The exceptional academic and sporting success and community service of St Mark’s students in 2020 have been recognised with a slew of awards presented at the College’s recent Final Dinner.
The academic results of our students in first semester were simply superb – with over half the marks being Distinctions or High Distinctions – and, with strong support from the College’s Academic Team, our students are again focussed on exams and final assignments, working to repeat their great success of first semester.
Mid-October saw the final inter-collegiate sporting competition – Athletics – which St Mark’s won convincingly, with many gutsy and inspired individual and team performances.
This success – coming after wins earlier in the year in Swimming, Tennis, and men’s Football, and strong performances in other inter-collegiate competitions – secured victory for St Mark’s in the inter-college High Table Cup for 2020. This is a victory of which we are rightly proud, coming as it does in a year of such significant disruption.
Recent months have also seen a continuation of the strong commitment of St Mark’s students to community service, reflected, for example, in the dedicated work of the Charitable Foundation in leading student support for charities such as Drought Angels, Habitats for Humanity, Rural Aid, and Taboo (which promotes sustainable sanitary care and education globally).
The many other highlights of recent months have included an art show and Arts Evenings, showcasing the myriad talents of our students in the visual arts, literature, and music; Faculty events connecting College students with professionals in their fields (in several cases, Old Collegians); and the election and appointment of an impressive team of student leaders for 2021.
Before swotvac and exams started, the academic year culminated with a memorable and moving Final Service in St Peter’s Cathedral – including performances by a College choir and music student Elinor Warwick on violin – prior to the Final Dinner which we held al fresco on the College tennis courts, and at which we recognised many of the most noteworthy successes, leadership, and service of students in 2020.
For the first time since 1952, one of the College’s highest honours – the Collegians’ Prize – was awarded jointly to two students. The Collegians’ Prize is awarded to a student who has (or, rarely, students who have) made the most outstanding contribution to the College, their university, and the wider community over a period of years.
Nominated by student peers, the selection of the annual Collegians’ Prize is a rigorous process, involving student leaders and College staff. The President of the Old Collegians’ Association, Mr Michael van Dissel, presented the Collegians’ Prize at the Final Dinner.
This year, the Collegians’ Prize was awarded to Ben Jenner and Riley Glynn – both of whom had come to the College in 2018 from Tenison Woods College, Mt Gambier. Both are widely respected as leaders and contributors in the College community – Ben this year as a Residential Advisor, and Riley this year as Vice-President of the College Club. Both have also been active in community service beyond the College.
The importance of community service was one of the themes of the Final Service and Dinner.
In the Service, the Head of College, Professor Don Markwell, spoke of the belief of the founders of the College, such as Charles Hawker and Sir Archibald Grenfell Price, that students living and learning together in a college would encourage what they called “ideals of service”. (Professor Markwell’s address is here.)
Professor Markwell referred to Charles Hawker’s sister, Lilias Needham (1900-75), as an exemplar of selfless service. As well as enabling the creation of the prestigious Hawker Scholarships, she was an extremely generous benefactor to St Mark’s College, including making possible the purchase of Hawker House – but she insisted there be no public recognition in her lifetime.
The Final Dinner saw the award of the inaugural Lilias Needham Medals for Service to two members of the College who have also given outstanding examples of selfless service – of acting in a generous spirit for the good of others rather than for their own glory.
The 2020 Lilias Needham Medals for Service were awarded to Carmen Joubert, who has served as Secretary of the College Club this year, and to Adam Burford, a Residential Adviser who has led the College’s increased focus on environmental sustainability.
The Final Dinner saw a toast to the students leaving the College proposed by the College Club President for 2021, Sophie Ludbrook, and a response on behalf of “the Leavers” from Bronte Phillips and Chad Lennon, both of whom have served as Assistant Deans this year.
The toast to the College was proposed by the College Club President for 2020, Nicholas Marzohl, and the Director of Learning, Dr Rachel Buxton – who had herself proposed the toast to the College at the equivalent dinner when she was College Club President in 1997 – responded on behalf of the College. (Her speech is here.)
Another highlight of the Dinner was a spontaneous standing ovation for the out-going Dean, Professor Peter Tregear OAM, who has now left St Mark’s to become the founding head of Little Hall, a new hall of residence for students at the University of Melbourne. St Mark’s is delighted to welcome Mr Stuart Meldrum, a psychologist and student support officer from the University of Newcastle, as our new Dean.
