St Anne’s College 2024 Year 12 graduate Charlie Martinek.
Photo by
Kelly Carmody
YEAR 12 GRADUATE CHARLIE MARTINEK REFLECTS ON HIS BITTERSWEET HIGH SCHOOL JOURNEY, EMBRACING NEW OPPORTUNITIES WHILE CHERISHING THE FRIENDSHIPS AND EXPERIENCES HE’S GAINED ALONG THE WAY.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Charlie Martinek has come to the end of his high school journey and says the moment is ‘bittersweet’.
“You know, it’s such a big part of your life for such a long time and then it’s just over, per se,” the St Anne’s College Year 12 graduate said.
“But there’s definitely advantages; I’m happy to be out in the workforce to start making money to be able to put aside for travel, but I’m definitely going to miss the fun times with friends.”
Even though he said school was pretty laidback and he didn’t personally find it too difficult, it wasn’t all fun and games.
With his sights set on his next educational goal — a law degree — he had to apply himself throughout his two VCE years to ensure he could achieve an ATAR score of 80 or higher.
He fast-tracked his Business Management studies last year and took on English, Methods, Economics and Physical Education this year.
He’s hoping to be accepted into Deakin or Monash universities and to be able to study online, while simultaneously working full-time at his family’s quarry.
Concrete sand and law might seem worlds apart to some, but Charlie can see where the two meet.
“I’m not planning on practising law per se, but would do it as a family lawyer to help the business,” Charlie said.
While he has already had some hands-on experience working part-time at the quarry during his studies, he is looking forward to familiarising himself with operating all the machinery and learning the ins and outs of the business full-time for the first couple of years.
He will then decide if he wants to continue that or continue studying to take up a more managerial/lawyer role in the business.
“Only time will tell; I’ll play it by ear,” Charlie said.
Charlie started at St Anne’s in Year 9 after returning to the area from England with his family.
He’d been there playing soccer and supporting his older brother, who was at boarding school there.
The family made its way back home when COVID-19 hit, deciding they needed to be at the family base, the farm.
“That’s when the business started to kick off really,” Charlie said.
Charlie no longer plays soccer after a bad injury benched him and he lost his passion for the sport.
Now he prefers Jiu-jitsu and going to the gym.
Even though the school had been established a couple of years by the time he enrolled, Charlie said he wasn’t immune to the challenges that came with being a student in the inaugural year level.
He said he found the school wasn’t as “set-up” as other schools he’d attended, but that “all in all, they pulled it off towards the end”.
“Having teachers like Jamie Kelly (an English and Economics teacher) made it super easy and comfortable experience going through Year 12,” Charlie said.
He said the biggest change during his four years at the college was mostly within him.
As he studied his way up the levels, he began to put more pressure on himself.
“Everything starts to matter a bit more,” Charlie said.
“Like last year with business, it was the only subject I was focusing on, so I put that a bit higher than everything else, whereas this year it’s four or five subjects that are important and every SAC you do does count, does matter if you want to go to uni.
“And even if you don’t, there’s other pathways anyway.”
Some of his favourite memories include cooking, making beef jerky, market day and camps, particularly this year’s camp to Healesville.
He said his Year 12 year had been eventful and enjoyable, with lots of celebrations towards the end.
His parting words of advice to the incoming Year 12 cohort were to not leave anything on the table.
“If you can do it, you might as well do it,” Charlie said.
“You’re here, even if you’re not going to use the score, it’s still nice to have it.”
