An Academic College – Semester One “the proof of the pudding”

Our Freshers have their first semester of uni under their belts, our Seniors have made a great transition to their increasingly demanding academic workloads, and the results are in!  Senior Tutor, Katie Newcombe reports: “the overall picture is an exceptionally positive one.” The Semester Average Mark (SAM) for the College was 72.29% with the Freshers scoring a SAM of 74.3%. Over 43% of all students received a Distinction or High Distinction average – an impressive figure indeed!

Our top-ten undergraduate performers were: Mr Ed Taylor (Bachelor of Engineering/Arts II), Mr Ben Varela (Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Science I), Mr Austin Markwick (Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Science I), Ms Bella Taylor (Bachelor of Science (Medical Science I), Mr Aidan Riethmuller (Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Commerce III), Mr William Defina (Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Commerce I), Mr Jack Bouvier (Bachelor of Advanced Computing II), Mr Miku Sugimura (Bachelor of Science (Medical Science) I), Mr Andrew Brennan (Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Science I) and Assistant Senior Tutor, Mr Riley Jones (Bachelor of Advanced Computing/Bachelor of Science III).

From this list, it’s clear our budding engineers and scientists gave quite a showing last semester. In these difficult degrees, these results are seriously impressive and we are very proud of these students’ hard work. Last semester, with the help of our fantastic senior engineering students, we also reformed the engineering College tutorial offering with all first year students having a College mentor for their various streams (mechatronic, mechanical, civil, etc) as well as for their professional engineering experience programme which we hope contributed to these outstanding results. Five out of our top 10 performers were also Freshers – indicating the College’s academic future is in safe hands!

For Graduate House, students studying taught courses (around 1/3rd of Graduate House) received a SAM of 70%. We have a wonderfully diverse range of taught courses in Graduate House this year – from the Juris Doctor, to Masters of Social Work, to a Masters of Architecture. It was also fantastic to see all our research students have a successful and enjoyable start to their degrees – from PhDs to Honours projects!

As usual, 1st year medical students and allied health students had a busy semester working through their introductory blocks in the muscular skeletal system, the respiratory system, and cardiology, and learnt clinical skills such as taking patient histories. Our Graduate House medical students are also using their knowledge to help out undergraduates this semester, tutoring undergraduate medical science and helping aspiring medical students ace the GAMSAT. Within Graduate House, our comprehensive medical tutorial programme, for all years 1 and 2 learning blocks, continues under the guidance of our Assistant Senior Tutor (Medicine), Meheer Zaveri.

Other good news for the student body was the return to in-person exams for most students in Semester 1. Technical issues in exams, and the stress which comes with them, were significantly reduced. For some students, the first in-person exams during their university career was an adjustment! But we are ably supported by our army of capable tutors and other seniors who provided tips and tricks to survive exam season.

Semester 1 also saw another successful semester of in-College tutoring. 675 tutorials took place across College in Arts, Languages, Commerce, Economics, Engineering, Health Science, Law, Mathematics, Medicine, Nursing, Programming, Education and Life and Physical Sciences. Assistant Senior Tutor, Riley Jones, reports: “Through the College tutorial programme, Seniors and Freshers have worked together to foster an academic-driven environment.” 

In the early weeks of Semester 1, Riley encouraged our students to see tutorials as a great way for Freshers to get to know Seniors, benefit from their experiences both at university and in College, and feel more quickly at home at St Paul’s. The Freshers’ commitment to the tutorial programme has been impressive with over 90% of students making use of the tutorial programme. Our students report that tutors: “go the extra mile in helping others understand concepts”, and are “extremely encouraging and set [students] on the right track to achieve excellent results.” Of one tutor, a student said, “Quintessential Pauline. Puts others before himself.”

We are so proud of all the young people who teach in our tutorial programme – more than tutors, they are wonderful academic leaders and role models. College tutorials began for Sem 2 this week, and we’ve already logged 26 tutorials! So we’re off to another great start.

Judged on Semester 1 results, the St Paul’s community is committed to academic excellence: “The proof is in the pudding!”

Pauline leads Anzac tribute at Gallipoli

His Excellency the Australian Ambassador to Turkey, Mr Miles Armitage, gave the Anzac address on behalf of the Australian nation at this years commemorative service at Anzac Cove. For the YouTube broadcast of the service CLICK HERE [roll up to 15:50]

Scholars awarded at Academic

PIC: PRIZE WINNERS MR ANGUS MALMO (FIRST ON LEFT) AND MR NICK TROTTER (THIRD ON RIGHT) WITH ACTING DEAN HARRY CROKER AND FOURTH YEAR STUDENTS ANTHONY RUSSELL-THOMAS AND ETHAN TSUI. (PHOTO CREDIT: JASON ZHU HE)

By Ms Katie Allan, Senior Tutor

A highlight of the College Calendar is our undergraduate Academic Dinner and it was again our pleasure to recognise and celebrate the academic hard work and talents of our students. The guest of honour at the 2022 Academic Dinner, Professor Julia Horne, spoke about how academic success is not just a product of individual effort but also a product of a community which encourages and supports that success. Julia is Senior Research Fellow in the University’s Department of History and the University Historian, she is also a Fellow of St Paul’s College, serving on the College Council.

