St Brigid’s Catholic College Year 12 leaders for 2023 including captains Ben McCulkin and Bridget McLear and vice captains Brooke Elwell and Cooper Sweeney.
Bridget McLear — Year 12 Captain
I am one of the two college captains here at St Brigid’s Catholic College Lake Munmorah, my role entails responsibilities such as being the voice for students, being a role model for my peers, leading school events and masses, and being an advocate for change while continuing to develop my leadership skills.
I decided to pursue the role of college captain as I have always aspired to be a voice for the youth and to be a role model for my peers as well as inspiring them to achieve their full potential. I value being the person that is chosen to represent the values of the college at events both internally and externally.
At school, my passions fall under Drama and Performing Arts. I’m currently studying Drama as a part of my HSC course as well as studying it outside of school, I also take part in a range of extra-curricular activities for performing arts within the school, and I participate and perform in a range of school productions as well as competing in competitions.
Ben McCulkin — Year 12 Captain
My position involves working with a team of amazing leaders who look after/organise fundraisers, organising college masses, looking after and hearing from the student representative captains (SRC), organising events for the college, voicing any concerns to improve for future developments of the college just to scratch the surface!
Since early on in my schooling, I had always liked the idea of taking up a leadership role and thought that it would be a good way to leave a legacy that will stay around after my time at the college is done.
I have a strong passion for connecting with other students and building a culture where they feel safe, and feel included. A goal is starting a group where young males can have a safe place where they can talk about their mental health, ask questions about growing up in todays day and age, learn about the dangers of the internet and just see where it goes from there!
Brooke Elwell — Year 12 vice-captain
My position within my school is vice-captain and it involves a range of responsibilities. I assist with helping teachers, pushing out initiatives within the school, organising and participating in masses, helping run school events, assisting in running meetings for younger school leaders as well as doing any other jobs that I am asked to help out with.
I decided to pursue this position because ever since being in Year 7 I would watch the older students be a part of the leadership group and help out the school, so I decided pretty early on that was something that I wanted to do to support and give back to the school. While starting the process of going for this position, I was initially worried about my ability to fit leadership in while being in my HSC but I knew that it was important to me to make time for leadership and give back to the school for what it has given me.
My main goal this year is to do the best that I can in my HSC while keeping my life balanced with school, leadership, work and home life. I also want to make sure that I leave the school knowing that I gave everything that I could to the leadership team and hope that as a leadership team, we will leave knowing that the leadership within the school is in a good place.
Cooper Sweeney — Year 12 vice-captain
My position consists in helping out the student body, being a voice for many students within the college and helping out wherever I can; this usually entails my experience in entertainment, where I help plan some of the logistics for our events, assemblies and masses over the school year.
Bridget touched on the election process, but over a day, we did leadership training with some of the senior leaders of our school, who provided insight into leadership; we made speeches, and the rest was history; we found out a couple of weeks later and was super happy with the results, and then we started off as a team
My skill set can be optimised as a leader. I’m well-driven and like helping other people. I think I can put forward our school values in a positive light to our school community and into our external communities.
I love music and entertainment; I aim to have a career in that industry by the end of the year. I also love all my subjects, so I’m hoping that I can do quite well in my HSC in October and then find my way after year 12
