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Alumni Magazine

“Excellentia Academica Persequenda”

Edition 1, December 2013

All the news on past students, find out where they are

now and what tkis meant to them

The Kilmore

International School

Australia

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Dear Alumni,

Firstly, welcome to the very first edition of The Kilmore International School Alumni Magazine.

Welcome to a place that brings together news from former students, and keeps a link between you and TKIS.

This is an e-magazine that we would like to (hopefully) produce twice a year, and we need your help to do so!

We hope to be able to include stories of what you’ve been up to, what you studied, where has your career taken you, your

travels and tales of your life after leaving the IB far behind.

In this, our very first edition, we have stories from graduates ranging from 1995 all the way up to several years ago in

2011.

Most importantly for these alumni magazine’s is we need your input. Drop us email, give us a call, post on our Facebook

wall or even come back and visit us in sunny (for once!) Kilmore for a cuppa. We would be delighted to see you.

All the details to write to us are included on the back page of the magazine.

Got suggestions for improvement? Let us know.

We would like to form a bond with our Alumni, with all of you that passed through these hallowed halls. Alumni can

become involved in the TKIS community in a number of ways. Perhaps you’d like to come and speak to our Year 12s? Show

them that there is light at the end of the dark IB tunnel? Perhaps, like several of our alumni, you may end up here in a

professional capacity.

There is a short survey on the back page of this e-magazine, to help you be featured in our very next edition.

We’ll even attach one alongside, just for your convenience.

An alumni magazine is a great way to stay in touch and reconnect with people you have lost touch with. Whatever your

interest in the school might be, let us know.

We’re looking forward to hearing your stories, and sharing our own.

If you change your email addresses at all, be sure to update your details with us to be kept in the loop:

webmaster@kilmore.vic.edu.au

Sincerely,

TKIS Media & Communications, International Programs

welcome

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1995

Name: Denny Setiawn

Homeland: Bandung, Indonesia

Current location: Switzerland

Where is he now: Denny is currently undertaking a

Post-Graduate Diploma at Les Roches School of

International Hotel Management. Even after leaving

school, he still believes his BEST time in Australia was at

TKIS. He too has some inspiring words for our current

students: “Just have fun and relax ‘bout the IB... U guys

can do ur best...i just know it!!!” Unfortunately, we were

unable to find a photo of Denny from his school days -

but hopefully in our next edition we may have

unearthed some of the older pictures from the archives!

Highlights of 1995

The Principal’s Award for Overall

Excellence was awarded to Kathryne

Trewick

President of the Student Representative

Council (SRC) in ‘95 was also Kathryne

Trewick

The Dux Prize was jointly awarded to

Thomas Neal and Rohan Murray

1995 was also the 5th birthday of TKIS

The No.1 Box Office Film was Toy Story

Number 1 on the 1995 ARIA charts was

Coolio with Gangsta’s Paradise

Windows ‘95 was released by Microsoft

The DVD was invented

After a six year break, the highest grossing

James Bond 007 movie premieres Golden

Eye starring Pierce Brosnan.

Aussie film Babe was released in cinemas

grossing $36,776,544 at the Australian Box

Office

Wimbledon Singles’ champions were Pete

Sampras and Steffi Graf

Dolly the cloned sheep was born on July 5th

Starbucks released their

Frappuccino

The No. 1 album was Alannis

Morissette’s Jagged Little

Pill with hits like You

Oughta Know, Hand in

my Pocket and Ironic.

No school picture

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1997

Name: Bacharudin Effendi Sutrasno (Hari)

Homeland: Jakarta, Indonesia

Current city: Jakarta, Indonesia

Where is he now: In 2002 Hari graduated from Civil Engineering at RMIT University Melbourne, before gaining his Masters of Project Management also from RMIT in 2004. From 2005-2010 Hari worked in Project Management and as a Financing Specialist in several Multilateral Development Banks including IDB and IFC - World Bank Group. Since 2010 he has been Director of Property Development Firm BGM Holding Limited in Jakarta, where he lives with his wife and three children (all pictured). The best thing Hari remembers about life in Kilmore was “I felt as part of big family of teachers and friends from different countries.” To students studying at TKIS today Hari has four simple words of advice: No Pain No Gain.

Hari even met up with our General Manager of International Programs, Ms Wendy Khoo in October . They met for dinner in Jakarta, where Wendy was travelling on business (pictured).

Highlights of 1997

The Principal’s award for overall excellence, and

the Dux award went to Hui-Chin Hsu (Regine)

The graduation was held at The Kilmore

Memorial Hall and was decorated with blue and

silver horse shoes to wish graduands good luck!

During the Night of the Stars talent night all staff

dressed up and performed Riverdance

The number one song on the 1997 ARIA charts

was Candle in the Wind ’97 by Elton John

followed by Aqua’s Barbie Girl.

In 1997, students were from Australia, Taiwan,

China, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong,

Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and Britain.

Year 12’s went to camp on Kangaroo

Island, where the photo above was

taken. Can you identify the

students pictured with

Ms Tripp? Let us know!

Send us an email or contact

us on Facebook.

Ms Tripp!

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2001

Name: Colin Bower

Homeland: Australia

Current city: Saskatchewan, Canada

Where is he now: After finishing his IB Diploma,

Colin gained a Bachelor’s degree at the University of

Melbourne in 2004 and went on to teach at the

University for a year. He joined BHP Billiton in 2006,

transferring to Western Australia and obtaining his

Chartered Account Designation (2009). He returned

to Melbourne for a year before transferring to

London, England. Today he is based out of

Saskatchewan Canada and has recently completed his

Masters in Mineral Economics. Like many of our

alumni, Colin’s best memories from TKIS come from

school friends. He too has some words of wisdom for

our current students: “Take every opportunity its

fullest. If an opportunity doesn't exist, make one.”

Colin is pictured glacier hiking in the Rockies in

August.

Name: Billy Hanafi

Homeland: Indonesia

Current city: Melbourne

Where is he now: Life after TKIS has been busy for

Billy! After completing tertiary studies at the University

of Melbourne before eventually moving on to working

for the Commonwealth Bank as a graduate financial

Planner. Billy has been working in his current role in

financial planning for the past eight years. He is very

happily married to wife Fransiska (above) and father to

beautiful daughter

Elise who is almost two

(below).

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2005

Name: Angharad “Hari” Lodwick

Homeland: Australia

Current city: Canberra, ACT

Where is she now: Hari is currently studying a Master of Asia and the Pacific (Honours) at ANU in Canberra. Prior to this she completed a Bachelor of Law, Bachelor of Asia-Pacific Studies and a Gradu-ate Diploma of Asian Studies. Her fondest memo-ries of her TKIS time is Year 12 homeroom, playing soccer at recess, all the bake sales and of course parties at Jess’ House!

For our current students, Harry has chosen this

piece of advice: “Dream big, try hard, take every

opportunity that comes your way and don't be

afraid to fail; only be afraid to give up.”

Highlights of 2005

School captains were Luke Neill and Tsay

Xiu Hui (Selena)

Principal’s Award for Overall Excellence

was awarded to Luke Neill

Dux Prize was awarded to Wang Yuansha

(Jasa)

18% of students achieved an IB score of

over 40

75% achieved an enter score over 90

The school production was The Three and a

Half Muskateers

No. 1 on the ARIA charts was Anthony

Callea’s The Prayer

A version of Cinderella performed by year

12’s at Ace High Study Camp won the talent

show.

Yearbook quote of the year went to

ANONYMOUS for their quote “Mr Bertotto’s

wife had a baby - I don’t remember giving

birth!”

2005 graduates had offers from across the

globe including: The University of

Melbourne, RMIT, Monash, University of

Edinburgh, Otago University NZ, Michigan

State University, California State University,

King’s College London, and the University of

Bath

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2006

Highlights of 2006

Students enjoyed performing in musical The

Dastardly Doctor Devereaux

School captains were Lachlan Richards and Hsu

Yi Ting (Stella)

Principal’s Award for Overall Excellence was

awarded to Pongpon Sanongkulvarakull (Ping)

Dux Prize was awarded to Ma Wan Li (Amanda)

The Sam De Gabrielle Service Award went to

Dav Ahmad Ali

Student Awards for 2006

Most Attractive Student: Xiyue Zhang (Cherry)

Most Rebellious Student: Ruoke Zhou

(Seventeen)

Most Diligent Student: Tong Zhao (Aaron) and

Xinyi Li (Summer)

Most Memorable Student: Joseph Wong

Student with best hair: Andy Trisna

Student with worst hair: Michael Daly

Most Artistic student: Pongpon

Sanongkulvarakull (Ping)

Most Athletic Student: Luke McKennie and

Jiangjia Ruan (Jane)

Most Popular Student: Lachlan Richards

Most likely to succeed:

Ma Wan Li (Amanda)

Best Couple:

Thawatchai

Luengvoraphan

(Porche) and Hitomi

Fukuoka

Name: Lachlan Richards

Homeland: Kilmore, Victoria

Current city: Melbourne

Where is he now: After leaving TKIS, Lachie took up a double degree at the University of Melbourne. In 2011, he graduated from his Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical) and Bachelor of Science (Probability in Statistics). Currently, Lachie is working as a Project Manager at Diamond Energy, a Melbourne-based renewable energy retailer and generator (www.diamondenergy.com.au/). He is living in Melbourne and has a long-term girlfriend who is currently completing a Masters of Architecture. His schools days are best remembered by the people and the school culture. For students battling the IB today, Lachie has this piece of sage advice: “enjoy the unique experience that is TKIS”. He is pictured above with his girlfriend Sarah.

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2006

In March this year, Jason also wrote a letter to Principal

Andrew Taylor on the benefits of studying history at TKIS. We

have included an extract of his letter here:

“Dear Mr. Andrew Taylor,

My name is Jason Andrews and I am a former student of The Kilmore

International School who recently graduated from the Australian National

University in December last year…(sic)... I have been prompted to write this

letter by account of this historical research and a fair dose of post-graduation

reminiscing. As such, and with the benefit of hindsight, I am writing to

commend and impress the importance of my studies in High Level History at

TKIS under the tutelage of Mrs. Ailsa Larin between 2005 and 2006.

Over the course of my tertiary studies in Philosophy, International Relations

and, initially, Law, the conceptual and political significance of History has been

one of the most crucial facets of my work: as a tangle of interminable questions

for reflection; as means of understanding the history of ideas and society; as a

civic duty; and, vitally, as a font for nurturing my passion for knowledge. It is

this last attribute for which I am most thankful for, and that my studies of

History under Mrs. Larin were vital to nurturing. Prior to entering the final two

years of study at TKIS, I was not a remarkable student by any quantitative

measurement. I was, however, interested in ideas and avenues of investigation

that had, prior to my commencement of the International Baccalaureate,

largely remained latent and untapped.

It was the study of History, though, that brought much of this forth and enabled

me to excel, eventually graduating from TKIS with a final score of 40/45. The

role of my historical studies cannot be understated in this. History is a fickle

subject, but when conducted in a manner tailored and appropriate to the

student, can unleash a mind in ways that sciences and mathematics may lack

until later university studies. By this, I mean that History enables a willing

mind to come to terms with the why and how of society, not merely the what –

although, of course, by means of History study the latter is inevitably

illuminated in a new light. In this, History extends the social and personal

conscience of the student. By means of historical study – even if only at IB level

– a student comes to appreciate – even if only intangibly – the social, economic,

political and cultural forces that structure and shape the time and space in

which they act and are acted upon…(sic)...As I am fond of quoting:

“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against

forgetting.” – Milan Kundera.

My studies at TKIS in History, provided me with the passion and means of

coming to grips with such complex ideas and philosophies: from French

Revolutionary thought and the ideas that formed the basis of Western

Enlightenment to the works of Karl

Marx and the legacies of Communism in

Russia and China. In reflection, the two

years spent in study of these subjects

proved invaluable to me during my

time at university. ..(sic)...Indeed, for

any IB students seeking to pursue a

Bachelor of Arts, I would deem the

study of History to be one of the most

useful courses on

offer….”

Yours Truly, Jason Andrews

Name: Jason Andrews

Homeland: Melbourne,

Victoria

Current city: Canberra, ACT

Where is he now: After graduation, Jason was accepted into the Australian National University, graduating in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts, with Double First Class Honours in both Philosophy and International Relations. He was also awarded the L.F. Crisp Memorial Prize for International Relations. Jason is now a Masters Research Student with the University of New South Wales, Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

He remembers TKIS for “The High Level History and Art programs; the discipline of the former and the creativity liberty of the latter were second-to-none and both stood me in great study for my tertiary studies.”

