Author: Richard Morgan

Jacaranda Week is a hallowed tradition of St Paul’s College, this is the week before Stuvac and it always coincides with the blast of lavender blossoms all over Sydney. Jacaranda trees in the College grounds are looking amazing this week and our students are studying hard and rapidly finishing assignments. The tradition is that you must be already preparing for exams when the blossoms appear!

With a little sadness and much joy the College celebrated the immense contribution of our third year undergraduate cohort with the traditional Valedictory Dinner. The celebrations began at a very full Valedictory Chapel Service with its rousing ‘bangers’ of hymns, all chosen by the Students’ Club Committee. Thank you to the Warden for a stirring sermon about spiritual rebirth and coping with change using the second reading from St John’s Gospel (3 1-15) about Nicodemus and the parable Jesus told of Moses and the bronze serpent.

The Chaplain, Rev’d Antony Weiss, included a special prayer for each and every student at St Paul’s which particularly mentioned the late Zac Lerner who would have been one of the 2024 valedictorians.  

Drinks in Chapel Quad followed and then to the black tie dinner in the Main Quad where over 300 were seated. The 56 valedicts were honoured with pithy speeches about their time in College and contribution to their three years during which they experienced, supported and led massive change in the life of the College.

During the celebrations the College Prizes for 2024 were presented by the Warden:

• The Albert Medal for Instrumental Music Huge Baker (BA III)
• The Felix Arnott Medal for Drama Ameila Tabary-Edwards (BComm/BAdvStud II)
• The Asimus Medal for Oratory Bridget Pye (BE(Hons)/BPrjMgmt(Civil) I) and Olivia McMillan (BE(Hons)/BA I)
• The Drury Medal for Singing Andrew Siu (BPharm/MPharmPrac III)
• The Waddy Medal for Debating William Defina (BE(Hons)/BComm)
• Fresher Sportswoman of the Year Heidi Best (BE(Hons)(Aero) I)
• Fresher Sportsman of the Year Iwo Ellis (BComm I)
• Sportswoman of the Year Eloise Knights (BComm II)
• Sportsman of the Year Luka Mattani (BVS/DVS I)
• The Kokoda Award for the 2024 Students Club Committee Ed Taylor (BE(Hons)/BA III), Alex Robinson (BE(Hons)/BComm III), Mitchell Arcus (BE(Hons)(Aero) III), Banjo Cole (BBus III)
• Natalie McRory (BA II), Jack Sproats (BMedSci/BAdvStud III), Nick Stack (BComm/BAdvStud III), Tilly Walker (BEd II)
• The Kokoda Richardson Service Award for the student who has best represented the ideals of service, courage, endurance, mateship and sacrifice Charles Dight (BA/LLB III)
• The Vessel of St Paul Himself for the student whose demeanour and involvement embodies the Pauline spirit and character – one who possesses and consistently demonstrates the qualities we hope to instil in all who attend this great College Bligh Walter (BSc III)
• The Lehane Medal and Scholarship for a student who has been resident for at least three years and who, by their participation in the activities of the College, and by their academic, cultural, sporting or other achievements, has made an exemplary contribution to the life and standing of the College Max Phillips (BA/BAdvStud III)

The College community offers it congratulations to this year’s awardees and acknowledges the great contribution over the last three years by our valedictorians.

With 430 resident Paulines the College boasts two theatrical troupes: Mummers, founded in 1948 by the then Warden Felix Arnott, and The Impresario Players, founded in 2018 by Graduate House Dean Antone Martinho-Truswell.

The new Waddy Theatre provides a remarkable facility at St Paul’s for the rehearsing and staging of a variety of performances. Mummers have already set a ‘high bar’ with their Semester 1 play “Black Comedy” by Peter Shaffer and they are maintaining their excellence preparing a large cast for “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] {Revised Again} and Rewritten” by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield. The production is directed by Ryan Bond.

Friday 25 and Saturday 26 at 7.30 pm and Sunday 27 October at 4.30 pm (doors open 30 minutes beforehand for bar sales) in the Waddy Theatre.

TICKETS

“The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] {Revised Again} and Rewritten” was originally performed by its creators Adam Long (UK), Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield (USA), at the 1987 Edinburgh Fringe. Being a ‘hit’ it remains the second longest-running West End comedy in history and has been translated into over thirty languages. It is described as a vaudeville show in which three charismatic, ambitious actors attempt to present all thirty-seven of Shakespeare’s plays in a single performance. Get ready for a hilarious time as the players make a meal out of the rudimentary concept of the stories and imperfectly memorized famous lines (source: Google Books).

Expect a rollicking night out (or in)!

