Alumni

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Congratulations to our Alumni for their Outstanding Achievements:

August 2024: Alex-Joowon Lee - Hume House Captain, Class of 2018!

We are proud to celebrate the achievements of 2018 graduate and former Hume House Captain, Alex-Joowon Lee, who recently made his debut with Melbourne Victory in the A-League. Alex showcased his talent on the big stage during the Australia Cup, scoring his first goal just three weeks ago. A product of the Victory Academy, Alex's journey from school house captain to professional footballer is an inspiring testament to his hard work and dedication. Congratulations, Alex! Your school community is cheering you on every step of the way.

https://aleagues.com.au/news/melbourne-victory-wellington-phoenix-australia-cup-reaction-goals-highlights-alex-lee-kelly-healda-league-news/

https://melbournevictory.com.au/news/alex-lee-from-the-victory-academy-to-scoring-in-the-australia-cup/

July 2024: Congratulations to Esme Ho. Over the holidays on July 24, Esme competed at the national championships in Perth, where she achieved an outstanding first place in the Under 17s table tennis team event. This remarkable achievement has earned her the honor of representing Australia in the Under 15s Oceania competition in September.

This will also mark Esme’s third time representing Australia, as she heads to Darwin in October to compete in the World Table Tennis Youth Contender event.

December 2021: Congratulations to Vignesha Vishwanathan who is one of the winners of Takeover Melbourne. She's learned about 38 national anthems so far and loves exploring what they teach us about a nation's history. ABC Corp made an audio segment on Vigensha's 'story' which was aired on ABC Radio.

You can listen to her story here.

May 2021: Congratulations to Uvindee Wijesana for another fantastic cricket season (2020/2021).

She was selected for the Under 16 Victorian team in the 2020/2021 season. Unfortunately with Covid Outbreak, they were not allowed to go to NSW. However the girls had a chance to play a couple of inter state games for the season.

Uvindee and her team were lucky to win 3 premierships for their Local Club, Innersouth East region and Victorian Premiership for Dandenong Cricket Club.

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

Megha - Past Student

2004 2020

Years attended GWPS	2004 - 2010 (Prep to Year 6)
Secondary school/s attended	Brentwood Secondary College MacRobertson’s Girls High School Franconian International School, Erlangen (Germany) Markgraf-Georg-Friedrich Realschule, Heilsbronn (Germany) Lothar-von-Faber Fachoberschule, Nürnberg (Germany)
Study beyond secondary school	Technische Hochschule Georg-Simon-Ohm Nürnberg
Current qualifications	Media Engineering Student Founding member of Diversity Media e.V
Current work	Journalist (podcast) Mental Health Activist Student
Family	Mum, Dad, Angel (dog) and older sister (also alumnus 2007, now completing her PhD in immunology at Harvard University, Boston)
Greatest achievement/s thus far	Moving to Germany Graduating high school at fluent German mother-tongue level Founding an organization that works to make the German media more diverse Hosting a discussion panel at a vernissage of an exhibition i helped create Achieving everything with chronic illness and the setbacks that came with it
Fondest memory of Primary School	There are so many to choose from… I would say my favourite teacher Mrs Tomecek, whom without I would not be where i am today School Concerts (2010 being the best, with live bands for the first time) Being Junior School Council in Year 2 and one of the first art captains ever.
Words of advice for current GWPS students	Life is more than just striving for the best, make sure to make time to take care of yourself and do the things you enjoy. It’s okay to ask for help. You are not alone.

Alisha - Past Student

Years attended GWPS	2004-2010 (Prep to Year 6)
Secondary school/s attended	Glen Waverley Secondary College

Study beyond secondary school	Monash University
Current qualifications	Bachelor of Software Engineering (Hons.) and Bachelor of Commerce (majoring in Management Studies) at Monash University
Current work	Software Developer at NAB
Family	Mum, dad, brother (also an alumnus)
Greatest achievement/s thus far	Graduating university with a double bachelors while having worked almost full time as a software developer for the second half of the degree
Fondest memory of Primary School	2008 as a whole – that was the year I had Mrs Tomecek as my year four teacher. To this day, she is the best teacher I have ever had!
Words of advice for current GWPS students	Try new things, and try to learn as much as possible about as many things as possible. Cherish your friends and family, and show them respect and care.

Vignesha - Past Student

Years attended GWPS	2012 - 2016
Secondary school/s attended	Mac.Robertson Girls' High School

Study beyond secondary school	N/A
Current qualifications	Student
Current work	N/A
Family	Mum and Dad
Greatest achievement/s thus far	Writing a book. Title is 'The World Beneath The Fine Print & other stories'. In story-form, seeks to remove the fear of mathematics from young minds and makes it more intriguing & interesting through the personification of numbers (and languages). They are given character and attributes and come alive in a fantasy world.
Fondest memory of Primary School	Year 3 sleepover! It was exciting being away from home for the first time ever!
Words of advice for current GWPS students	Study hard and believe in yourself!

Here is an example of Vignesha sharing her talents and making an impact on the wider community in the ABCs - Behind The News.

https://www.abc.net.au/btn/classroom/vigneshas-national-anthems/13849326

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.

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.

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