 2002), who’s currently studying for a Bachelor of Popular Music at Monash came back to the school to lead a special music master class and talk about the audition process for the course he is studying.
Bianca Ciavarella (class of 2019), who completed a Global Studies degree at Monash, answered questions about her experiences completing two semesters of study overseas.
Ele Garrod-Morris (class of 2023) provided insight into the acting course they are currently doing at JMC Academy.
Kynan Latto (class of 2022) shared his experience doing a patisserie chef’s course at William Angliss Institute after completing an unscored VCE.
Lyria Harris (class of 2023) shared their experience gaining early admission to study Criminology and Psychology at Swinburne University of Technology.
Neil Glindemann (class of 2023) shared how deferring their studies to take a gap year and work gave them greater insight into what they want to study.
Oli Briggs (class of 2023) provided a first-hand perspective is studying a double degree in Arts and Science, majoring in Literature and Zoology at Monash.
Lauri Pavlovich (class of 2022) joined the Year 11 Vocational Major class to explore pathways in community support work for young people.
Read more about the alumni program that Swinburne is implementing here:
https://newsletters.naavi.com/i/NWxmQLJ/issue-1/page/cover
Former students can join the alumni network by completing this form: