Welcome to our final edition of Towers - Alumni for 2020.

As we do each year, we say farewell to Year 12 as students and welcome the Class of 2020 into the Alumni group. The student body of 2020 has navigated the 2020 HSC with resilience, positivity and maturity. There is no doubt that despite the challenges, they are well equipped for life beyond school and we all now wait for the results to arrive.

(Update: the results have just arrived and they are a wonderful reflection of all of the work this year. A more detailed overview will appear next year, but well done to the Class of 2020 who moved the school rank from 45th in 2019 to 37th in 2020)

My thanks to the growing number of former students and staff on behalf of the entire school community for your support of the Alumni Garden. It helped to provide a stunning backdrop for a unique, outdoor Year 12 Graduation. Thankfully we avoided the rain and were able to welcome family members back onsite for this important event. As you can see from the pictures below, the space is looking spectacular.

An additional path will be constructed in 2021 to assist with better movement of students each day. There are a limited number of pavers in this pathway, so anyone wishing to be included in this section are asked to visit the website using the button below. These donations are tax deductible.

At the Year 12 Graduation, we officially opened the garden after the COVID induced postponement in March continued to give us headaches throughout the year. We all look forward to welcoming former students and staff back onsite in 2021 where we will have a second ribbon cutting event to acknowledge the school's rich history.

A replica plaque of the original Towers pieces has now been placed as well as a second plaque to commemorate the opening in 2020. Two of the four benches in the gazebo now have their plaques installed to recognise the generous support from the Class of 1969 (via the collection at their reunion) and the 2019 Prefects/ SRC groups who raised money for the cause last year. Finally, a thank you plaque to all who have helped with time, funds or expertise has been placed on a newer sandstone piece.

I wish you all a relaxing Christmas and festive season, a safe and uneventful new year with the hope that we can come together in the first half of 2021, to celebrate 70 years of Penrith High School.

Warm regards,

Mark Long

Principal

ANEIRA AFREEN

ARCHANA AKANANATHAN

CALEB AMOS

TABITHA AMOS

TIM AMOS

LAURA AMOS (NEE SHARPE)

AVYUKTA ANAND

LISA ANDREATTA

CHINNU ANIL

CAMERON ARMSTRONG

SEAN ARMSTRONG

ROBYN ASBOTH

RICO ATIN

ROSE ATIN

DAVE ATKINS

KAVINTHA ATTANAYAKE

AAYUSH BARUA

DARYL BEAHAN

KRIND BEARD

KANWAR BEDI

HAJO BEEK

JAN BEEK

JURRIAAN BEEK

CATHERNE BEZZINA

EDWARD BEZZINA

HELENA BEZZINA

PAUL BEZZINA

RHONDA BIGLAND

KAYLENE BIRT (COOK)

JODIE BORG

JODIE BOURKE

JANE BOUWENS

LUKE BOYES

G.J BRADFORD

BARRIE BROWN

KIM BURTON

TREVOR BUTLER

RODLAN CAI

ALICIA CAMPHUISEN

GABRIELLE CANT

JOHN CARVAN

CHRISTINE CHARLTON

PRUE CHARLTON

ANN COMBET

KIM CONNELL

RON CONNELL

VASHTI CONWAY

GRANT COOK

GREG CURTIS

JACLYN CUSH

ANN DALLOWAY

JESSICA DAVID

JONATHAN DAVID

JOSHUA DAVID

WENDY DE PAOLI

BOBO DENG

CASSIE DERRICK

LAUREN DERRICK

SOHAM DESAI

DEBARUN DEY

BROOKLYN DICKER

JULIE DICKER

TARYN DOGGETT

JUNE DOUGLASS NEE WILLMOTT PEMBERTON

DEBORAH DUARTE

JOHN ELTON

HECTOR EMcGREGOR

GARRY ENGELHARDT

KURT ENGELHARDT

ANDERS ERNEST

MARIA EVELYNCALIBO

DAS FAMILY

FROST FAMILY

GARDINER FAMILY

CATHIE FAYLE

BRIAN FERGUSON

RACHAEL FERGUSON

SIMONE FERREIRA

SVENSON FERREIRA

JONATHAN FITZGERALD

BRIGETTE FLETCHER-PUSIC

CHARMAINE FRASER

CRISTIE FULLER

ETHAN G.TAN

SHAVINU GAMAGE

MATHURA GANESH

RAM GANESH

ALEX GANGE

BEN GANGE

JOSH GANGE

KERENE GARVAN

HOLLY GERRARD

H.A GLASBY

JOVIAN GOMES

JIM GORMLY

HILLARY GOSAL

ANWEN GREGORY

JEREMY GRICE

JULIE GUINERY

NEIL GUINERY

RUIJI GUO

JEANNIE GUY

KIERAN HA

SOPHIA HADJIMICHAEL

MOUSTAFA HALLANI

ELIS HANANAYAKKARA

ARNAV HANGLOO

DANE HANSEN

FRANCIS HANSEN

KATINA HANSEN

PAUL HANSEN

DANICA HANSEN

CAROLINE HANSON

CATHERINE HANSON

JANET HARDING

ANMOL HASSAN

VIVIEN HEALES

CAROLYN HEWITT

MELINDA HEWITT

ANDREAS HIGGINBOTHAM

LESLEY HOARE

PAT HOLMES

DIANNE HOROWITZ

CARA HORSLEY

LISA HOWARTH

JIA HUANG

NICOLE HUANG

MALAK HUSAIN

DAVID HUYNH

MIMI HUYNH

SUPRAJA JAGADESH

VARSHINI JAYANTI

BEVERLEY JDAVIES

JANIS JESU

DAMIAN.C JESUTHASAN

KESHNA JEYANDRABALAN

JUN JIANG

NEAVE JOSEPH

MALIKA KANG

RAMYASRI KANTHARAJAH

ANIRUDH KARANAM

MEGHNA KARANAM

RISHAM KAURDHALIWAL

ARYENISH KAVARANA

GARY KENWORTHY

INGRID KERR

DEMI KESBY-ST CLAIR

JAHIN KHANDOKER

EUGENIA KIM

BRIAN KIRKBY

JOANNE KNIGHT

CHITVAN KOCHHAR

IZABELLE KOTARSKI

NIGEL KUAN

KUMON WESTERN SYD EDUCATION CENTRE

SHAFA KURESHI

PETER KUTSCHERA

FIONA KUTSCHERA

KEN LABIGA

LINDA LI

MARK LONG

CLEMENT LOUIS

SHANTHA LOUIS

KYLEE MACKENZIE

JOEL MACRAE

NISHA MAHESHWARI

PRIYA MAHESHWARI

EMMA MAIDEN

MARIA MAKIS

TANISHA MALIK

GLENN MALLARD

PETER MANNERING

KIRSTEN MARCELLO

DAVID MARCH

ANTOINETTE MARCHETTA

ADIADNA MARES

ANDREEA MARES

KRISTIANA MARGATE

LYNDSAY MARIEEVERETT

HAYLEY MARKWICK

BARRY MARSHALL

ALBERT MASON

CAMERON MASON

CHRIS MASON

EDNA MASON

EDWARD MASON

GRETA MASON

JIM MASON

MARGARET MASON

MONICA MASON

SALLY MASON

SHEHRAN MASUD

SHIVAKAMIE MAYURAN

MATTHEW MCCARRON

GEOFFREY MCGOOGAN

ALISON MCKINNON

CARISSA MCKINNON

KELSEY MCKINNON

MONIQUE MCKINNON

RICK MCLELLAN

GLENN McNALLY

MAXINE McNALLY

MAXINE McNALLY

NICOLE McNALLY

KRISTIAN MEAD

ANDREW MELL

GRAEME MELL