As is usual at formal dinners there was a musical  interlude and on this occasion it was provided by Mr Isander Mesimeris (bass/baritone) and Mr Alexander Back (piano) who performed ‘Ständchen’ from Schwanengesang by Franz Schubert.

We are incredibly proud of our prize winners and high achievers honoured at our Academic Dinner and also proud of the friends, tutors, and peers that encourage all students to do their best and aim high at St Paul’s College.

The dinner celebrated the achievers of 2021 which included university honours and prizes to:

  • Wyatt Batt (1st Class Hons in Ancient Greek)
  • Nathaniel Gleeson (1st Class Hons in Philosophy of Law and Sydney Scholars Award)
  • Everett Whelan (Faculty of Engineering Undergraduate Entry Scholarship)
  • James H Walker (Philip Thomas Collins Scholarship for Science)
  • Angus Malmo (Norman Scott Noble Honours Scholarship and the James S Ashton Memorial Scholarship – both for Agricultural Science)
  • Harsh Talathi (University of Sydney Academic Merit Prize)
  • James T Walker (University of Sydney Academic Merit Prize)

And college prizes awarded to:

  • Seb Shanahan (McWilliam Prize for law and service to College)
  • Nick Trotter (Uther Prize for three years’ distinguished examination results and service to College)
  • Jack Holt (Sir Ian McFarlane Prize for exceptional results in economics/commerce and for service to college)
  • Nathaniel Gleeson (Portus Prize for exceptional examination results in History, Economic History of Philosophy)
  • Tommy Lu (Prize for the Highest Annual Average Mark in College – Freshman)
  • Angus Malmo (Prize for the Highest Annual Average Mark in College -Senior)
  • Charlie Abel (Prize for Most Outstanding Tutor – nominated by his peers)

Those gaining a High Distinction average in 2021 were:

  • Mitchell Hope
  • Tommy Lu
  • Angus Malmo
  • Jackson Rogers
  • Aakash Singh
  • Conor Sutherland
  • James T Walker

Those gaining Distinction average in 2021 were:

  • Charles Abel
  • Callan Adams
  • Wiley Anderson
  • Edward Barker
  • Wyatt Batt
  • Henry Blackwell
  • Lachlan Brewer
  • Ben Broadley
  • Oscar Carr-Middleton
  • Roni Chapman
  • Samuel Choi
  • Rex Crisp
  • Jack Doyle
  • Angus Feetham
  • Harry Forsythe
  • Oliver Freeman
  • Auxence Gide
  • Nathaniel Gleeson
  • Edward Glendinning
  • Sebastian Green
  • Archie Hancock
  • Jacob Harris
  • Sebastian Hodge
  • Jack Holt
  • Tim Hough
  • Marcus Howes
  • James Hudson
  • Henry Hughes
  • Tim Hughes
  • Joshua Jones
  • Nick Jones
  • Riley Jones
  • William Jones
  • Hugh Jordan
  • Ernest Lam
  • Benjamin Lerner
  • Benjamin Locke
  • Ian Maclean
  • James Meares
  • Lachlan Mills
  • Isaac Morse
  • Theodore Mower
  • Tom Nivison
  • Peter North
  • Hugo Ohlsson
  • Oliver O’Toole
  • Richard Palumbo
  • Tom Phelps
  • Henry Pidcock
  • Max Prince
  • Mathu Pushpakumar
  • Aidan Riethmuller
  • Alexander Rosic
  • James Rossiter
  • Oliver Schnitker
  • Joseph Scopas
  • Sebastian Shanahan
  • Jack Singer
  • Nick Stack
  • William Studdert
  • Harsh Talathi
  • Nathan Taplin
  • Simon Toscan
  • Nicholas Trotter
  • Harry Tse
  • Joshua Turner
  • Hugo Walker
  • Harry Whitehead
  • Connor Whiteley
  • Harley Wijeyaratne
  • Amrit William
  • Jack Zimmerman

The College community congratulates all these Paulines on their achievements.

Student-centred projects

Creative ideas pour out of universities every day, not the least of these come from students seeking to make a difference to society. Not surprisingly St Paul’s is a crucible of student creativity, underlined by its fundamental collegiality and its very strong links into its alumni community.

Two projects on the go might interest Paulines young and old are Ikigai and Piknic.

Ikigai (Japanese) “a reason to get up in the morning” was founded by Jason Zhu He (UG BSc I) with Lachlan Pullar (2013-15). Jason would love for old Paulines to get involved by being filmed and simply sharing their life and professional experience on video that will be accessed by thousands of high school and university students from the Ikigai website. For more contact Jason on jzhuhe@gmail.com, or see ikigainetwork.io.

Piknic was founded by Jethro Mahon (GH MComm III) and is a start-up that will connect students needing casual work with employers. Ideally suited for the hospitality sector Jethro’s AI-based application provides a low cost alternative for employers and a free service to students connecting them to work opportunities from their devices. Jethro would also love to hear from old Paulines in industries that need casual staff at the click of a button. For more contact Jethro on 0400 550 088 or see piknic.com.au.