Academic achievement among members of Graduate House is an important part of the celebrations during the cycle of the academic year. We have recently farewelled several Doctor of Medicine Year IV students whose coursework finished at Mid-Semester break. All of these budding young doctors head off to their first full-time internships at hospitals around the state in the coming weeks or after a short well-earned break. Other coursework higher degrees finish at the end of the semester but those doing masters degrees or doctorates by thesis are finishing gradually with thesis submission, and then emendations and resubmission.

Jack Stephens, apart from being the resident Director of Music, has also just submitted his completed thesis for the award of his Doctor of Music, one of the rarest of all degrees at the University. The Graduate House community congratulated Jack on his amazing work at the Academic Dinner on Monday 14 October.  In recognition of his standing as a new DMus graduand he received a Cambridge doctoral bonnet (originally worn in 2019 by Dr Brandon Munn, UG 2012-14 and GH 2019, the first PhD in Graduate House) and the sword of learning (an original gift to the College in 2020 from the second PhD in Graduate House Dr Mingyuan (Yvonne) Bai, GH 2020).

Katherine Rosen was also awarded an Amy Louise Hart Scholarship for attaining the highest accumulated marks of all the members of the Graduate Community this year. She is studying for a Master of Communications through coursework. She joins ten other Hart scholars currently resident.

Distinguished guests included Dr Philip Clifton-Bligh Endocrinologist and former Associate Professor in Medicine and David Greco, who is a Lecturer of Classical Voice at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music

University Scholarships and Prizes

Josh Gaul is in his 2nd year of a Doctor of Medicine and his first year in Graduate House and has been awarded the University’s Dr John Osbourne RN Scholarship. This scholarship supports residents of St Paul’s College enrolled in the Doctor of Medicine in their second, third or fourth year of study and was established through a bequest to the University in 1919 by Kate Cunningham Moffat.

Ines Wen, in her second year of a research PhD in the Business School and her first year in Graduate House, has been awarded numerous grants for her research and travel: from the Business School Research Unit to present a paper at the Global China Conference in Melbourne and a Postgraduate Research Support Scheme grant to present at the Academy of International Business Oceania symposium in Sydney; the International Association for Chinese Management Research for data collection abroad; a Taiwan Government Scholars in Australia grant; and the 2024 SUPRA Social Impact Grant to organise sustainable decision-making workshops for PG students at the University. Ines, originally from Taiwan, came to Sydney via study at home then in France, Germany and China and is conducting regular tutorials in Chinese at St Paul’s. She has a MBusAdmin and BBusAdmin (MechEng) from the National Taiwan University. Her research into business management disruption in China is described in more detail in this story: https://www.stpauls.edu.au/international-research-award-for-graduate-house-phd-student/

Lara Holburn, in her 1st year of a PhD in Chemistry and first year at Graduate House, has been awarded the University’s Agnes Campbell Prize, a postgraduate scholarship supporting postgraduate students in the School of Chemistry who demonstrate excellence in organic chemistry. This scholarship was established in I996 by a bequest from Jack Campbell Norrie to provide scholarships to students enrolled in a master’s by research or PhD.

Congratulation to all those post graduate members of the College who are achieving so much at the highest levels of academia.  

The heading says it all! Congratulations to the College’s Athletics Teams, Rawson and Rosebowl, on their great achievements on the track and field on 16 October. Both teams did very well through the competition at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre and our Rawson Team brough home the cup. The point scores were:

RAWSON: St Paul’s 301 – 1st | St Andrew’s 273 – 2nd | St John’s 196 – 3rd | Wesley 145

ROSEBOWL: St Andrew’s 212 – 1st | St Paul’s 161 – 2nd | St John’s 153 – 3rd | Sancta 138 | Wesley 110 | Women’s 84

The overall Intercollegiate Sport point scores for 2024 are:

RAWSON: St Andrew’s 22 eq. 1st | St Paul’s 22 eq. 1st | Wesley 15 | St John’s 13

ROSEBOWL: St Andrew’s 63 1st | Wesley 44 | St Paul’s 35 | St John’s 25 | Women’s 21.5 | Sancta 11.5

The last time the College won the Rawson Cup was in 2017 and it was at the Athletics that this win was secured. Congratulations to everyone who has contributed to an amazing year of men’s and women’s sports at St Paul’s, including the first ever Rosebowl Victory Dinner (for Rowing). To see other stories on the 2024 sports click on these links: Soccer | Rosebowl VD | April

The Graduate House community operates a student body similar to the undergraduate community’s Student’s Club. Established in 2018 the Middle Common Room (or MCR) also hold regular general meetings and at the AGM the community elects its executive committee for the year ahead. The senior student is the Middle Prefect who is the chair of the executive.  