DANIEL MELROSE

REMY MEN

KEENO MENDOZA

JOANNE MITCHELL

ARUNTHATHY MJESUTHASAN

NICOLE MOBBS

STEPHEN MOBBS

ROD MORPHETT

JAEDON MORRIS

JARED MORRIS

JACK MULLANE

MARC MUMFORD

NOLAY NELAN

KOVIDH NNALAMATI

MICHAEL OLSEN

MATHEW OXLEY

GANESH PALANI

DOUGANG PAN

SAMUEL PAN

OWEN PANGCOG

ALEXANDRA PANGIOTOPOULOS

KAY PARKER

LYNNE PARKER

SALLY PARKER

VISHWAS PARPATTEGAR

DINEL PERERA

AMELIA PERRI

ANTONIO PERRI

MARCO PERRI

SHARON, PETERS

DEBORAH PHEOBUS

SANDRA PHEOBUS

TAYLOR PHEOBUS

ADRIAN PIPPIO

ANDREW POLAK

KAREN POLAK

PETER POLAK

MARIYA POLOZIUK

JANETTE POWER

DARREN PRADHAN

JESSIE PRANADJAJA

NATASHA PRASAD

PETER PRESS

CHRIS PRIOR

AUGUSTUS PUSIC

MADELEINE PUSIC

MANUELLA PUSIC

REMI PUSIC

TONY PUSIC

ANDREW QUINN

JANETTE QUINN

ERICK RAJAN

KISHEN RAJENDRA

JAYDEN RAMBUKWELLA

RICKY RANGRA

LACHLAN REEVES

MADELEINE REEVES

JILL RENTSZCH

KERRIE RIDGEWAY

PETER ROACH

PETER ROBERTS

JUDITH ROBERTS nee PHILLIPS

MARIA RYAN

RAHUL SAHADEVAN

PRITHI SAKTHI

ANITA SAMSON

ANNE SAMSON

ANTHONY SAMSON

LIZ SANTOSO

WILL SANTOSO

KYLE SAWYER

PRUDENCE SAWYER

RHIANNON SAWYER

MARION SCHAD

GEORGE SCOTT

ZORANA SEKULIC

ETHAN SHACKLEY

OM SHAH

ANNA SHARMA

RONITH SHARMA

JOHN SHARPE

ANNE SHORT

JIM SHORT

MARIE SHORT

LIZ SHREEVE

DURAIRAJ SHYAM

TIANA SINGHKONDAL

KERON SMITHARD

ABRAHAM SONG

DAVE SONTER

JO SONTER

RAKSANA SOUNDARARASA

THUSIVAKAN SOUNDARARASA

JEFFREY SPRAY

REBECCA SPROULE

ARJUN SRIKANTHARAJAH

MEGHAN STACEY

ALAN STANTON

FREYA STEWART

GRAHAM STOREY

HELEN STOREY

PHILIP STOREY

ROBYN STOREY

LAVANN SWARAN

URSULA SZAFRANIEC

SAIABHINAV TAMMA

OLIVER TAN

ANICA VASIC

ELIZABETH VASIC

ALEX VELLA

CAROL WALLACE

CAROL WANG

DAMING WANG

ELLA WANG

EMILY WANG

EANE WATSON

KYLIE WATSON

IOLANDA WILCOX

NATHAN WILCOX

DONNA WILSON

JOHN WILSON

KERRY WILSON

PAUL WILSON

YEHAN WITHANAGE

MOLING WONG

RENEE YATES

MAX YATES

CASPAR ZAUNER

On November 12 2020, prior to the Year 12 Graduation, the 70th Anniversary Alumni Gardens were officially opened. The first ceremony to be conducted there was the Year 12 Graduation. It was an exceptional setting with the roses in full bloom and very appropriate considering Covid 19 and the social distancing restrictions that we were able to have the parents of Year 12 in attendance.

There were so many people to thank for this beautiful area at the front of the school. The plaque placed on one of the sandstone blocks within the garden explains it precisely:

The 70th Anniversary Alumni Garden was made possible by those whose time, expertise, resources and genuine care contributed to the construction of a space to be enjoyed by current and former visiting students, while also capturing 70 years of excellence in Public Education.

