Jremy Roff, Steve Hoiles, Owen Finegan & John Boyd with MC Steve O'Donnell
From Development and Fundraising Manager, Rebecca Curran
Waverley College Sporting Greats
On Friday 5 May, the College welcomed old boys Owen Finegan (Class of 1989), John Boyd (Class of 1977), Jeremy Roff (Class of 2001) and Steve Hoiles (Class of 1999) to our inaugural Waverley College Sporting Greats event.
Hosted by Director of Co-curriculum, Steve O’Donnell, the event was an intimate one where many old boys from past decades had the opportunity to catch up and have a chat with old classmates. Jeremy, Owen, John and Steve regaled us with stories of their times at Waverley College and some great anecdotes of their lives as sportsmen.
John Boyd noted if he ever faced challenges while playing representative cricket, he always felt like he could contact Brother Murphy for guidance on how to overcome these. He felt that now, as an educator, he could provide the same experiences and guidance to students in their own lives at the College.
Owen Finegan reflected this sentiment by saying that Waverley had made him well-grounded and that he had felt that the teachers were great role models while he was a student. Owen also talked about the importance of the work he is currently undertaking as the CEO of the Kids’ Cancer Project and how it has grown from strength to strength each year since its inception. Last year they were able to invest $4.5m in 23 research projects across Australia and hope to build upon that this year.
Steve Hoiles talked about how some of his greatest memories of his rugby career were playing at Waverley with his mates at Queens Park – “those are the memories that stick with you.” He also said that the advice he would give to his 16 year old self would be to allow yourself to fail but learn quickly from those mistakes that led you there.
Jeremy Roff, who works at the College as a coach, spoke about the importance of supporting each other and ensuring that your mates are well mentally. He intimated that the School’s wellbeing model was a step in the right direction because now, more than ever, it is so important for young men to feel like they have support. Old boys, who were coached by Roff and attended the event said that, “when Roffy spoke to boys before a race, everyone listened because he was so inspiring.”
It was great to have these men talk to us, to see how Waverley had shaped their lives and also show that they are still very much a part of this community.
Thank you to everyone who came to the event and next year we hope to get more old boys and parents along as well.
Guests at Waverley Sporting Greats
Guests at Waverley Sporting Greats
STEM Careers Information Night: SCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY-ENGINEERING-MATHEMATICS
Who better than Old Boys of Waverley to inspire the next generation to aim for exciting and challenging careers and further education? A careers information night will be held in the Performing Arts Centre (PAC) on Tuesday 30 May from 6.00pm until 7.30pm. All students from Years 7-12 and their parents are invited to come along to hear from the following speakers, all past students:
- Richard Zhang (Class of 2010) – Richard completed undergraduate studies at UNSW, which was a concurrent Bachelor of Chemical Engineering with Master of Biomedical Engineering. He completed an Honours thesis and then a Masters thesis in the Conductive Polymers research group, which collaborated on the Bionic Eye Project to develop neuro-active surface coatings for implantable electrode technologies. Richard is currently PHD student in medical sciences at the University of NSW, focusing on Ophthalmology and Pathology.
- Chris Miletich (Class of 2010) – Chris is an Information Security Analyst for Westpac Group, having completed their graduate program. Chris completed a Bachelor of Information Technology from UTS in 2013.
- Tim Spies (Class of 1993) – Tim is the Director in Charge for Sydney for Norman Disney Young. He completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) and among some of his most notable projects are the Barangaroo development and the Fox Studios redevelopment.
- Bart Kratochvil (Class of 2013) – Bart is currently completing 4th year at UNSW – Bachelor of Actuarial Studies and has worked at World First in Corporate Foreign Exchange in FX Sales
If you would like to encourage your son to think about STEM as a potential career path or to help him find out more about his future options, then please register to attend: https://goo.gl/forms/N7xEHNZ9FmV9pPlp1
