Inside NSGS E G M E N T 2 4 | P R E F E C T S 2 0 1 9 - 2 0 2 0

M I S S W A L K E R

S C I E N C E T E A C H E R A N D Y E A R 1 2Y E A R A D V I S O R

INSIDE NSGFrom Prefects of NSG (2019-2020)

S E G M E N T 2 4

What made you decide to become ateacher, and specifically a teacher atNSG? (NB: Ms Walker was a student at NSGbefore teaching here.)The second part was anaccident. Apparently, I wanted to bea teacher when I was in primaryschool and then I got to high schooland there was all this pressure to doother things like law and I considereda few other careers but I just keptcoming back to teaching. My Year 6yearbook statement actually had in it“I either want to be a scientist or a 

teacher. Ideally, a science teacher.”

Actually, my Year 11s suggested Ishould be a tour guide and do thosemuseum tours and be one of thosepeople that are overly excited aboutfossils and stuff.

How did I become a teacher at NSG? Iused to help out with Careers Day andthen the school started getting somecasual office staff to help with careers.Once I hit university, the old careersadviser asked me to come back andhelp out, and I ended up working in 

MISS WALKER SCIENCE TEACHER ANDYEAR 12 YEAR ADVISOR

Ms Naylor taught me VA.Mr Kulesz has always been herebut he only ever took a couple ofscience periods in Year 7. He’snever been one of my allocatedteachers.

the office. When a temporaryteaching position came up,everything kind of fell into place.Then there was an interview at theend of 2014, and that was it. That'show I got to be here!

We know you teach both Biology andChemistry. Which do you preferteaching?I think I like the problem solvingaspect of Chemistry more but I findthat Biology’s more fun-fun sincethere’s more points of amusement. Interms of things that I majored in, Imajored in Immunobiology at uni sothat’s the stuff that I really enjoy.Immunobiology is my secretpleasure.

What teachers did you used to have atNSG and how do you feel about themnow being your colleague? They’re all great as colleagues. I loveall of them! There's a lot of people toname though....

Mr Henshaw has known mesince I was in Year 8Ms Kilburn had me in Year 8.I had Mr Short in Year 9.I had Ms Foley in Year 10 and forYear 11 into 12 Physics.I had Mr Simpson for Year 11Physics and Year 11 and 12Chemistry.I had Mr Slade for Year 11 and 12Biology.Parns (NB: Mrs Parnaby) used torun the netball stuff with myDad. My parents ran the netballclub when I was here and soParns has known me for a longtime.Ms Rumney was my year advisorand Mr Yee (now a casual) wasmy assistant year advisor. It waslovely working with the two ofthem. They were amazing.Ms Cole-Harper was here. Sheknew me through Peer Support.

What are your favourite memories orfunny stories from teaching at NSG?There’s honestly so many. In terms ofYear 12 stories, I’m saving them alland in Week 10, you’re just gonna belike "omg, how many does she have,there’s so many pictures on her phone 

with different grades and differentthings!"

I think the funny one from this year,which should be immortalised, is aYear 7 calling me a BOOMER andthen trying to frantically backtrackand then implying that I looked over50 and then it just got really fun for abit.

In terms of fun versus funny, there’sjust a lot of fun that happens in theschool. If you’re in the right placewith the right people, there’s a lot offun that can happen. Like, Bio is funright?

The one I found funny was… Do youremember the short-shorts problemin Year 9 and 10? How everyone forsport wore short-shorts? And youcould never tell what they werewearing so I walked around, saying “Ican’t tell if you’re wearing pants”. Ivyand Angela were the main culpritsand every Monday I was like “HeyAngela, where are your pants?” andshe’d be like “I’m wearing them”.

It culminated at camp when theywere there as the Year 10 mentors for

the Year 9 leadership camp. They hadchanged for bed and came back tograb a hot chocolate. I’m still in themain room and Ivy’s literally walkedthrough the door in one of thoseover-sized hoodies and made eyecontact with me and just ripped thebottom up, yelling “I’m wearing pants,I swear” and I’m just like “Honey, it’sokay”.

I've got quotes too. One of my Year11s this year went “Abraham Lincoln...best president because his legs were thelongest”. We ended up in a greatconversation about variouspresidents and their leg lengths. Mybiggest thing for students would beto try and sit at the front of the roomone day because it’s so easy to hearthese funny things.

Since you're the Year 12 Year Adviser,what will you miss the most about ourgrade?With all of the grades that we’vebeen through and all of the things

that we’ve seen over the years, theamount that this grade has pulledtogether over Year 11 and 12 to doeverything that they’ve needed to do,especially this year with all theCOVID stuff and everything that isstill coming, is absolutelyremarkable. The cohesiveness andsupportiveness that is going on hasjust been amazing and I haven’t seena grade that has been this willing tocontribute and just do your own bitlike this before. That is a massivestrength that you just need to keepdoing.