When asked to give advice to our current TKIS students, Jason had this to say: “I’ve been asked to give you some advice. However, there is no shortage of people in your life who are telling you what to do and what to think: your teachers, your parents, your books, your newspapers and your government. So, instead of advice, I will give you a question: ‘Why is this the Truth?’ Ask this question frequently and repeatedly..”

Jason also made a special trip to TKIS this month to speak to Mrs Ailsa Larin’s history class about his time at TKIS and his recent time at university. He has even inspired a few of our students into pursuing IB history.

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2007

Name: Shangyuan (Yuan) Chen

Homeland: China

Current city: China

Where is he now: In 2011, Yuan completed a Bachelor

of Business Administration at the University of New

Mexico, and in May this year graduated from a Masters of

Accounting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel

Hill (pictured below) .

He recommends that students enjoy and appreciate their

time at TKIS because “it will be a great memory in the

future”. His best time at TKIS was his time in boarding

where he lived “Upstairs” with his five best friends.

What advice would Yuan give to current or potential students of TKIS? “Enjoy and appreciate the time at TKIS, it will be a great memory in the future.”

Highlights of 2007

School captains for 2007 were LI Ruizhu

(Candise) and James Sheeran

The School Production was The Pirates of

Penzance -which was also our 2013 school

production!

The TKIS community raised more than $20,000

for primary schools Shule Ya Mbinsi Nanga in

Tanzania and SD 3 Sinabun in Singaraja, Bali

House captains were:

Red Echidna: Jacob Walton & Rebecca Jones

Sean McKennie & Bonnie Lodwick

Blue Koala: Abhi Kalia & Kirsten Audehm

Rami Shenouda & Prudence Chamberlain

Yellow Platypus: Koji Akasaki & Amelia Hanvey

Rufus Pamungkas & Lenore Dyson

Green Kookaburra: Gary Zhou & Ebony Anglin

Gavin Gunawan & Anna Holdaway

House Carnival placing's were: 1st Blue, 2nd

Red, 3rd Green and 4th Yellow

The 2007 Dux Prize was awarded to Ding Hong

(Eric)

The First Transformers movie was released

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Albert

Gore Jr and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change

The number 1 K-Pop song for 2007 was Lies by

Bing Bang, followed

closely by the Wonder

Girls’ Tell Me.

Number 1 on the ARIA

chart was Fergie’s Big

Girls Don’t Cry

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2008

Name: Winnie Jie Lee (Winnie)

Homeland: Penang, Malaysia

Current city: London

Where is she now: After graduating from TKIS, Winnie has gone on to complete Honours Degree in Accounting and Financial Management at Loughborough University, United Kingdom. She graduated in July this year, and is now undertaking a Masters in Education at the Institute of Education, London. Winnie is pictured below with incredibly proud family!

Name: Weiyin Hu (Wayne)

Homeland: China

Current city: China

Where is he now: Since completing his IB diploma at TKIS, Weiyin has gone on to complete a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Melbourne, followed by a Masters of Business Law at Monash University. He is currently working as an Associate at an Investment Banking Division in Minsheng securities co, Itd. Weiyin is also engaged to be married. His best memory from school is playing cards with his school mates in the boarding house. For future students, his words of wis-dom are simple: “Study Hard, Play Hard.”

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2008

Name: Amelia Hanvey

Homeland: Kew, Victoria

Current city: Malvern East, Victoria

Where is she now: Since leaving TKIS, Amelia has become a Police Constable attached to the Boroondara Police Station. Her best memories from school include the 2004 trip to China (when Amelia was in Year 8) and of course all the house carnivals where Amelia represented the Yellow Platypus house. To our students of today, Amelia offers this piece of advice “Stress less and take time to ensure you actually enjoy what you are studying!” and perhaps most importantly she adds “Try not to let external pressures influence what you choose to study or your future career choices.”

Highlights of 2008

School Captains in ‘08 were Alexander Grimes and

Hu Xinting (Candy)

The School Production for that year was Calamity

Jane - which saw many cowboys and cowgirls act,

sing, and speak in American western accents.

