IT’S THAT time of year again. The weather is warming up, the footy finals are looming and…… it’s educational awards season.
That’s right – the spectacular Coolum State High School Celebration of Excellence will be held on the evening of September 11 at the Pat Cavanagh Centre, Coolum State School.
Our annual Celebration of Excellence celebrates our highest achievers in academic, cultural and sporting pursuits and is a truly wonderful demonstration of the extraordinary talent we have here at Coolum High.
Last year, the music was spectacular. No one in attendance will forget the students’ performance of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Proud Mary,’ performed as a tribute to Tina Turner, who mastered the live performance of this song on stage.
This year, we have more academic award winners than ever before. One thing that is particularly striking is the number of Platinum Award winners. The Platinum Award is presented to any student who has received a Gold Award during each year of their time at high school. Our year 12s in 2024 are just remarkable!
The highlight of the ceremony is the presentation of the ‘Wandama Award,’ which is given to the Year 12 student with the highest academic scores at the time of the award presentation. It is a deeply coveted award that last year was won by Jessnee Ng, who later recorded Queensland’s perfect ATAR score – a 99.95 – with Jessnee later becoming a TJ Ryan Medallist and winning the coveted University of Queensland’s Vice Chancellor’s scholarship. Students, parents and school staff are all intrigued regarding the identity of our community’s highest scholastic achiever.
Coolum High’s ‘Celebration of Excellence’ has become a pinnacle event in our community; a night of music, celebration, recognition and remarkable achievement. It is a night when we are able to reveal the many, many high achievers in our school to the community. But the real question is….. who will win the Wandama Award in 2024?