Parramatta school leaders share their hopes for 2024

School’s back for another year and Sydney’s brightest, creative and talented students are leading the way to motivate their peers as captains.

Leaders from year 6 and 12 across the city’s public and private schools have shared what they are looking forward to most in the new year, and what they hope to achieve as school leaders.

From Penrith to the Northern Beaches, meet our young and upcoming leaders for 2024.

Parramatta District

Delany College, Granville

Keziah Gyan and Vanesha Koroma.

Keziah Gyan

As this is my final year of high school I want to invest time in giving back to the various communities that have raised me into the young woman I am today – especially the Delany community.

For six years the school has provided me with comfort, resources and love in times when I felt little to no value and now I plan on giving back by spending more of my time focused on bettering myself first and our leadership team (year 12 cohort included) to build bonds and memories that will last and resonate with our junior students.

I’m 17 and my favourite subjects are PDHPE and studies of religion.

I ran for school captain after being influenced by the 2019 school captain. I remember my little year 7 self dreaming of being just like her.

Still, as I grew I came to realise that leadership is part of me naturally, and it was something I wanted to use to influence others, create change, speak for others and hopefully inspire others the way I was inspired.

So after being elected I’m filled with joy daily and carry so much pride in my role, I serve and love seeps in all my actions, and most importantly, I hope and strive to be better always.

I hope to achieve my long-anticipated ATAR goal. As a person who thrives on being an academic juggernaut and lives for academic validation, I want to set myself up for success so I have created an elaborate plan on prioritising and optimising my studies above most other things, but still reminding to keep a healthy social lifestyle as well.

My proudest achievement is how far I have come. I came from a family who struggled to find meals, being an anti-social girl who spoke little to no English and struggled in school but now, I’ve found myself.

I have come to terms with who I am, built connections with people and succeeded in my academic world and most of all, making my family proud, the pride, joy and smiles I bring to their faces with my hard work, determination and dedication is by far my greatest and proudest achievement.

I have always wanted to work in medicine and health, ever since I was young and something I have stuck to, the little girl who would cut up her dolls and stitch them up all in the name of surgery has now grown to love being a nursing student.

After high school, I plan to further this dream by studying more to specialise in women’s health specifically, the reproductive and fertility realm, to help women experience the joys of motherhood.

Vanesha Koroma

This year, I am looking forward to reaching a level of contentedness to where I feel no need to please anyone or anything, but myself and God.

Feeling content in my 90+ ATAR, feeling content in my holistic wellbeing and content in my ability to live as 100 per cent authentic Vanesha.

I am 16 and my favourite subjects are biology and advanced English.

I ran for school captain to initiate a confidence web, to show the rest of my juniors (and my peers), that it doesn’t matter where or how you start, but how you take charge of the journey, and bring others with you forward.

To be actually chosen feels unreal (and a little pressuring) but all the more rewarding in the sense that I can work with the best of the best, to make the best of the best.

This year I hope to achieve a new-found level of independence in my academic and personal life. To get that email saying 90+ ATAR and the ability to say “Nah, I got this!”

When I grow up, I would like to be a registered nurse and midwife, then further my studies become an OBGYN. The ultimate goal, however, would be to reach a spiritual high and financial comfort to completely provide for my family.

My hope is for the world to know Jesus The Christ is King, to contribute to a generation that leads their country in spirit and in truth.

Holy Family Primary East Granville

Holy Family Primary School East Granville year 6 students share leadership.

Holy Family Primary School does not select school leaders but “sees all year 6 having the potential to be the school leaders”. They include Cataleya Gibuma, Emelia Lum, Michael Commodore, Jarred Lhenard B. Sy, Augustine Ziheng Hoang and Izabella Rose Khouri.

Sacred Heart Primary School, Westmead

Annabelle Awkar and Ayushmaan Chopra.

Annabelle Awkar

I am 11 years old and my favourite subject is English.

I’m excited about receiving our year 6 shirts.

It feels great and honoured to be elected as sport Captain. Many of my relatives were also sport captains so I feel really proud.

I’ve been playing tennis from the age of five and this year I hope to make it to the national development squad by Tennis Australia.