Student awards:

Artistic Award: Matthew Caruso & Ding Ting

Cutest Couple: Aaron Caratelli & Xin Juan

Best Hair: Ding Siqi (Rachel)

The Bogan Award: David Heather

Loudest Student: Peter Larin & Stephanie Poon

Most Athletic: Bonnie Lodwick

Athletically Challenged: Thomas Murchinson

Most likely to win a Nobel Prize: Shen Hao

Quietest student: Zheng Xiaofei (Sandy)

Princess Africa Award: Michelle Mrema

In 2008, TKIS had students from: Australia, China

PR, Korea, Japan, Tanzania, Hong Kong, India,

Malaysia, Phillipines, Indonesia, Singapore,

Thailand, and the United Kingdom.

Shen Hao was the highest ranking Year 12

mathematics student in Victoria.

The Principal’s Award for Overall Excellence was

awarded to Cai Yihan (Cecilia).

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps won eight gold

medals at the Beijing Olympics

Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of

the United States of

America

The top-grossing movie

for 2008 was The Dark

Knight

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Name: Sili Xie (Steven)

Homeland: China

Current city: Melbourne, VIC

Where is he now: Steven is undertaking his final year

at RMIT University in Manufactory and Mechatronics

Engineering. He has been excited to see many of his

high school mates have already graduated and

returned home or gone travelling, but mostly it makes

him think of his time at school. “I always miss so much

about the time in Kilmore. Every time when I spent a

whole hour to cook myself a lunch or a dinner I miss

the food in Kilmore and also the Chinese cook that all

of us called her “Old Aunty” who always felt happy to

sit on our side and ask us “how’s the food?” or “what

you boys and girls would like to eat tomorrow?”.

Steven also remembers how caring boarding staff and

friends were, taking care of students when they were

sick, and being able to share games with fellow

boarders.

He had many memories of his school days: “So many

things happened in my past six years Australian’s life

and I consider the time in Kilmore was my best time in

Australia and I’m glad that I was a student who was

studying at this school.”

Steven would also like to tell our current students to

value their time in high school because “believe it or

not that will become the nostalgia time that preserved

in your memory.”

2009

Name: Madieson Hall

Homeland: Seymour, VIC

Current city: Invergordon, VIC

Where is she now: After graduating from TKIS,

Madieson went on to pursue nursing at The Australian

Catholic College. She is currently working as a registered

Division 1 Nurse at Goulburn Valley Health in

Shepparton. Madieson lives 20 minutes north of

Shepparton on a beef farm and is in a relationship with

her partner Dillon (pictured). Her advice for current or

future IB students is: “Stay organised and focused and

remember it is ok to cry.”

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Name: Myung Woo (Matthew) Lee

Homeland: Seoul, South Korea

Current city: Seoul, South Korea

Where is he now: Matthew is currently undertaking his two years of compulsory military service as an English Interpreter at the Korean Air Force headquarters. He will finish next year and return for his third year of university at the Seoul National University College of Liberal Studies, where he majors in Business. Thinking back to his time in Kilmore, Matthew’s best times were ordering Pinky’s Pizza and having a group party in the blue room. Matthew is reminding students to always be prepared: “You never know what chances are going to open up for you in the future, so the best you can do at the moment is to prepare yourself for every possibility. Even luck is for those who are prepared to grasp it!”. Unfortunately, due to the limited internet access at the military base, Matthew was unable to send a current photo of himself. However, we have managed to pull this photo from the archive of 2011, when Mathew (top right) visited Manager of International programs, Georgia Wittmer, and teacher Jeong Mee Cho Kauye, at an Education Exhibition in Korea. Alumni from 2006 LEE Choi Sun (Jason) and CHOI Bum Suk (Brian) also attended the exhibition.

2009 2010

Name: Yanfei (Sally) Cong

Homeland: China

Current city: Melbourne

Where is she now: Sally is currently in her third year of her undergraduate degree. She is studying a Bachelor of Environments (Property) with a Diploma of Language in Japanese. He best times at school were International Day, Graduation and Japanese Class with Mr Nomura! She believes that TKIS was a great place to study and advises our current students to enjoy school life.

