March 13, 2019
Kingaroy State High School’s office bearers for 2019 were sworn in at a special investiture ceremony held at the Performing Arts Centre last week.
Students crowded into the auditorium for the ceremony, with Year 7 watching a livestream in another room.
Kingaroy SHS principal Ashley Roediger opened proceedings with a review of last year’s Year 12 class.
He said 140 students graduated at the end of 2018. Of the 60 OP students, 23.5 per cent achieved OP scores of 1-5, which was “awesome”.
Mr Roediger said there would not be many schools in rural and remote Queensland who had achieved this sort of success.
As well, 93 per cent achieved OPs between 1 and 15 “our best result on record”.
Mr Roediger said 274 new students had joined the school in 2019, including 194 Year 7s, taking the total student population to 1060.
Ten new staff had also joined the ranks of teachers.
Coolabunia State School principal Murray Johnston was the guest speaker at the ceremony.
Mr Johnston has been at Coolabunia school for more than 30 years.
He grew up in Rosewood and began his teaching career at Nobby on the Darling Downs in 1979.
Over the years he taught at a number of rural schools including Dirranbandi and Hebel before beginning his long association with Coolabunia in 1986.
He focussed his speech on the topic of leadership.
“Leadership requires hard work and is what drives success,” he said.
“You probably cringe at times when you hear your parents and school going on and on and on about ‘do you best and don’t give up’.
“Unfortunately, they are right. They know that the only way forward in life is to have goals and to work hard to achieve them.
“Find what you love and work hard to become good at it.”
Mr Johnston also emphasised the importance of “confidence with humility”.
“No one likes a leader who is in it for accolades and power.”
The investiture ceremony included a performance by the Kingaroy SHS symphonic band, conducted by music teacher Matt Phillips.
Badges and certificates were presented to students by South Burnett mayor Keith Campbell, Taabinga State School principal Anja Janosovic, Kingaroy State School principal Russell Thompson and Mr Johnston.
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Students who were acknowledged were:
Captains
- School Captains: Brenna Prendergast & Jordan Buckley
- School Vice Captains: Xanthe Walker & Jake Sullivan
- Junior Secondary Captains: Selina Hansen & Daniel Carroll
- Junior Secondary Vice Captains: Lucy Crumpton, Stephanie Humphrey, Paige Connolly & Bridie Prendergast
Committee Chairs
- Environment – Jamie-Lee Olsen
- Social – Letisha Festino
- Cultural – Sara Barnes
- Recreation – Chendrick Andambo
- Community – Megan Frohloff
- Welfare – Laura Tessmann
- Media – Dannii Mathee
House Captains
- Bradfield – Inka Townson & Aiden Robe
- Lavarack – Talia Barkle & Declan Hutchison
- Palmer – Rayne Hunt & Campbell Roediger
- Youngman – Shaylee Hosken & Ryan Macasaet
Stefan Planinc Bursary
- Michelle Kranenburg
Kingaroy RSL Hospitality Awards
- Holly Osboldstone
- Emily Hanson
