SOAP students outside the Shrine of Rememberance

Premier presents 2011-2012 Spirit of ANZAC Prize recruits

15 Feb 2012

Congratulations to the 10 lucky Victorian High School students who have secured their place on this year’s coveted 2011-2012 Premier’s Spirit of ANZAC Prize overseas study tour.

On 15 February 2012, the Premier announced the winners of the Prize at a special reception at the Shrine of Remembrance.

The winners are:

  • Chloe Scott, Mallacoota P/12 College, Mallacoota
  • Gracie Ostapiw, St Brigid's College, Horsham
  • Kate Maddern, Kaniva College, Kaniva
  • Jayden  Mifsud , Assumption College, Kilmore
  • Madeleine Tickle, Red Cliffs Secondary College, Mildura
  • Bennett Harrison, Trinity Grammar School, Kew
  • Sachdave Singh, Epping Secondary College, Epping
  • Cara Widdicombe, Shelford Girls Grammar, Caulfield
  • Georgia Lee, University High School, Parkville
  • Zahn Gane, Belmont High School, Geelong
The students will be off on a trip of a lifetime spending their Term 1 school holidays visiting significant military sites at Gallipoli in Turkey, Malaysia, and Singapore where Australians have served in war.

The students will receive expert guidance of the history of the battlefields on the study tour from Professor Bruce Scates, Professor of History and Australian Studies at Monash University.

Two successful teacher chaperone applicants Alexis Watson of John Monash Science School , and James Jacobs of Xavier College will also accompany the students during the 2012 overseas tour.

The 10 students were selected from a shortlist of 27 State finalists. The remaining 17 regional finalists will participate in a free Canberra study tour featuring Parliament House, the National Film and Sound Archive, the National Portrait Gallery and the Australian War Memorial.

The regional finalists are:

  • Kristian Lang, Suzanne Cory High School, Werribee
  • Cameron Mansell, Baden Powell College, Tarneit
  • Hugh Poyser, Camberwell Grammar, Camberwell
  • Katelyn MacNab, Mater Christi College, Belgrave
  • Tara Earl, Drouin Secondary College, Drouin
  • Liam Kean, Marian College Ararat, Ararat
  • Jake Hepburn, Swan Hill College, Swan Hill
  • Christopher Barkman, St Mary Mackillop College, Swan Hill
  • Braden Bowser, Bairnsdale Secondary College, Bairnsdale
  • Viktoria Holmik, Wodonga Middle Years College, Wodonga
  • Kristen Nichol,    Wodonga Middle Years College, Wodonga
  • Matthew O'Brien, Mercy Regional College, Camperdown
  • Kate Bedworth, Hamilton Alexandra College, Hamilton
  • Noah Ellis, Princes Hill Secondary College, Princes Hill
  • Brodie Theodore, Sunbury College, Sunbury
  • Kelly Lenehan, Kambrya College, Berwick
  • Christopher Davie-Smythe, St Bede's College, Mentone
Students entering the 2011-2012 competition were asked: What does the ‘spirit of ANZAC mean to them? and Are the values displayed by the ANZACS at Gallipoli and the Western Front still relevant today?”

Each of the students earned their spot on the tour by entering outstanding creative projects including multi-media works, essays, poems, even musical pieces.

To follow the Premier’s Spirit of ANZAC Prize Study Tour and read about the Prize winners’ experiences on the 2011-12 Premier’s Spirit of ANZAC Prize visit http://spiritofanzactour2012.blogspot.com.au/

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