14 June 2016

My name is Isaac Travers-Hucker and I attend Saint Joseph’s College, Geelong. I was a recipient of the Father James Wall Bursary. I am extremely honoured to be one of only four winners of this prestigious award. This bursary is one that I am incredibly grateful to have received.

I believe I was selected due to my leadership abilities, my social work in the community and my academic progress. I have been involved in the Saint Joseph’s leadership team ever since my enrolment in 2012. Leadership is a quality that I pride myself on. Over the course of my leadership career, I have helped cater and organise events such as the annual Edmund Rice day which raises funds for impoverished areas in Africa and provides revenue for the Edmund Rice camps.

Community service is an aspect of modern life which can sometimes be overlooked or dismissed as unnecessary. The feeling when helping someone is both indescribable and incomparable. I have assisted in community service opportunities such as environmental protection, aged care, and soup vans. I am grateful to my school for providing me with these opportunities.

My time throughout my secondary education has been spent focused on my studies. After I graduate, I hope to pursue a career in Law so I am able to help those who need it most. In order to achieve this dream of mine, I require the utmost diligence for my subjects. I have won numerous school-based awards for Italian, English and Literature, Mathematics and Technology. I have also participated in school-based competitions which include the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) Titration competition as well as the Science and Engineering challenge that Deakin University offers.

One of my greatest achievements however, is being selected to participate in a study tour of Europe, travelling in the footsteps of the ANZAC’s in World War I. I was one of twelve recipients of the Premier’s Spirit of ANZAC Prize. This has been the most influential experience of my life, as I gained a vast amount of insight into a topic very close to my heart.

Winning this bursary has lifted significant weight off of the shoulders of my father. I will always be grateful for the work he has done in my life, and now, with this bursary, a significant financial burden has been lifted.

None of this would have been possible without the close guidance of my teachers, family and friends. Especially Mr Simon Taylor, who believed in me and helped me reach this point in my life.

Congratulations to all four students who have won the 2015 Father James Wall Bursary Award: 

• Aisha Buckle from Academy of Mary Immaculate, Fitzroy
• Sophie Dowling from Sacred Heart College, Newtown
• Piwainashe Kahonde from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, Bentleigh
• Isaac Travers-Hucker from St Joseph’s College, Newtown.

These bursaries reward leadership achievement in 2015 in Year 10 students who demonstrated a high degree of leadership and leadership potential both in the school and in the community, a commitment to be inclusive and collaborative and to make a difference, an emphasis on helping others in a range of service areas, and overall academic excellence. 

The Father James Wall Bursary awards have been sponsored by the Catholic Development Fund since 2002. The bursaries provide assistance with school fees and other expenses incurred while studying Years 11 and 12 in a Catholic college in the Archdiocese of Melbourne or the Diocese of Sale. 

The Most Reverend Denis Hart DD, Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne presented the certificates together with the bursaries to the successful students at a Presentation Ceremony held earlier this year.