Our community came together to also take in a diversity of talents presented by our current students, from dressmaking and design, visual art, and photography, music and performance to leadership.
On entry into the theatre, guests were met with an outstanding display of student art, exhibiting works from Year 7 through to VCE. Our textiles students wowed the audience with their creations on the catwalk, with many surprised to learn that the students had created the garments themselves.
Some incredible music performances were showcased, commencing with the Emmanuel College Concert Band’s rendition of 80’s glam rock anthem - The Final Countdown. Midway through the show, sisters Chloe and Elyssa Mutton, performed an enchanting version of A Great Big World’s ‘Say Something’, and the finale saw an encore performance by our cast of Frozen JR, singing crowd favourites ‘Hygge’ and ‘Let it Go’.
Our 2023 Emmanuel College Captains
Our catwalk exhibited student generated fashion
Showcase of Year 7 portraits that were part of the Evening of Inspiration's exhibtion of student art
The Emmanuel College Concert Band opens the evening with the Final Countdown
Inspiring Alumni, Eleanor Britton supported by her classmates
Inspiring Alumni Prof. Anna Ryan making her acceptance address
Inspiring Alumni, Fr Kevin Lenehan with family
Sister Chloe and Elyssa Mutton performing 'Say Something'.
Young Alumni Achiever, Jonathon Gleeson with family
Young Alumni Achiever, Rachael Houlihan
Year 11 student, Estelle Evans shares her refelction on the Red Earth Immersion
Inspiring Alumni, Andrea Beks giving her acceptance address
Inspiring Alumni, Brigid Delaney (right) with classmates
Inspiring Alumni, Eric Howard giving his acceptance address
The cast of Frozen JR
At the event Principal, Peter Morgan reflected on how social media has changed the meaning of what it is to be an influencer. Now seen as someone who builds followers to promote cultural, commercial or fashion trends to ultimately sell a product or service, Mr Morgan believed it was important to remember its true meaning, and why events like the Evening of Inspiration were a great way to hold up an altogether different type of influencer.
Through the stories of our Inspiring Alumni, we learned of the many different ways that following your passion can shape society, and improve the lives of others. The stories of 2023’s inductees: Prof. Anna Ryan, Fr. Kevin Lenehan, Eleanor Britton, Andrea Vallance, Eric Howard AM, and Brigid Delaney highlighted how challenges can become opportunities, and how achievement comes with a lot of support from those around us - where they recognised their families, friends, colleagues, and a long list of their teachers from their days at school.
Through our Young Alumni Achievers we again learned of a broad diversity of talents – all borne during their formative years at secondary school. This year we recognised Rachael Houlihan, Jonathan Gleeson, Brody Couch, Alex McLaren, Nicole Gleeson and Isaac Jones. The details of their stories can be found over the page.
Finally through our current students, we also take great inspiration in their budding talents and learnings. A beautifully told reflection of Emmanuel’s Red Earth Immersion by Year 11 student Estelle Evans captured how connection can come through the simplest gesture. Further details of Estelle’s presentation can be found on page 11.
We thank and congratulate all that were recognised, as they allow us to inspire present and future generations of Emmanuel students. Individually and collectively, they affirm that an Emmanuel education enables individuals to excel in whichever pathway they choose.
A familiar name to many at Emmanuel, Maths and Humanities teacher Isaac Jones, has established himself within his first few years teaching, already being selected for the Country Dioceses Leadership Program (CDLP).
Isaac believes that any strength in his teaching stems from the fact that learning maths didn’t come naturally to him at school. He instead highlights how he enjoyed the process of learning it, a skill which is a much better tool for teaching others who find it difficult.
Prior to starting at Emmanuel College, Isaac had long been known for his success in competitive swimming. Winning medals and setting records from the age of 10, swimming led Isaac to compete on a global level and a full scholarship at the University of Kentucky. His highlights include representing Australia in the 2013 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in Dubai; becoming the 400m Freestyle Champion at the 2014 Australian Titles; and his performance at the 2018 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships in Minneapolis.
Alex is a creative and an animator, who is now sought-after for work producing music videos.
Working with bands the likes of The Murlocs, GUM and Bananagun, Alex crafts animations to create music videos through the pain-staking art of stop motion.
