Penrith High Towers-Alumni

Welcome to our latest edition of Towers Alumni.

In this tenth edition, you will find that it is a little longer than usual. There are a number of reasons for this including some additional time that we had with students and staff working remotely during COVID-19 and pleasingly, a number of reports showcasing an increase of former students connecting with the school.

In our 70th year as a standalone high school, the rich wisdom and expertise of former students, regardless of the graduation year is something that we value highly and I thank each of you who has been involved over the past term supporting students, staff and your emails to the school to check in during a very different time.

Zoom transformed how we delivered classes and it has opened opportunities to connect former and current students in a variety of ways and we will continue to look at how we can utilise this further.

My particular thanks to Grace White (School Captain- 2013) for her initiative to showcase former students in a digital format for the interest of former students as well as our current seniors. The first video of her Assembly20 project can be found below and I know, having seen the upcoming speakers that this will be a valued and worthwhile project for the school community.

Currently, our 2020 Alumni Night is on hold and we plan to officially open the Alumni Garden the morning of the 70th Luncheon in 2021. The organising committee for the luncheon will advise of a date at a later stage.

I hope this edition of Towers Alumni finds you safe and well. We all continue to hope for a non COVID Term 3, so that Year 12 2020 can enjoy their final term of lessons before the HSC examinations commence.

Please feel free to share this edition with former classmates and use the button below to subscribe to the mailing list.

Warm regards,

Mark Long

Principal

Our new Honour Board recognising former students who have served in the Defence Force is now hanging in the hall. We welcome any additional names. Details can be found on the school website by clicking this link.

The board was funded by the Commonwealth Government as part of the centenary of ANZAC.

We acknowledge and thank all who have served. Thank you as well to staff members Rae Clapshaw, Clark Stone and Brooklyn Dicker for bringing this important project to life. Although we were not able to acknowledge the new board for ANZAC Day this year as schools were closed, we look forward to acknowledging former students in future ANZAC and Remembrance ceremonies and have been encouraged by the number of students who have reached out to be added after seeing the board via social media.

Planning is underway for the next part of our Alumni Garden and Year 12, 2020 have committed to donating towards a path connecting the carpark to the main pathway. Former students, staff and supporters of the school are invited to purchase a personalised paver as part of this project. Details about ordering and payment can be found here by clicking this link

Donations are Tax Deductible

The new path will start where the two sandstone cubes are in the third picture below.

Welcome Alumni, Students and Staff to ASSEMBLY20

My name is Grace. I graduated Penrith High in 2013, and then studied with The University of Sydney where I completed a degree in Indigenous Studies alongside studies in Social Work and English Literature. My research was with a team from Sydney looking at models of partnership in education. We developed an on-campus dog therapy program, and case-study for publication in The International Journal for Students as Partners. I enjoyed exploring different ways to partner diverse roles within educational spaces to create better outcomes for the whole. For us, it was to achieve greater social and emotional wellbeing while strengthening graduate attributes, using an innovative model of student-staff and peer-peer communications.

A school community is one that - by nature - goes in different directions, to different places over time. I have a personal belief in the tremendous value of story - telling, and sharing. This shaped the original idea for the series. In talking with Principal Mark Long, I realised how much the school has been affected by this year’s disruptions, as well as the consistent effort to form and re-form connections with past students. We’re going to try and bring you as many videos and other forms of engagement as we can, from as many past students as possible, over the course of this series.

I sincerely hope this brings something to you, that you stay safe and look out for each other, as well as yourselves. I want to extend special thanks to Emily McIntyre, past student and friend, for her uniquely kind problem-solving and ability to provide anchorage during the most productive of brain-storms.

Please enjoy this featured Opening Address, delivered by State Debating’s longest running Runner-Up, Grace White.

Warm Wishes,

Live Long and Prosper,

Grace

[Pictured below: Grace White in Year 11, 2012]

ASSEMBLY20 News Issue 1 Man Behind The Plinth

Recognise this large wooden object on the right? It’s likely you recognise it, but have never taken much notice. Well, those familiar offset faces are actually made of melamine, and that ‘object’ is called a plinth. The Penrith High Plinth was designed across 2012 and 2013 by Penrith High’s own, Ben Mitchell. The school was finding itself with too many student artworks worthy of display, and nowhere to safely showcase them. Ben was asked by the school to fill this need because of his unique skills in design and carpentry, creating the piece that supported student art displays in the school foyer until 2019 when work on the new reception desk started. (The plinth has been in storage, but will be used again from Term 3 in A Block)

I spoke to the designer recently (pictured on the left in his self-made ‘Fun-Bot-2000’ birthday costume), now a professional designer of Australian furniture. Ben said “It’s funny because it’s probably the one thing no one even the staff has ever thought about.. Which means the plinth has done a great job as a neutral display piece to showcase the art.” Ben also said he “originally wanted it to be rounded, but [that decision] was changed due to cost saving”, showing how he had to adapt to the resources he had available.