I am really proud to represent Sacred Heart at Catholic Schools Tennis over the past three years and made it to the Mackillop team last year. This year I am hoping to get as far as the Bruce Cup team.

I want to be a professional tennis player who works hard and becomes a good role model for others. My big hope and dream is to win a grand slam!

Ayushmaan Chopra

I am 10 years old and my favourite subject is the creative arts.

I’m looking forward to school camp this year.

I enjoy organising, leading and presenting at school assemblies which increases my confidence.

I hope to improve in all of my areas of study by working hard.

My proudest achievement is when I made a 3D clay sculpture and used that to create an animation using iMotion.

I aim to refine my art skills and become an inspiring artist.

I hope to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree at university and become an inspiring artist.

St Paul’s Catholic College, Greystanes

Anthony Alam and Andrew Saab.

Anthony Alam – captain

I am 17 and my favourite subject is legal studies.

This year, I’m looking forward to graduating, but more importantly all the events that will occur between now and then, and all the moments that I’ll share with my mates that I’ll look back on as memories one day.

In life, I look forward to seeing how far I will develop as an individual, with that including growing stronger in faith and closer to God.

I ran for school captain because I understood what it meant to take a role of that responsibility and it was something that I felt like would challenge me to help achieve my goals of being the best person I can be.

I also felt like it was the perfect opportunity for me to be able to give back to the community that has helped to shape me as a man for when I leave school.

This year, I hope to be able to achieve and set a high standard for myself in my studies, by trying to maintain the highest level of dedication and motivation in order to achieve the best, while also aiming to win the league for my soccer team and grow closer to God, and also getting to know more about my faith in that year span as well.

My proudest achievement at school is definitely getting school captain and dux in the same year, but outside of school achievements, my proudest moments are definitely the times when I was able to make my parents proud as it made me feel like I am able to give something back to show for all my parents.

After I finish high school, I plan on going to university and studying to become a lawyer. Being a lawyer is something that I feel like I have wanted to do in the past year, and it is something that I actually enjoy learning at school and is one of the career options that I actually look forward to pursuing in the future.

My big hopes for the future include being able to give back to all the communities which have given so much to me, including school, family and all my friends, but most importantly my big hopes are definitely to just try and be the best person possible and be the closest I can to my faith and God.

Andrew Saab – vice-captain

I am a 17-year-old year 12 student at St Paul’s Catholic College and my favourite subject is 2-unit studies of religion.

I ran for leadership to give back to my community. From year 7, this college has generously provided me with great opportunities which have allowed me to enhance my Catholic faith and guide me into becoming a young man of St Paul.

As a leader in the college leadership team, I hope we can work together to lead the college the best way we can as well as providing for our Greystanes community.

My proudest achievement is the strong support networks I have around me. I am proud and very grateful for the friends I have made across my high school journey as we push each other academically and socially to become the best versions of ourselves. I am proud of my closeness to my faith and God as I am blessed to have gathered people around me who want to see me excel.

When I finish my year 12 studies, I hope to attend university and study to become a heart surgeon. This is a recent ambition of mine as I am interested in the health department and encouraged to help others.

I am looking forward to spreading the college motto of “Many gifts. One community” to be a role model for younger years believe in themselves as they continue growing.

Cerdon College Merrylands

Sarah Oldridge.

Sarah Oldridge – school captain

I ran for school captain in order to be a role model for the younger students at my school and will strive to further strengthen the sense of community within Cerdon College.

As college captain, my goal is to continue to create a positive impact on the lifestyle and wellbeing of students at Cerdon.

My subjects include Italian, mathematics, chemistry and biology. After school, I plan to enrol in a Bachelor of Medical Sciences at The University of Sydney with a major in neuroscience. My end goal is to use medical science to help others.

Parramatta Marist High School

Jean-Paul Boutros and Joseph Baini.

Jean-Paul Boutros – school captain

I am 17 years old and I am a proud student at Parramatta Marist High School, using faith, confidence and resilience to approach school with a positive attitude.