Alex holds a Bachelor of Photography, however started making and selling videos when he was still at school. Experimenting with video in these early days, Alex would capture footage of his mates skateboarding and publish it for sale on DVD. He soon moved into making music videos for mates’ bands, and from there his reputation and style has grown. Within the industry, he now has a global reach with his work being viewed by millions worldwide.
The resulting artwork, in some cases, has gone on to pique the interest of art collectors, who have sought out and purchased individual stop motion frames.
While he continues to catch the attention of bands locally and abroad, Alex highlights his favourite projects as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard video O.N.E., and White Fence’s video Forever Chained.
Nicole is a nurse who, straight out of university, landed her dream job at the Royal Children’s Hospital, in Melbourne. Moving between clinical roles on the wards and in emergency, to leadership, Nicole has established herself as a specialist in paediatric nursing and is now often seconded to train student nurses and to travel to regional hospitals to upskill their paediatric teams.
After seeing the contrast in outcomes that the delivery of timely first aid can have on young patients, Nicole decided to make First Aid education more accessible. Now in its 5th year, Nicole’s business ‘Rhythm First Aid’ delivers modern first aid training to schools, businesses, and families across the State, and has forged an incredible social media following due to her practical and reassuring advice. This reputation now attracts invitations to further advise the public through programs such as Sunrise and the Today Show.
Nicole was also responsible for a remarkable delivery of items for infants to the flood affected Northern Rivers area in 2022. By putting a call out for donations, Nicole was inundated with donations and quickly inspired collection points across the State.
Brody Couch is a cricketer, perhaps now best known as a fast bowler with the Australian Big Bash League’s Melbourne Stars.
Recruited by Cricket Victoria at age 20, Brody made his List-A debut in the 2020-21 Marsh One-Day Cup season against Tasmania, where he impressively recorded one of the lowest bowling averages for the game. The following year he made his first-class debut in the 2021-22 Sheffield Shield season at the SCG, which he identifies as one of the highlights of his career to date.
That same year, Brody was recruited by the Melbourne Stars, where he not only debuted in the national T20 league’s 11th season, but played all 14 games, and finished the season as the Star’s leading wicket taker. This outstanding performance also secured him the title of BBL Rookie of the Year.
Brody is currently overseas playing cricket in a new T20 league starting up in the USA. Playing for the San Francisco Unicorns, Brody will be captained by Aaron Finch, and play alongside fellow Melbourne Stars teammate Marcus Stoinis.
Jonathon is a dairy farmer, whose goal-oriented approach to life now sees him the owner of his own farm and 250-strong dairy herd that has been recognised in the top 10 in Australia.
Growing up on a dairy farm at Koroit, he had always aspired to have a farm of his own one day. His family encouraged him to expand his horizons, but most of all instilled in him a drive to be self-made. Jonathon set about not only building his knowledge and skills in dairy farming, but also in having a solid financial plan, based in property investment and following opportunities where they arose.
The purchase of his first house at the age of 21, built him a string of property and herd investments, that led to the purchase of his first farm by the age of 29, and ultimately his farm at Illowa today.
Jonathon’s passion for dairy farming continues to see his herd improve, and has recently had his first bull accepted into an AI breeding program.
Rachael is currently the Deputy Editor for the Warrnambool Standard – the youngest in the media outlet’s history. In addition to leading the news team, she is often pulled to other regional papers across the country to fill in for Editors when absences occur.
Throughout her career as a journalist, Rachael has enjoyed being a voice for the South West. A particular highlight was the work she did putting pressure on the State Government for funding for what is now the Merri River School.
In 2019 Rachael was awarded the Walkley Foundation’s inaugural William Buckland Foundation Fellowship from The Age. The Fellowship provided Rachael with many insights and opportunities by working in The Age’s newsroom in Melbourne, learnings that she eagerly shared with her team at The Standard on her return.
More recently, Rachael was invited to be a judge for the 2022 Victorian Australian of the Year. On this panel she worked alongside some impressive people, however walked away most inspired by the nominees’ stories of service.