At the Final Dinner, the College, in warmly congratulating the students on what was an exceptional overall academic achievement in first semester, recognised the most outstanding individual academic performances with commendations and colours. These were based on first-semester results for first-year students, and first-semester results combined with earlier results for second and later year students.
Commendations and colours were awarded to:
Academic Commendations for first-year students:
Oliver Douglas
Jacinta Finlayson
Chloe Futcher
Caitlin Glascott
Max Gordon
Isabel Unwin
Grace Whyte
Kate Whyte
Academic Commendations for second-year students:
Kaitlin Beltakis
Nyah Bester
Kristen Coles
Wren Dreger
Katherine Dumas
Jackson Furst
Niamh Jones
Sophie Ludbrook
Kira McMahon
Maddy Taylor
Niamh van Berkel
Academic Colours for second-year students:
Hamish Hill
Gemma Nunn
Academic Commendations for third-year students:
Danielle Boniface
Lacey Burston
April Catford
Lukas Egger
Samantha Hauptman
Morgan Hill
Isobel McFarlane
Academic Colours for third-year students:
Benjamin Joy
Academic Colours for fourth year and above:
Ashlee Nichol
The outstanding sporting success of the College this year also saw many fine individual performances, which were recognised by the College Club with these Club colours, announced at the Final Dinner by the Sports Officers, Taylor Glover and Dan Robson:
Tennis:
Oliver Douglas
Sarah Whyte
Swimming:
Hayley Crowhurst
James Andrews
Netball:
Joe Watts
Kristen Coles
Football:
Eliza Lee
Blake Dodson
Athletics:
Kira McMahon
Max Gordon
Soccer:
Connor Marzohl
Sammy Hauptman
James Andrews was recognised as Male Athlete of the Year, and Eliza Lee and Kristen Coles were recognised jointly as the Female Athletes of the Year.
The College Club also recognised student achievements in cultural activities with these Club colours:
Debating:
Mitchell Paull
Bellarose Watts
Arts Evening:
Yemaya Coleman-Smith
Josh Phillips
College Revue:
Alleigh Hamnett
Maddy Taylor
The College Club also recognised outstanding students in their first year in the College with awards to Olivia White and Joe Watts.
Students where were graduating at the end of the year were recognised with presentation to them by the Head of College of College banners, which went to:
Ms Ashleigh Bruorton, BEd(Prim)
Mr Adam Burford, BSc(MineralGeosc)
Mr Callum Crespan, BSc(MineralGeosc)
Ms Britney Doyle, BN
Mr Sagar Elangovan, MBBS
Mr Drew Guegan-Brown, BCom
Mr Matthew Halligan, BA
Ms Jade Harvey, BDes(CommDes)
Ms Morgan Hill, BN
Mr Aidan Jones, LLB(Hons)
Mr Benjamin Joy, BCom(CorpFin)
Ms Sarah Logan, BN
Mr Chad Lennon, BHlthMSc(Hons)
Mr Nicholas Marzohl, BPsychSc
Mr Joshua Phillips, BMus(PerfJazz)
Mr Oliver Quixley, BMediaA
Ms Olivia Ransome Gilding, BMedia(Mktg)
Mr Timothy Torzsok, BCom(Acc)
Ms Olivia White, BPsychSc
Ms Camilla Winter, BIntDev
Ms Lucinda Winter, BAgricSc
The Head of College, Professor Don Markwell, warmly thanked all student leaders who had served the College during 2020, and made presentations to the most senior appointed student leaders: the Senior Academic Tutors, Kane McAskill and Ashlee Nichol; the Senior Residential Adviser, Sagar Elangovan, and the Assistant Deans, Chad Lennon and Bronte Phillips.
It is hard to imagine a sounder platform of success and service on which we can build for the future – already we are excited about what next year will bring, and look forward to welcoming, in only a few months, the next generation of Marksmen and Markswomen to join our community and help shape our College family for the coming years.
2020 Art Show
2020 HTC Athletics
2020 Final Service & Dinner
Photography:
Kaidy Morgan @kd_m_p
Maddy Young