“Fun plinth fact”, Ben informed me, “if they are not constructed correctly they can break and destroy the art, as in 2002 when a 15th century marble sculpture was destroyed”. He then linked me to a New York Times article on the shattering of the Adam statue due to a catastrophic pedestal collapse. “Our students’ ceramics are in safe hands”. Behind every great artwork is another, and behind every great plinth is a man in a robot costume.

Congratulations to Ricky who has been selected in the 2020 cohort of the Banking and Finance Oath of Young Ambassadors – a Program encouraging and supporting students, graduates and young people to contribute to a strong ethical foundation as they begin their careers in the banking and finance industry. Ricky, a former Prefect is the only undergraduate student from all of Australia to be selected for this program.

The program was instituted in 2010, by executives from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Rothschild & Co, AMP Capital, Westpac, MLC Australia and Commonwealth Bank who came together to form the Banking and Finance Ethics Panel.

The Banking and Finance Oath was the founding initiative of this panel. The organisation today leads the advocacy of ethical conduct by individuals & institutions within the financial services industry, encouraging them to do right by all stakeholders as well as the general public

The Media release outlining the 2020 program can be found here: -https://thebfo.org/press/media-release/media-release.html

In year 12, Alana received the Wendy de Paoli award for Excellence in Research, a Premiers’ Award for All-Round Excellence for her HSC results, and also a Certificate of Excellence from the History Teachers Association for her Extension History major work.

Recently, Alana was presented with the Walter Ernest Savage Prize for Foundations of Law from Sydney Law School and continues to give back by volunteering for the International Social Media Association where she writes guides and articles relating to Australian social media law and current issues in social media. Alana also volunteers for a local Community Legal Centre, and tutors disadvantaged children who are referred by FACS for having fallen behind in literacy and numeracy.

Ricky Rangra is a 2018 graduate who has made a big impact in the world of finance.

Currently a scholarship student at the University of Sydney, he proudly represented Penrith High School in public speaking, debating, sports and academic competitions at zone, regional and state levels when he was a Prefect.

Ricky's interest in finance was catalysed by his selection for the UBS Investment Banking Academy in Year 11, and since leaving high school he has been working full-time - previously as a trainee in Commercial Banking at Westpac and currently as an analyst in Wealth Management at AMP.

He is also a former Director of Finance at UN Youth Australia, one of the country's largest non-profits run by individuals under 25.

At the end of Year 12, Ricky was awarded the NSW Minister's Award for Excellence in Student Achievement and the NSW Order of Australia John Lincoln Award.

William Gao graduated in 2019 and during his time at school, created an incredible number of professional networking opportunities that ensured a successful transition after school, including internships, various university opportunities and scholarships.

He was awarded the NSW Minister's Award for Excellence and not only undertook university subjects at both USYD and UNSW while at school, but achieved at such a high level that he was asked back to work as a tutor at UNSW while still in school.

Will is currently studying a Bachelor of Computer Science at UNSW and combines this with full time work as a Software Engineer at WiseTech Global, a leading Australian software company for the logistics industry.

Keshna Jeyandrabalan graduated in 2019 and is currently studying Medicine in Western Australia after a very successful HSC.

Widely respected and admired for her commitment to a number of causes, Keshna is possibly the only student to be award the 3 major awards open to students in NSW.

In 2019, she was awarded a Minister's Award for Excellence, The John Lincoln Award by the NSW OAM committee and the Dame Marie Bashir Peace Award from the NSW Women's Council.

Keshna's ability to balance her studies and strong commitment to serving others was inspiring.

Year 12 students Eugenia Kim and Bobo Deng organised the Business Society's inaugural PSHS Business Society Pitch Competition via Zoom.

The Business Society Club (BSOC) is a club where teams strengthen their entrepreneurial skills and develop their own startup businesses. It is open to students in Year 9 to 12, providing an opportunity to learn and develop skills in problem solving, teamwork and entrepreneurship.

It is a creative outlet for students to innovatively derive and develop solutions to real life problems. Students undertake intensive business start-up workshops and group tasks led by student leaders (Eugenia Kim and Bobo Deng).

Each term, students work towards presenting and initiating their business proposals through a pitching competition, which will be judged by a panel of teachers and other professionals.

The pitching competition is modelled around similar competitions such as Shark Tank.

The first Pitch Competition held on Zoom consisted of a judging panel of Deputy Principal, Doris Lee, William Gao (2019 Alumni, Software Engineer at WiseTech Global) and Matt McCarron (1998 School Captain, CEO of Lewisland).