What are the biggest differencesbetween NSG when you attended it as astudent and NSG now?Honestly, not that much. I’d say, lesscheekiness nowadays. I caught a kid afew years ago in L2, wrapping stickytape around a tap, like justrepeatedly around the bottom of itand I was like “why would you dothat?”. If you ‘U’ it on the bottom ofthe tap and repeatedly reinforce that,then the next person that turns it onis going to jet water on themselves,like that’s more amusing than justwasting sticky tape, wrapping itaround and she was like “Why would

you know that?” and well, guess whathappened to me as a student!

I also think that we used to be moretalkative. The years have gottenmore quiet. Year 7 always gets a bitloud by the end of the year but thegrades generally get less chatty so itseems like you hide your personality.But we know you have one so show itto your teachers!!

Since Year 12 recently had their muck-up photo, we were wondering who orwhat did you dress up for your Year 12muck-up photo?

A scientist. 

My particular year group had thetheme “Where do you see yourself in 10years?’’ If you find it in the yearbook,one of the girls from my year sawherself as “on the toilet”, and managedto find an actual toilet in the councilclean-up and actually planned it withher pyjama pants and double shortsso that when it was photo time, shecould VOOM so if you look at theyearbook photo, there’s literally herwith a newspaper dead-centre at thefront.

We’ve heard a rumour that you mightbe moving to Canada next year. Can youtell us anything about that?I applied for an internationalexchange for teaching for 2021because I was looking for things todo, but then COVID hit so that gotindefinitely postponed.

We know you got married recently! Tellus about your wedding!So the legal one has happened,mainly because we engraved therings with a date, and we were like“This is happening no matter what!!"

It ended up just being us in theafternoon with family. Our celebrantcould still make it, so we got all thelegal stuff done and then just wentfor dinner. It was very chill, it wasvery happy. I tried to hire one of thedresses from the dress shop downthe road. Turns out they only had size6 which I am never going to fit mybody into. So that was a hard no. Butyea it was really good. Do you guyswant photos?

Prefects: Yes!*Prefects spend the next 5 minuteslooking at photos from the wedding*

I mentioned to the Year 7s that ithappened and they said “In the time ofCOVID?” and I was like "Yes. COVIDsafe".

Tell us about the type of dog you want!Oh! I really want a BurmeseMountain dog, or a Cocker Spaniel! Igrew up with my cocker spaniels andthey were beautiful! They both livedup to 17 and they literally posed inoutfits for my year 9 and 10photography assignments. I turnedthem into a Pokemon trainer withthe gameboy and I love them somuch! But they’re like lap dogs,whilst my partner wants a big dog.And with a big dog, he really wants aBurmese Mountain dog and I was like"you know what, I really love Burmesemountain dogs, they are sooo cute."

*shows us a photo of a BurmeseMountain dog*

Look at him in the snowwwww… he’ssooo cute! And look at them asadults! They’re adorable!

We’ve heard that you’re very “savage” onthe netball court. Do you have any storiesthat you can tell us?Incorrect. Very incorrect okay. That isfrom a biology story and I know it. Thisis the blunt mean version okay.

Prefects nod in anticipation*Ms Walker bluntly explains differentgrades in netball*

*Then moves onto a story of THE “mum’steam”*

This woman last week kept runningbackwards into me and bouncing offand she keeps grunting “Oh you pushedme!” And I was like… I was just standinghere. I did nothing in this situation...But then she started grabbing my arms.Yeah no. I did not push her but I madesure that I was well grounded any timeshe came near me. Not my fault if shebounces off.

And in contrast, last year’s staff VSstudent basketball game. Okay. I gotaccused of karate chopping a kid in themouth! No, I did not karate chop her inthe mouth! She ran forward, I went todefend as a normal netball player did.

She ran forward and down with hermouth open… I had teeth marks on myhand. Like I had an actual bite mark!But apparently I'm the bad person forkarate chopping her… No. You BIT MYHAND. Anyway. So no, I am notsavage on the netball court.

Overall assessment: Ms Walker is absolutely fine when playingnetball. Not problematic at all. The onlytime she does get grumpy is whensomeone’s doing one thing consistentlythat is pissing her off and it's not gettingcalled.

You have all been warned.

What is one piece of advice you wantevery NSG to know?Just breathe and you will find yourway to wherever you want to be. Ifthere is something you really want todo or there is something you're reallypassionate about, there will always bea way to get there, even if that waymight not be apparent now.

So breathe. 

Keep going. 

You’ll be fine.