In year 12, I am studying advanced English, maths Extension 2, biology and physics. My passion for maths and religion has been exemplified by successfully completing the HSC for three units of maths and one unit of SOR in year 11 through our school’s accelerated program, obtaining outstanding results.

One of the reasons I applied for school captain was to take students along a journey of ambition and resilience, and I am humbled by the fact that students from all year groups already felt comfortable to reach out, seek guidance and find hope through faith.

This was pivotal in upholding the responsibility of school captain, becoming a vessel for transparency and openness, both within my grade and the broader school community.

Post-high school studies, I have a few career options I’m interested in pursuing. These include engineering, either aeronautic or biomedical, actuary studies or even entering the medical field for research and/or specialisation.

These ideas, each unique in their own way, will allow me to showcase my leadership style while extending my passion for maths and sciences.

Joseph Baini – vice-captain

I am 17 years old and my favourite subject is science, in particular biology and chemistry.

I have been awarded this amazing opportunity to be the vice-captain of Parramatta Marist, a role which I am very grateful and excited to have as it will allow me to work alongside Jean-Paul, the school captain, to give back to the community that we have gained so much from.

Through the leadership opportunities I have been exposed to in the past, I have found great joy in seeing others achieve through my guidance, this is one of the reasons why I chose to run for captaincy.

My aim in this captaincy is to be able to work with and inspire my peers as part of a community and to lead and work for the betterment of others, supporting each other at all times to achieve our best.

Moreover, I hope that in my time as a leader, I can strengthen our community in and out of the school by inspiring actions of unity and collaboration towards the common good.

As such, I aspire to leave a legacy behind at Parramatta Marist that encourages future students to strive towards excellence for both themselves and others.

Whether it be through something as small as a hello on the street or as big as a community-wide initiative, I am hopeful my guidance can inspire actions to continue to improve this community.

While the year ahead will be an extremely busy one, being a student working towards sitting the HSC, it at times will be daunting but I look forward to the opportunities ahead.

I hope to enter a degree in the field of medicine where I can continue to help others through my work.

Our Lady Queen Of Peace, Greystanes

OLQP Greystanes school captains Lucas Simonovski and Madeline Moses.

Lucas Simonovski

I’m 11 years old and my favourite subject is writing because of my wide imagination to write narratives and my strong persuasion.

I look forward to leading as school captain, working with the team of leaders and teachers, as well as working alongside the principal, Mrs Crampton.

I look forward to the new challenges of learning in year 6 and watching the buildings of our new school grow.

I ran for school captain because I knew I would have a good chance of being elected. I had many people tell me to go for it as well.

I knew I had the capability of going for the role with my many qualities and personality, one being a good and respectful person. I felt so relieved and amazed the day I got elected as school captain.

I hope to achieve good grades at school and to pursue my goals of leading the school as school captain, guiding and helping students and helping teachers.

I hope to help the new kindergarten students feel welcome as their role model. At home, I hope to be a good son to my mum and dad but also a good brother.

My proudest achievement so far was being elected school captain and being a part of the debating team in that same year.

I wish to pursue a future in further studying at university but I’m not sure about the career I would like just yet. I wish to grow older and have a family and kids. My goals are to be successful and have a good job that will help provide for my family.

Madeline Moses

I am 11 years old and my favourite subject is mathematics because it stimulates my brain. The reason I enjoy mathematics so much is because my teacher makes it very enjoyable for me and I always have a new goal to achieve.

This year I am looking forward to interacting with new classmates and I am also looking forward to being the school captain of 2024, because I get to set an example to others and be a great role model.

I ran for school captain because I believe that I am very responsible and I am always up for a challenge.

I am a committed person and very dedicated to school, so when I got elected to be school captain I knew I was capable of the responsibilities that come with the role.

I hope to be a great leader of the school and lead the school with responsibility and care. I also hope to be a role model for others and set the right example.

My proudest achievement is becoming school captain, having the opportunity to go to this wonderful school and having many amazing friends. I was also proud to be a member of the OLQP debating team.

When I grow up I want to become a teacher because I believe I have the ability to one day teach a class and I hope to successfully pass university.

Some of my hopes for the future are to have a great experience in high school and I hope to have a good education and fulfil my potential.