Maria Ryan

Chris Prior

Glenn McNally

Matt Oxley

Cathie Fayle

Julie Dicker

Darren Pradhan

Gai Hawthorne

Beth Spanos

Brian Long

Jo Sonter

David Sonter

Julie Letters

Graham Letters

Praba Maheswaran

Thank you to all those involved and especially Mark Long, our principal, for carrying this to fruition.

Congratulations to the class of 2020, who, after a year of trials and tribulations, graduated in fine style on the 12th of November this year. Penrith’s navigation of the COVID-19 restrictions resulted in an unusual ceremony compared to previous years. The beautiful Alumni Garden was formally opened, and it provided a lovely backdrop to the proceedings, in place of the Hall which has been the location for every Graduation Ceremony previously as far as we can tell. As was noted on the evening by Ms Cush, Year 12 students 2020 have enjoyed a unique final year at Penrith, and so it was entirely fitting that their Graduation was no different. Aside from a few technical hitches and some external noises, the evening was a great success; Year 12 entered the garden as students, and walking down the long aisle of roses under the congratulatory gaze of be-masked and socially distant parents, caregivers and teachers, left it as proud graduates. Speeches also were heard by Mr Long, Mr Hoekstra, and the Year 12 leadership team, whose poignant musings on the many hidden talents of the group were highlighted by the rousing performance of the Year 12 music group. It is to be hoped that the Graduation Ceremony for the class of 2021 can take place under more relaxed circumstances, but it would not be the worst thing if it too were to occur on a balmy spring evening surrounded by greenery.​

Tom Hoekstra

Year 12 Adviser 2020

Emily McIntyre attended Penrith High from 2003-2005 (Year 7 - Year 9) and finished her HSC at Manly High. She now works in the disability sector. She’s also a really key advocate for disability rights, voice and inclusion in Australia at the moment, particularly invisible disabilities (happened to be the theme for this recent UN International Day of People With Disabilities). I would also like to note special thanks to Emily for her help with the series.

"Year 2000-and-Emily: This video shares the story of the year Two-Thousand-And-Emily. We learn of our ability to press pause, consider the impact of expectations, and re-think the importance of 'productivity' in defining who we are. Emily reminds us that the unexpected is not unprecedented, and that our progress doesn't flow in one straight line.”

In Education Week 2000, Stephanie Liew who was in Year 10 at that time, completed her work experience with the Star Newspaper. Stephanie interviewed her School Captain, Rachel Rowe and former teacher John Maiden.

The article was entitled 'School's family tradition retained for half a century'.

Below is a copy of the article along with a photo of Rachel Rowe and John Maiden at the front of the school.

What is your best memory of PHS

I can’t choose just one because I thrived at school and had lots of good times, including sport (away games were the best because we got to go on a bus to exotic destinations like Katoomba and Riverstone, with boys! - whom we affected to ignore, while singing Beatles songs which we knew by heart); Senior English classes in the Library, my favourite room, with its parquet floor and cedar tables, debating whether Tess of the D’Urbevilles was raped (agree) or seduced. I also loved the start of each new school year, with new books and pens, maybe a new school bag or briefcase, and new stockings (which came in a box with tissue paper, and very quickly became laddered and snagged).

What are you doing now

Am now retired, and having bought a house on Norfolk Island I spend as much time as I can there. I volunteer at the local museum, am a member of a number of clubs, and have an active social life, including annual reunions with fellow students from the Class of 68, which have become more delightful as time goes on. I also love yoga, swimming and, best of all, being able to read to my heart’s content.

What did you think you would be doing when you left PHS

I was surprised to see in an old Towers magazine that I had once declared the intention of pursuing a career in public relations, because that’s what I ended up doing, but I was a long time getting round to it, and it was an intention I seem to have forgotten about very soon after leaving school, when I was funnelled into teaching (like all the other girls of my type and time). I didn’t think too much about it, and was just happy to be finished with that stage of life, and off to university in the city.

