Tell us about a mentoring moment that made a huge difference.

Trinity Year 6 student

My name is Soren, and as a Year 6 mentor, I challenged my social skills throughout the year by helping younger children acknowledging and connecting with them through a caring attitude and always positioning myself to help others, even when I felt outside of my comfort zone. One example of this included preventing disagreements from escalating in the school oval and helping students clear their frustration, which certainly boosted connections with younger students and even in my own grade.

Additionally, I feel like Trinity should be a welcoming environment for younger students, and that is only possible through the encouragement of older students. As a Year 6 mentor, my role in the school community is pushing others and be the older student through kind actions throughout school days. Overall, even though the year showed its difficulties, I believe I had an important role to play in guiding others, helping them in hard situations.

Trinity alumnus and current parent

The guidance, direction, and encouragement provided to me by Roger Kennedy, my Economics teacher and Trinity’s distance running coach, inspires me to this very day. Roger’s words set me on the path to university, and his philosophy became a defining influence on my career and family life.

Roger was a humorous and supportive teacher. Our relationship was positive; however, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that Roger was, at times, known for a directness that could sharply focus one’s attention on the wisdom that was about to be bestowed upon you.

Leading up to one particularly direct conversation, where my application to my studies had been somewhat lacking, the veracity and directness of his delivery clarified and focused my attention immediately. Roger’s message centred firmly on commitment, resilience and challenging me to be better. To make the most of the opportunities presented to me at Trinity, because I was capable of so much more.

My brother Joseph also had the good fortune of being taught and coached by Roger. Over the years, whenever we discuss business, sport, or any situation requiring a significant effort, we refer to it as needing a “Roger Kennedy effort”.

Today, my son William is in Year 7 at Trinity. On his first day earlier this year, I told him it was important to bring a “Roger Kennedy effort” to his time at Trinity. William asked, “Who’s Roger Kennedy?”

“Well,” I said, “he’s the reason you’re going to Trinity Grammar School.”

Current staff, Senior Teacher of French and Year 12 Mentor and current parent

When I started reflecting on a mentoring moment that made a huge difference, I realised it was impossible to isolate just one. As a Year 12 Mentor, the moments that matter most are often not the big, defining moments, but the smaller conversations that may seem insignificant at the time, and consistent support offered throughout the year (somewhere between discussions about ATAR, sleep routines and whether two-minute noodles count as proper nutrition).

Over the past five years, I have learned that meaningful mentoring begins with taking the time to ask, listen and hear. Every student has a different background, different pressures and different ways of responding to stress. In French, there is an expression, “être présent”: to truly be present for someone. I believe that captures the essence of mentoring.

Whether helping a student navigate the pressures of Year 12, reassuring someone who feels overwhelmed, or simply helping them choose the perfect formal outfit, mentoring is about consistently showing up for our students. Helping  young people feel supported, understood and capable during such a formative stage of life is one of the most meaningful and rewarding parts of my role.

Trinity alumnus

After years at school, where my path had been clearly laid out for me, I found it difficult to adjust during my first year out. Suddenly, there was no structure or timetable to follow, and rather than feeling liberated, I had too much freedom and no idea what to do with it. My first year out just started drifting by without any clear goals to help me use my time productively.

My uncle Shayne helped pull me out of this rut with simple but effective advice. He encouraged me to set one clear long-term goal for each area of my life (work, university and football), then map out smaller milestones to make the bigger picture feel achievable. Even when milestones weren’t always met, working towards them kept me focused and on track.

The lesson I took from this was: whenever you feel lost, set a goal and write a plan. Even if it doesn’t go as planned, you’ll have made progress you otherwise wouldn’t have.

Year 10 Media student, Cooper Gregory, explored the use of AI- assisted media production tools by utilising Firefox to generate the above animated GIFs from photographs. 

In collaboration with Media teacher, Ms Richter, he experimented with prompt engineering and preset selection to produce these animations. 

Photography by Year 10 student Jensen Barlow as part of creative Photoshop tasks: Scaled Self and Multiple Me.