Honouring Early Career Stage Teachers from 4 Hobsons Bay Secondary Schools:
Left to right: Past Rotary Governor Michael Lapina, Grace Hopton (Williamstown High School), Sam Chandler and Hannah Bridges (Emmanuel College), Peter Jin and Isabella Baronio (Bayside College), Nadia Segovia and Stephanie Ciantar (Altona P-12 College) and MP for Williamstown, Hon. Melissa Horne.
A record twenty-five local Teachers and Support Staff from four Hobsons Bay High Schools were honoured at the 2025 Hobsons Bay Rotary Education Excellence Awards on October 21.
Organised by Rotary Altona City, these awards recognise early career stage and experienced teachers individually, together with team awards for teachers or support staff. Awardees are nominated by school leadership teams and recognised publicly, providing deep affirmation.
Following an inspirational keynote address by NSW Rotarian Rebecca Fry, titled “From Chemistry Class to Changemaker” Williamstown MP, Hon. Melissa Horne, presented Rotary Vocational Award Certificates to eight early career stage teachers, three experienced teachers, and four teams who came from Altona P-12 College, Bayside College, Emmanuel College and Williamstown High School.
Citations for the early career stage teachers in the photo above were presented in full by Past Rotary Governor, Michael Lapina, honouring the preparation by the respective school leaders involved. Some common themes reflected in these encouragement awards included dedication to students' learning and well-being, acceptance of responsibility, impact, collaboration with colleagues, openness to feedback plus a commitment to continuous improvement. They were all warmly congratulated by Past Governor Michael, himself an educator.
Achievement awards for more experienced teachers went to Kate Pearson (Bayside College), Sarah Lyons (Emmanuel College) and Susy Sutherland (Emmanuel College) These citations were presented by Rotarian Anne Morton, herself a (retired) school Principal.
Team awards went to the International Student Program and Attendance teams at Bayside College and the Administration and Year 7 Level Coordination Teams at Williamstown High School. In presenting the Team Awards, Past President Lenore Thorton (a school Principal, retired) highlighted, from experience, the essential importance of team work in today’s schools.
