Alumni

On Wednesday the 4th March 2020 we held our first ever Alumni event. It was a momentous occasion and was wonderful to see so many smiling faces of former students as they reconnected with their primary school surroundings, peers and teachers from previous years. They also enjoyed reflecting on their primary school learning and how this has set them up for success in secondary school.

Thank you to the 300+ alumni who made the effort to attend and we look forward to our next event which will be held early in 2021!

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Congratulations to our Alumni for their Outstanding Achievements:

March 2020: Congratulations to Uvindee Wijesana

Uvindee is an avid cricket player and in February 2020, she represented Victoria in the Under 15 National Championships in Canberra. At the conclusion of the tournament, Victoria placed a very commendable 3rd (out of 8 teams). Individually Uvindee ranked 35th in batting and 16th in bowling out of 108 participants. Uvindee is another very proud GWPS alumni and we look forward to hearing how her cricketing career progresses.

SENIOR ALUMNI

Vishal Kapoor - Past Student

Grade 5 – 1986 2020

Years attended GWPS	1983-1987
Secondary school/s attended	Glen Waverley Secondary College

Study beyond secondary school	Deakin University Burwood Australia & New Zealand Insurance Institute & Finance
Current qualifications	Australia & New Zealand Insurance Institute & Finance (Fellow) Bachelor’s in Commerce (Insurance & Marketing) Diploma in Financial Services (Broking) Qualified Practicing Insurance Broking
Current work	McLardy McShane Kapoor - Director
Family	Wife (Shivani) & 1 son (Arjun)
Greatest achievement/s thus far	Professionally - Board member of 6 companies, Managing Director of McLardy McShane Kapoor Personally - small young happy family !!
Fondest memory of Primary School	Playing 4 square (now called handball) early mornings
Words of advice for current GWPS students	Keep your options open and sponge knowledge

Gihan Jayaweera - Past Student

2001 2020

Years attended GWPS	2001
Secondary school/s attended	Glen Waverley Secondary College

Study beyond secondary school	Medicine
Current qualifications	MBBS BMedSc(Hons) FRACGP
Current work	General Practitioner (GP) Founder of " The Health Ninja Licence"
Family	Makes everything worthwhile - Amazing wife, phenomenal son, inspirational parents and very close extended family.
Greatest achievement/s thus far	Marrying someone who makes me a better human being. Becoming a General Practitioner – my dream job! Spreading “The Health Ninja Licence”, a fun program designed to teach every Aussie primary school kid the skills they need to eliminate their risk of developing preventable diseases – both physical and mental.
Fondest memory of Primary School	I was known to be able to throw balls accurately. I used to stand my friends against a wall and throw the ball all around their body without hitting them. Once the principal at the time came out and asked me to either stop or throw the ball with HIM against the wall – I was tempted to proceed but I stopped. It was the right decision. I made some friends that to this very day, are some of my closest friends. Mrs Barnes was my teacher and always made us feel good about ourselves. A special shout out goes to those EPIC handball battles we had during recess and lunchtime. I also kicked a basketball into a window and broke it. I can’t quite remember what happened after this but it couldn’t have been good. The only thing I remember was freezing in fear because I was “the new kid” and now I had broken something.
Words of advice for current GWPS students	Prioritise your happiness and that of others. Have you ever heard of the saying “Treat others the way you want to be treated”? I find that most people are much kinder to others than themselves. I would challenge the above by saying “Treat yourself the way you treat others”. Think of your dreams and then multiply them by 10. If people don’t think your dreams are crazy, they are not big enough. Try to help as many people as you possibly can – what you say, what you do and what you create has immense power. Respect and love your parents or caregivers – there are only a handful of people that love you like they do. Respect and love your teachers – they are teaching you things today that you may be able to use tomorrow to make your life or the life of someone else, better. Don’t try to be better than other people, try to be better than yourself yesterday. It’s a much more enjoyable way to live life.

Introducing the world's first Virtual Health Ninja Challenge - Dr Gihan Jayaweera

Nethmi Jayakody - Past Student

2020

Years attended GWPS	Years 3 to 6
Secondary school/s attended	Glen Waverley Secondary College

Study beyond secondary school	Bachelors degree in Science at Monash University Masters in Public Health at University of Melbourne
Current qualifications	Currently studying Diploma of Human Resources
Current work	Workforce Development Coordinator at Travellers Aid
Family	Mother, father and sister (who also attended Glen Waverley Primary. Husband who attended Glen Waverley Secondary.
Greatest achievement/s thus far	Completion of my studies and being employed in a job that I absolutely enjoy and an organisation that makes a difference
Fondest memory of Primary School	My teacher Ms Mackey, friendships that have lasted a lifetime. I was fortunate enough to take friends from primary school to secondary school to university.
Words of advice for current GWPS students	Enjoy your youth and don't be afraid to try something new. Take advantage of every opportunity. Don't be scared to make mistakes, as you will be surprised at how much you learn from your failures.

Gunya Jayakody - Past Student

2002 2020

Years attended GWPS

2002

Secondary school/s attended

Glen Waverley Secondary College

Study beyond secondary school

Bachelor of Civil Engineering at Monash University/University of Melbourne

Current qualifications

Bachelor of Civil Engineering

Current work

Engineer/Estimator at Fulton Hogan

Family

Husband, 2 year old boy

Greatest achievement/s thus far

1. My family

2. Having a job that makes me think.

Fondest memory of Primary School

Mrs Barnes! I was the new kid and she was the bright part of my day. Mrs Barnes was known to go out of her way to help the kids and it shows because my husband and I still talk about her to this day.

Words of advice for current GWPS students

Listen to your parents.
Respect your parents.
Love your parents.

At the end of it all, they are going to be the one constant in your life. This was a piece of advice I got when I was a teenager and it’s true to this day.

Everything your teachers do is to make your life better so make their day a little brighter and do something nice for them.

Gabrielle Harrison (van den Bergen) - Past Student

Years attended GWPS	1977-1983
Secondary school/s attended	St Michael's Grammar Melbourne Rudolf Steiner School Shelford Girls' Grammar
Study beyond secondary school	Monash University University of California, Riverside RMIT University TAFE New South Wales University of South Australia
Current qualifications	Bachelor of Arts The Honours Degree of the Bachelor of Arts Postgraduate Diploma of Arts (Applied Social Research) Diploma of Frontline Management Advanced Diploma of Information Technology (Business Analysis) Graduate Diploma of Data Science (still slogging through the Masters) Certified Business Intelligence Professional Certified Data Management Professional Certified Data Vault Modeller Certified Data Governance Professional
Current work	Senior Analyst, Strategy, Planning and Performance in Chancellery at The University of Melbourne
Family	Paul (husband) and kids, Alex (GWPS class of 2014) and Aeryn (GWPS Class of 2020)
Greatest achievement/s thus far	Two great kids
Fondest memory of Primary School	Being allowed to have a lunch order from the tuckshop for my birthday each year.
Words of advice for current GWPS students	Enjoy the journey of your life. Everyone’s journey takes a different path and yours will intersect with many others over time and will never follow an exact route on the map of life.

Alumni

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