The News sat down with Shepparton’s high school leadership cohort to hear from the future leaders in our region.
This week, we spoke to Greater Shepparton Secondary College’s college captains.
Neighbourhood 1
GSSC’s Neighbourhood 1 college captains for 2023 are Kady Paton and Fabian Mucollari.
Kady is currently undertaking full-time study and has a part-time job at Shepparton’s central KFC.
Her Year 12 timetable consists of largely STEM subjects, studying biology, psychology and general maths.
Next year she hopes to take a break from full-time study before completing higher education.
“I’m thinking of taking a gap year, to work mainly,” she said.
“Then, I want to complete a Bachelor of Science.”
Opening future doors and enhancing employability was at the front of Kady’s mind when it came to applying to be a captain.
“It’s an opportunity to open up scholarships, resumes and uni applications,” she said.
Fabian is remaining academia-focused while ensuring he enjoys other aspects of life.
“I just try and get as much study done as I can,” he said.
“I also go to the gym and practise the guitar.”
He has a soft spot for his four-month-old British shorthair cat, Jaskier.
Fabian is STEM-focused in his subject choice and hopes to pursue medicine after graduation.
A family legacy influenced Fabian’s decision to apply for a leadership role.
“I’ve wanted to do for a while,” he said.
“My older brother was school captain also.”
Since accepting the role of Neighbourhood 1 captains, Kady and Fabian have aimed to uplift the collective student voice.
“I want to use it to hear what the students need and implement those needs,” Kady said.
“And if we can’t do something, then explain why can’t we do it.”
“Most good ideas come from students, I want to be the voice for those students,” Fabian said.
Neighbourhood 2
GSSC’s Neighbourhood 2 college captains for 2023 are Luci Garner and Andrew Kenttala.
Luci is a former sports and music enthusiast, but has prioritised her year 12 studies, dropping her extracurriculars.
“I used to play netball and piano, but I’m focusing on Year 12 study,” she said.
Next year, she hopes to go on to higher education.
“I want to study criminology at uni, maybe Monash or Deakin,” she said.
She wants the community to appreciate GSSC as a school and as a respectable place to study.
“I want to make a positive impact on the school,” she said.
“But I know that GSSC is under-appreciated in Shepparton and I want to show the community that we are here and we are a good school.”
Andrew has a passion for volleyball, playing each weekend.
“I play volleyball on Sundays with a group of friends, it’s a club thing,” he said.
He also enjoys playing video games and watching YouTube.
His Year 12 subjects include software development and Japanese.
Next year he hopes to pursue his love of computing by starting a Bachelor of Computer Science at university.
Throughout his captaincy, Andrew will aim to make change for the student body.
“I want to make sure I can see what’s going on and make meaningful change,” he said.
“I also want other students to know what we’re doing.”
Neighbourhood 3
GSSC’s Neighbourhood 3 college captains for 2023 are Lara Trevaskis and Jaiden Heinzmann.
Lara works in a managerial role at Shepparton’s Village Cinema, and enjoys going to the gym and reading.
She is completing four VCE subjects at GSSC but is also taking an anatomy class at La Trobe.
Next year, she hopes to study medicine, to eventually specialise in neuroscience.
Lara had hoped to be a school captain for over 10 years.
“Being school captain has been a dream since I was five,” she said.
She hopes to better her public speaking skills by pushing herself throughout her captaincy.
“I’m terrified of it [public speaking],” she said.
“I’ve had to do it a lot this year, so I’m getting better at it.”
Jaiden works at Woolworths in Shepparton and enjoys playing video games and music in his free time, but his real passion is coding.
“I really enjoy coding and I want to do it after school,” he said.
He hopes to pursue this passion by completing a Bachelor of Software Engineering at RMIT.
Jaiden had hoped to be college captain since early high school.
“I’ve wanted to be one [school captain] since Year 7,” he said.
“I was a primary school captain, I like the role-modelling part.”
He aims to continue leading by example throughout his school captain reign.
“I want to continue to be the role model, by being who I am,” he said.
“I hope to be someone younger students can follow.“