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Visiting Alumni

his year has seen a number of Alumni revisit the TKIS school grounds. Sili (Steven) Xie from 2009 dropped in

one day to see his teacher Mr Wright, and numerous 2012 graduates have stopped in to pick up their IB

Diploma’s and share stories of the first part of the next phase in their lives. Here we share a few of the familiar

faces we’ve seen back this year...

T

JULY

29th, 2009 alumni Sili

Xie (Steven) payed a visit to Mr Ross Wright and

shared his life in recent times. Steven is featured in

our Alumni Magazine already (p.12), but also sent in a

wonderful open letter to our students. Here is an

extract from his letter:

APRIL This year graduate from 2006,

Wang Kaiquen (Daniel) stopped by to say hello. Daniel

was originally from Shijiazhuang, China. He enjoyed

visiting the school during the mid-semester break

although it was a little odd to have the school so very

quiet with all students on holidays.

Like many visiting alumni, Daniel was able to tour the

school and see all of the changes over the past few years,

including the New Des Gregory Language Centre .

Hi I’m Steven.Xie from China. I graduated from The

Kilmore International School on 2009 and now I’m taking

the Manufactory & Mechatronics Engineering course in

RMIT University. This is my last of the engineering course,

and those of my high school mates who take three years

courses has already got their diplomas and many of them

choose to go back overseas or visit other countries around

the world. The end of my university life reminds me those

days that I just came to this city. I still remember the

picture that the first time I walk into the door of Kilmore

and all of those good times I spent in the following three

years here...Every time when I stuck on some problems that

may not been clarified the professor I miss the time in

Kilmore that you can “kidnap” the teachers till he or she

explained every single questions that you have instead of

book a time with the professor first and only got a few

minutes to finish your questions. Every time when I

travelling on the train to university I miss the time that we

walked to school in the morning and walked back in the

afternoon. And so many other things that I missed, like the

trees that we planted by ourselves on the back of the

playground, the basketball games after the school the

camping every semester, the pizza shop on the town or

even those complains that we had in Kilmore. Hegel said

that: “the important is not what you eat but who you eat

with” and that’s also I felt in Kilmore.

Sili (Steven) Xie

29 APR 2013

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Visiting Alumni

this year alumni Munesh

Kumar dropped in to TKIS with his wife and three kids.

Munesh completed his IB Diploma at TKIS starting Year

11 in April 1993, and graduating in 1994. Munesh now

runs J4ya Dewi a curtain company based in Yogyakarta,

Indonesia. His company bears the slogan “untuk

keindahan ruangan Anda…” which translates to the “for

the beauty of your room…”. It was great to have a

surprise visit from an Alumni, and we enjoyed letting

Munesh show his wife and children where he went to

school. The Kumar family were even happy enough to

pose for a photo - although the youngest was a little shy

to be photographed!

JULY

on a sunny, windy Friday in Kilmore, 2011 graduate Villy

Julita visited to see some of her teachers, friends from

the International Office and check out what’s changed

since she left TKIS. Born in Makassar, Indonesia, Villy

came to Kilmore mid-2010 to embark on her IB Diploma.

She is now living in Huntingdale and is completing her

second year of Biomedicine at Monash University. Just

two years from graduating, and Villy is already missing

the support from teachers and boarding staff compared

to the more independent learning environment at

University. She is happily dating Kim, a Bachelor of

Science student. Villy frequently overloads her academic

schedule and works as a technical assistant on campus.

She is hoping to embark on a Summer Research

Scholarship in biochemistry. Villy enjoys playing the

organ, her fitness regimes and admits she is “a bit of a

workaholic”. She is focused on the future and is also

planning to complete her Honours in Biochemistry,

followed by a PhD with the hope of working as a

Research Assistant before becoming a Post Doctorate in

a biochem laboratory. We wish you the best of luck Villy

and look forward to hearing more from you in the

coming years. Villy even managed to get a 2011

yearbook to remind her of her school days.

OCTOBER

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Visiting Alumni

On Thursday, 21 November, our 2013 year 12’s celebrated their two

year IB journey and end of exams with a graduation ceremony at

The Park Hyatt, for the first time in full regalia. Alumni from ‘04

Jacob (Jake) Breen was kind enough to step in at the last minute as

the alumni speaker. We have included his speech here:

Good evening.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was standing up here at my own graduation.