Congratulations to the following elected to the 2024/5 MCR Executive at the AGM held on 11 October:

• Middle Prefect: Claudio Garcia
• Secretary: Emmanouil Vourvahakis
• Treasurer: Simon Homsanay
• Calendar Officer: Anna Corff
• House Officer: Helena Pathimos

Also appointed to the roles of Judicial officers (senior members of the MCR) for 2024/5 are: Vered Chhakchhuak, Pawani Mathur and Jason Zhu He.

The College community acknowledged the work of the retiring 2023/4 Executive and thanks the Middle Prefect – Jim Wong; Hon Treasurer – Samuel Zagame; Hon Secretary – Vered Lalrinpuii Chhakchhuak; Calendar Officer – Lauren Lim; House Officer – Patrick Golemo.

The Semester 1 academic results show an average Semester Average Mark (SAM) of 74.2%. On previous results the College’s SAMs continues an upward trend with Semester 1 SAMs being beaten year after year.

The College community congratulates the 2024 undergraduate Paulines on their hard work and commitment to their studies, as half the current students attained Distinctions or High Distinctions.

Our high achievers include Ben Varela (BE(Hons) II/BSc) with a SAM of 94.5 who commented: “I’m extremely fortunate, I study a degree I enjoy at one of the best universities in Australia with a caring family and fantastic friends to back me up. Even with this, it’s hard to imagine a greater fortune than living at St. Paul’s. Yes, I’ve been continually challenged by my residence and study, but it’s only been to my benefit. I’ve learnt how to use tools of self-development and how to hold a hopeful outlook toward the world, which I hope to share through my future career in biomedical engineering.”

Grace Merrilees (BSc I/MD) was our top performing fresher with a SAM of 94.25. Grace said: “I would say that my first year of study at university has had its ups and downs, and it took me a while to get my bearings. I have been fortunate to have had the support of like-minded intellectuals from the outset, particularly through St Paul’s’ incredible tutorial program. Being a part of a community that allows you to learn from senior students has been invaluable, and has pushed me to achieve my personal best. Furthermore, I am excited by my continuing studies in Anatomy, and later Medicine, and hope this will allow me to maintain academic momentum through upcoming semesters.”

The Graduate House community includes 15 research students and 29 Doctor of Medicine (MD) students progressing well. There are 35 coursework students with an impressive average SAM of 73.3%.

There were 360 tutorials completed in Semester 1 with the majority in Commerce, Engineering and Medicine. The tutorial programme continues to be one of the most important advantages of the student experience at St Paul’s and enjoys great support among all students particularly due to the contribution of our 3rd and 4th year undergraduates who are tutors and the postgraduate members of Graduate House who provide such value to the programme.  

Acting Senior Tutor Lucy Williams has thanked the tutors and her assistant senior tutors on their efforts so far. She said “Tutorials are a great setting for freshers to be guided through the new joys and frustrations of university life. As well as deepening their subject knowledge, College tutorials help first years adjust to the unique demands of tertiary study. It’s also an important opportunity for our seniors to gain valuable mentoring and critical thinking experience before entering the workforce.”

Our Assistant Senior Tutor – Medicine, Arnav Shetty has been overseeing the tutorial programme for our MD students in Graduate House. The programme provides weekly content and clinical tutorials run by the senior medical students for MD I and II.

Innovations in 2024 have included:

• clinical and anatomy tutorials alongside weekly content sessions;
• a full-length practice clinical exam, with physical examination, history taking, and results interpretation session, run for MD I to help prepare for this unique and novel form of assessment;
• GAMSAT specialist section tutorials from high-scoring medical students have been ongoing in anticipation of the September sitting, a system that will continue into the new year;
• a specialist radiology tutorial run by resident consultant radiologist Dr Rathan Subramaniam; and
• a joint formal dinner where GH medical students and medicine-keen undergraduates mingled and discussed the course content and tips for success.

Arnav congratulated the MD III students who recently completed their MD projects, he said “this is a 14-week research experience where students work on an individual research project and produce written work worthy of publication. Their research will be presented to Graduate House at a symposium later this year.” Arnav also acknowledged the MD IV students who have recently completed their last examinations for their degree. “They will be engaged in clinical and leadership workshops and placement in their specialty of choice for the remainder of the year” he said.

Students interested in medical school and want to have a chat about requirements, pathways, and pace of the course may contact Arnav at 045 2175360.

Old Paulines may be interested to learn about the Medical Alumni Scholarships that have been operating for the last 14 years. Click here if you want to learn more.