Written by Year 11 Student Estelle Evans
“Day one was a day of getting to know each other and meeting our awesome Red Earth facilitators. We went on a guided walk around Uluru with Mutijulu elder, Alice. She told stories of the rock and the land in her language Pitjantjatjara. We woke up excitedly to the howling of dingos and donkeys!
We headed through to our first homeland Kaljiti (Fregon). Our time at Kaljiti was incredible! The first night was chaotic but so much fun, with lots of new faces and names to learn. We got to know the elders, kids, and other adults from the community. We performed Inma (traditional dance). Inma involved being painted and then telling stories through dance. . . The girls spent time weaving and soldering designs on clapsticks with Rachel, while the boys made spears with the help of Maxi and Mr Roberts.
At Kenmore Park we set up camp and journaled while taking in the sunset...we woke up with good attitudes towards starting our community projects - a BBQ and a wind break. We participated in a painting workshop with the Fraser family and continued the projects, and we were surprised with a visit from Donald Fraser, an inspiring individual who played a huge role in establishing the APY lands. His audience grew as people dropped what they were doing and came to listen to him as he told mind blowing stories of his life, some happy and some sad.
That night while still processing our chat with Donald we had our first much needed showers at the Kenmore Park school. The next day we were feeling fresh and ready to go out onto country with community members, we were amazed at what the three Fraser sisters knew about the land and the day flew by as we dug for and ate witchetty grubs and cooked kangaroo tail.
In the afternoon the rain clouds came rolling in so we rushed back to camp and packed up to move into the Kenmore Park school hall for shelter. We slept in the hall after saying another emotional goodbye to the Fraser family that night. In the morning we packed up before the kids arrived at school and we hit the wet dirt roads back to Yulara.
We were lucky enough to see the rain on Uluru, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that left us all feeling very appreciative. We arrived at the Yulara airport in our savoured clean clothes, not suspecting that we would be there for 7 hours due to our flight being cancelled due to the rain. Although this experience did teach us that every cloud has a silver lining when we ended up sleeping in the conference room of the five-star resort Sails in the Desert, showers and a buffet brekkie were much appreciated.
While there were many highlights from the experience, I think everyone agreed that some of the best memories were the small moments when everyone was sitting around the fire having a yarn with the Aboriginal elders, playing with the kids, sharing stories and singing around the fire at night and watching the amazing sunsets together on Mount West Bore.”
The young cricket sensation not only donned the Australian colours in the ICC Women’s Under-19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa but also marked her debut for Cricket Victoria as an impressive fast-bowler. Now, Milly will pursue a career with her first maiden state contract with Cricket Victoria.
In the World Cup, Milly garnered attention with her stellar performance, earning the Player of the Match award for her crucial 2-wicket haul against India. Her debut for Cricket Victoria was equally electrifying, as she showcased her prowess by taking four wickets in a match against WA.
Milly humbly reflected on the honour of representing her country, stating, “It still hasn’t sunk in yet. It was so surreal.”
Game days during the World Cup held a special significance for Milly and her teammates. She described their routine: “We’d get to the ground maybe two and a half hours beforehand. . . play for three hours. Then we’d go back, have recovery ice baths. . . and also talk about the game and then we have team dinners.” Even with the intensity of a global sporting event, Milly highlighted the cheerful camaraderie amongst the players.
Milly’s accomplishments continue to extend beyond international cricket. Her debut for Cricket Victoria held a unique significance. She confessed, “I’d probably say that was almost better than the Australian debut because it’s a really prestigious sort of competition.”
Now Milly’s dream to play professionally after school has come to fruition, with Milly accepting her maiden contract with Cricket Victoria for the upcoming 2023-2024 Women’s National Cricket League season.
“I was so excited to start (with Cricket Victoria), but I was pretty nervous because there were girls who I look up to like Ellyse Perry and Meg Lanning, who play for Australia who I’d be training and playing alongside was a bit of a surreal realisation.”
Looking forward, Milly’s aspirations remain high. She envisions a future where cricket becomes her full-time profession.
The Emmanuel College community watches on in admiration as Milly embarks on her next steps in her cricket journey.
It is inspiring to see how times have changed, with female athletes like Milly exemplifying the growing opportunities for women in sport.