My name is Jake and I was part of the graduating class of 2004. It makes me feel

old saying that out loud, but I find solace in the fact that it will have probably

made a number of teachers in the room feel even older.

When Trish called me up to ask if I was available to speak tonight, I immediately said yes. Not just for the free

dinner, but also because it is such an honour to have the opportunity to share tonight with all of you. You will

hear this from every one tonight, but each and every one of you should be proud of being here today.

Completing the International Baccalaureate is a challenge, and nobody can take away the sense of achievement

you feel tonight. Hold onto that for the rest of your life.

Graduating tonight, you now have nothing but tremendous opportunity ahead of you. Albert Camus said that life

is the sum off all your choices, and to me, it is whether you choose to seize the opportunities before you that will

define you as a person.

Alumni of ‘08, Hua TAN (Tiana) stopped in to Kilmore to

catch up with school staff. After moving from China to

Kilmore to undertake the IB, Diploma Tiana has since stayed

in Melbourne to complete her tertiary studies. She has

recently graduated from a Bachelor of Dental Science at the

University of Melbourne. We look forward to hearing more

of her success in future editions!

NOVEMBER

2013 Graduation

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2013 Graduation

Whether you get your first preference for uni, or your second or don’t go at all, it is

how you face down your next challenge that will take you forward. When I was at high

school, I was singularly focused on finishing the IB with the highest score I could

achieve.

When I graduated, I could not wait to go to uni. Facing down a 6 year course was

daunting, but I think taking my first steps out into the real world was the hardest.

There was no Ms Tripp asking if I had redrafted my essays, no Mr Szczur grilling me on

Newton’s third law. Safe to say that I hated it. It was like I had to organise my own life,

and be responsible for my own levels of motivation and define my own achievements.

There is no national announcement of your score at the end of the year, just a computer screen with numbers and letters next to it. I

pontificated over my course, could I really be a lawyer? I mean, John Grisham books are great, but they somehow skipped the part where you

have to spend hours upon hours reading to learn the trade. And mechanical engineering? I still cant figure out how a triple integral makes any

sense in reality.

It took me years, but it finally clicked. What you have in front of you is a series of opportunities. And no one is going to tell you which ones to

take, or how to take them. You need to decide which ones you want to pursue, and you alone need to do your best to equip yourselves to reach

them. Take a moment and think about everything that you want from life, and reassess this regularly. Time will slip by quickly, especially

when you are working full time. Never for a moment think that you don’t have the opportunity to do ‘something you have always wanted to

do’, there are so many ways that you can go about achieving your goals. I always dreamed of going on exchange and learning a new language

at uni, but after a couple of years of underperformance at Uni, this option was off the table. But my education and my experiences were in my

hands, and I taught myself Spanish and travelled the world of my own accord.

And finally, try to remember your experiences and learnings from the IB. CAS may have been a chore at high school, but try your best to

continue these activities through your time at uni. Join a sports team or a music or drama club, whatever takes your fancy. University can feel

like another world, but joining university clubs is a great way to get to know new people, some of whom will join your high school classmates

as lifelong friends. And if you can, try to remember your good study habits from high school, and if you didn’t have good study habits, try to

find them. University is your next opportunity to excel, and, as lame as it sounds, good grades can open many doors. That being said, your IB

will already begin opening many doors for you, and bizarrely, when I interviewed for my current job, it was the IB I discussed with the

interviewer. Makes me wonder why I spent so long at uni!

We are gen-y, and we probably get bored of our lives 20 times a day. Just remember to look out at the landscape

of opportunities available to you; every person in this room can reach any single one of them, but each of you

will tread your own path, with your own challenges, mistakes and changes of direction. Try not to be anxious,

try to be patient, try to be focused, and most of all, enjoy all of your achievements along the way.

Congratulations to all and enjoy your night of celebrations. Thank you.

Kind thanks to Jake Breen for allowing his speech to be printed

18

The Kilmore International School

40 White St, Kilmore

Victoria, 3764

Australia

Phone: 0011 61 3 5782 2211

Fax: 0011 61 35782 2525

Email: info@kilmore.vic.edu.au

Web: www.kilmore.vic.edu.au

Facebook: www.facebook.com/

thekilmoreinternationalschool

“Excellentia Academica Persequenda”

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