The participant teams were:

Purify - Rebecca Jiang, Gurmehar Kaur & Hexuan Zhang

Landit - Savera Shabih, Wendy Li, Sooyeon Yoo, Elizabeth Santoso & Aayushi Ajmera

Adapt-Eng - Dhyan Bhavasar, Pranav Akadkar & Jarrel Dugay

Fit Me - Anna Sharma, Liza Drozd, Varsha Venkat & Nicole Atin

Notes 2U - Lance Santos, Saksham Gupta, Abiraam Ramanan, Sukhman Banwait & Amrit Chauhan.

All pitches were creative, had interesting ideas, were well researched and innovative. The teams were given a 5 minute limit for their pitches, with an additional 5 minutes given for Q&A time, led by the judges.

However, we could only pick 1 winner. The top three were as follows:

1. Fit Me - A fitness mobile app aimed at encouraging young people to participate in physical activity.
2. Purify - Australian Botanicals and Scents - A subscription based perfume company providing quality scents for customer needs, with various subscription packages available.
3. Landit - A website designed to strengthen the connection between employers and young job seekers by making job postings of small businesses more visible. It also strives to increase the accessibility of relevant job opportunities for young job seekers.

After much deliberation from the judges, Fit Me was the winner, presenting a well designed prototype and practical business model.

The winning team’s mantra was:

"In a world of technology becoming more accessible, sedentary behaviour amongst young people is continuing to increase as they favour social media and gaming applications over physical activity.

Our vision for Fit Me is to develop an easy to use mobile application targeted at young people, where they can get involved in physical activity with friends via live chat from the comfort of their homes."

The prize is yet to fully be determined, due to the interesting hurdles that COVID-19 presented/presents. However, the prize will surround a valuable mentorship program that enhances the opportunities to be mentored by professionals that can teach the winning team members vital entrepreneurial and life skills.

We were trialling the competition to see how successful it was and opened up the link to only judges and participants given the logistics surrounding Zoom. However, given the success and high engagement levels by participants and judges, we may remodel this and open it up to all, depending on what mode we will enact and logistics going forward. We have already some exciting ideas going forward and will share future programs and competitions with you all once finalised.

If any Alumni want to be involved in this going forward, please let me know, and we will try and get you involved in some capacity. If you want more information on this club please do not hesitate to contact me by emailing the school: penrith-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au.

I would like to lastly sincerely thank all the judges and staff who helped organise this club. A big thank you to Mark, Doris, Matt and William for their expertise and giving up their valuable time to help endorse and support this competition. I would also like to thank Antoinette Pipio for her support and for helping create and run this club also. A big special mention to Bobo Deng and Eugenia Kim, who are the brains behind the competition and club. They worked tirelessly to run weekly workshops to ensure participants were developing key business skills and also preparing for the competition. Their drive, leadership and passion for helping other students really was impressive and I am very proud of their efforts.

A big congratulations to all student participants, particularly to the winning team!

Mel Coburn -Social Science Faculty

Thanks to Jim Mason (Class of 1959) for contributing these excerpts from the Nepean Times related to the purchase of the Towers to allow for the construction of the school.

As always, we hope that you enjoy some of the photos from across the years of both former students and staff.

In preparation for the shift to remote learning during COVID-19, the school planned to have a number of areas across the school updated. The large window of time, has been a once in a lifetime opportunity to work uninterrupted in multiple areas. With students and most teaching staff working from home, the executive and administration staff remained onsite to keep school operations underway whilst also managing a large number of projects to improve the amenities for students and staff. In the absolute majority of projects, local trades were used to support the small businesses which was important given that Job Keeper had not been announced at that point. The pictures below showcase some of the upgrades that welcomed the full school back onsite in May, 2020.

Over the holidays and the first few weeks of Term 2 the TAS Area has undergone a huge upgrade. The PE classes are already making use of the new outdoor Table Tennis area as well as Year 12 using the study area. We all can now see the plaque for the time capsule which was put into place in 2000 and marked by a plaque in 2003 among the new landscaping. It also has a new water station. An outstanding area finally getting some use by our students!

The Basketball Courts are also in the middle of an upgrade with new fencing, sun safe seating, landscaping and a water station. The courts are also being used by almost 30 students for before and after school tennis lessons with a local professional tennis coach from Penrith. Some former students and staff will be shocked to see the number of large apartment blocks in the background!

Our updated reception foyer is now complete. The HSC class of 2018 donated the reception desk as their school gift and we have been able to integrate two historic images of the Towers mansion that sat on the school site before it was purchased by the Department of Education. One image also captures one of the sandstone pieces that are now in the Alumni Garden and the other image shows the primary school building in the background. Next time you visit, be sure to take a look and enjoy the comfortable new chairs as we celebrate 70 years of the school.

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