I took five years to complete my BA Dip Ed at Sydney University (the extra year was punishment for neglecting my studies in second year, to the extent that I failed one of my majors - ouch!). It was an exciting time, but, despite all the distractions, I finally managed to graduate, and immediately received marching orders from the Dept of Education.

I was sent to Cootamundra High to teach English and History (am still in touch with some lovely students from those days - my 'creme de la creme'*) and then took a year off to study Educational Drama at Bretton Hall College in the U.K. I returned to Blacktown Girls High and then Drummoyne Boys High where (I believe) I became the only full time Drama teacher in the state. (Drama was not taught as a subject in those days and qualifications could only be acquired overseas.) It was a full year, capped off by a production of Agamemnon and a Greek Food Festival, in recognition of the large number of Greek Australian boys at the school. Everyone loved it, but I was totally burnt out and needed to get away from schools all together.

A chance encounter at the dry cleaners ushered in the next stage of my career, which saw me holding down jobs at ABC TV (researcher/writer followed by producer/director) and the Sydney Morning Herald, for which I became the stand-in theatre critic for the late, great, Harry Kippax. I travelled widely for the ABC, and went to the theatre a couple of times a week. My partner at the time was the Editor of Gourmet magazine and the music critic for The Australian, so we had a pretty good life.

After a busy couple of decades, and just when I was beginning to consolidate my earlier desires and achievements, everything fell in a heap (those who saw me as being rather 'full of myself' at school will no doubt be glad to hear this), and I somewhat inexplicably found myself working in local government while trying to get my life back together. 'Working for the Council' doesn't have the cachet of 'working for the ABC', but some very good work goes on there, and the conditions are better. I managed to throw myself into numerous community relations and cultural development projects, including the development of an award-winning museum and art gallery, while studying for my Masters Degree at UWS. On completion, I was invited by the university to join its casual teaching staff, an enjoyable and profitable sideline for the next 18 years.

When I look back on my educational opportunities, and the working life that followed, I feel nothing but gratitude. My education wasn't free, but it was cheap, and it allowed me to work in all sorts of interesting jobs while supporting myself and having a good life. It enabled me to buy four houses (not all at the same time, unfortunately), to travel, to wear Italian shoes, and to save for my retirement, all of which were denied to my mother and most of the women of her generation. That certainly puts into perspective any doubts about whether one could have done more.

What is your best advice to current students

(Keeping in mind that free advice is worth what you pay for it…) Be serious enough about school that you can take advantage of what it has to offer, including the opportunity to get to know people, but not so serious that it will blight your life if things aren’t as joyful and your school years not as successful as you would like.

* A reference to the wonderful book by Murial Spark, and film starring Maggie Smith, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

1. What is your best memory of Penrith High School?

Virtually all of my memories from Penrith High School are great in one way or another - maybe I've got rose-tinted glasses... It really was as good a period in my life as any - and I still have many friends from those days. Perhaps my fondest memory was my co-captain, Amy, and I receiving a standing ovation from all of the students in our grade at our Graduation Night.

2. What did you think you would be doing after you left high school?
I had no idea really... I wanted to be an Air Force pilot, a vet, an architect, a police detective, an actor! I literally ended up doing public relations because my English teacher, Mrs Bernhardt told me I would be good at it... and she turned out to be pretty much on the money there.

3. What are you doing now?
I had been working in Paris as the Communications Manager for the FIA, the global governing body of motor sport, in Formula 1, the World Rally Championship and other categories. I returned to New Zealand with my Kiwi wife at the end of 2017 to start our family - I now have two beautiful children and am working on international sporting events in Auckland at the moment.

4. What is the best advice you could give to current PHS students?
Things are going to go well in your life, and things are going to go less well. Take it all in your stride - celebrate the good stuff, and don't get too worried about things you can't control or things that don't really matter. Above all, do your best, be relentless - but have a laugh and don't take yourself too seriously... Things have a way of working out.

