Sydney school leaders share their hopes for 2024

Parramatta Marist High School Westmead school leaders Jean-Paul Boutros and Joseph Baini
Jean-Paul Boutros and Joseph Baini.

School’s back for another year and Sydney’s brightest, creative and talented students are leading the way to motivate their peers as captains.

Meet our young and upcoming leaders for 2024:

Jean-Paul Boutros – School Captain

I am 17 years old and I am a proud student at Parramatta Marist High School, using faith, confidence and resilience to approach school with a positive attitude.

In year 12, I am studying advanced English, maths Extension 2, biology and physics. My passion for maths and religion has been exemplified by successfully completing the HSC for three units of maths and one unit of SOR in year 11 through our school’s accelerated program, obtaining outstanding results.

One of the reasons I applied for school captain was to take students along a journey of ambition and resilience, and I am humbled by the fact that students from all year groups already felt comfortable to reach out, seek guidance and find hope through faith.

This was pivotal in upholding the responsibility of school captain, becoming a vessel for transparency and openness, both within my grade and the broader school community.

Post-high school studies, I have a few career options I’m interested in pursuing. These include engineering, either aeronautic or biomedical, actuary studies or even entering the medical field for research and/or specialisation.

These ideas, each unique in their own way, will allow me to showcase my leadership style while extending my passion for maths and sciences.

Joseph Baini – Vice-Captain

I am 17 years old and my favourite subject is science, in particular biology and chemistry.

I have been awarded this amazing opportunity to be the vice-captain of Parramatta Marist, a role which I am very grateful and excited to have as it will allow me to work alongside Jean-Paul, the school captain, to give back to the community that we have gained so much from.

Through the leadership opportunities I have been exposed to in the past, I have found great joy in seeing others achieve through my guidance, this is one of the reasons why I chose to run for captaincy.

My aim in this captaincy is to be able to work with and inspire my peers as part of a community and to lead and work for the betterment of others, supporting each other at all times to achieve our best.

Moreover, I hope that in my time as a leader, I can strengthen our community in and out of the school by inspiring actions of unity and collaboration towards the common good.

As such, I aspire to leave a legacy behind at Parramatta Marist that encourages future students to strive towards excellence for both themselves and others.

Whether it be through something as small as a hello on the street or as big as a community-wide initiative, I am hopeful my guidance can inspire actions to continue to improve this community.

While the year ahead will be an extremely busy one, being a student working towards sitting the HSC, it at times will be daunting but I look forward to the opportunities ahead.

I hope to enter a degree in the field of medicine where I can continue to help others through my work.

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