Mark McCartney

My name is Joshua. I graduated from Penrith Selective High School back in 2016 and recently completed a combined degree in Actuarial Studies with Statistics at Macquarie University. It wasn’t long ago that I graduated but I was pleasantly surprised to see so many additions to the school such as the Alumni Garden, table tennis tables, cafeteria area, and the quotes down the Accounts Office corridor (especially “Marks in the bag.”)

These additions weren’t limited to tangible ones though; there were also additions to the opportunities for Penrith High students, especially maths-related ones such as the CAT Competition, AIMO, Olympiad Training Program and so on. Although these were opportunities I wish were around when I was still a student, I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in them as an alumnus where I was a tutor for the Australian Mathematics Challenge Enrichment Program. It was fantastic to teach many bright minds and see for myself the ever-increasing calibre of Penrith High students, though I would have liked if they called me by name instead of ‘Sir’ (the current year 12s would have been in Year 7 when I was in Year 12 – so I am not old… am I?)

Some of you may be wondering what life is really like after school. Let me illustrate this with a cornerstone concept I’ve learnt in my Actuarial Studies and Statistics Coursework – machine learning. Simply put, machine learning is when a system is fed data which it ‘learns’ from in order to perform certain tasks. Machine learning can be split into three broad types but the two I will cover are ‘supervised learning’ and ‘unsupervised learning’. Supervised learning is when the system is given input and output data and it aims to find a rule connecting the input and output. In other words, the system learns with the guidance of output data which is where the ‘supervised’ comes from. Learning in school is like supervised learning – students have the guidance of teachers to learn. Unsupervised learning is when the system is given only input data and is left on its own (hence, ‘unsupervised’) to learn and understand the data it has been given. Learning in life after school is like unsupervised learning – you are left on your own to work out whatever is around you. Okay, this is not totally correct. You will have friends, family and other close ones that will be there to offer guidance. But how you ultimately interpret everything around you comes back to yourself. In life after school, you will see yourself doing that often.

Life after school can be challenging but regardless, you can have a great time and create some amazing memories. Some of the highlights of my time as a university student included making a whole magazine as a Director for the Actuarial Students’ Society (ASSOC), running around the Sydney CBD in an Amazing Race – only to come 3rd place by a split second with no consolation prize, and winning an Actuarial Debating Competition, despite no prior experience. There is a lot to look forward to in the future so be open to the opportunities around you!

I hope my experiences and perspectives as a Penrith High graduate have shed some light on what’s to come after your high school journey and I wish the very best in your future endeavours!

Joshua Irawan

When Covid-19 hit, three old school friends who graduated from Penrith High ten years ago(2010) decided to start a company and make a boardgame.

Jason Abrahams, a Penrith alumni who is now a software engineer, founded the company Swordfish Games. He always loved Penrith’s physics classes with Mr Mills and wanted to create a boardgame with physics based movement.

Enter Star Eater, a space combat boardgame with an inertia based movement system designed to simulate the movement of heavy objects in zero gravity. In Star Eater, you are the commander of a giant capital ship in the middle of a tense battle in deep space. You must use the customisable weapons on your ship to shoot down your enemies and manage your momentum carefully, otherwise you may go spinning out of control or crash into obstacles.

While Jason had the idea for Star Eater in his head for sometime, it wasn’t until lockdown that he joined forces with two of his old friends from 7S - Tom Park (Mechanical Engineer and the artist) and Pranamie Mandalawatta (Lawyer and the producer) to start working on the game. As a kid, Tom used to draw sketches of spaceships all the time in school (even though it got him in trouble a lot). As a professional Mechanical Engineer he uses his knowledge of mechanical design principles to create interesting looking fictional ships and components. Pranamie on the other hand, was a teachers pet and now uses her skills of persuasion to deal with the marketing and logistics of the game.

Star Eater has just launched(pun intended) on Kickstarter, you can check out the game and even play a free online version at www.star-eater.com

Email: penrith-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au
Website: penrith-h.schools.nsw.gov.au
Location: 158-240 High Street, Penrith NSW, Australia
Phone: 02 4721 0529
Facebook: facebook.com/penrith.selectivehighschool