Mudgeeraba Creek State School’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) specialist and primary teacher, Megan Hayes has received the Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools, in the 2021 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science. Mrs Hayes is recognised for her outstanding work in championing the importance of STEM education for primary children, both in her community and at a national level.

As an innovative educator with more than 30 years’ teaching experience, Megan Hayes philosophy is to build the connection between science and its application in the real world for her students. She inspires students to think critically, take risks and become ‘agents of change’ for the future.

Tertiary education provides students with many things – career specific knowledge, technical skills, problem solving capabilities and personal growth among them, but one area that often isn’t addressed are the soft skills that make us better professionals in our chosen field. That’s why Study Gold Coast developed Kickstart –  a program specifically designed to provide graduates with practical workplace skills to build their effectiveness within their organisation.

Throughout the Kickstart Program participants receive varied training through experiential learning; practical and interactive workshops; as well as coaching from executive and career co-facilitators with mentoring through the completion of a significant project.

This year was the second time Kickstart had been run, with 20 participants representing 15 employers taking part in the program. Participants delivered their final presentations to an enthusiastic audience this week, with their employers proudly looking on. Employees and their employers were universally effusive in their praise for the program, with all parties recognising the mutual benefits from the experience.  

Josh Apanui’s first contact with the justice system was as an offender. But now, fuelled by a desire to give back to his community and to break down barriers for Australia’s Indigenous people, the Gold Coast man finds himself on the other side of the law, as a First Nations Legal Executive with the Queensland Law Society. 

Josh is one of three inaugural recipients of Bond University’s Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (GDLP) Indigenous Scholarship. The scholarship covers all tuition costs for the online GDLP for an indigenous student who has completed either a Bachelor of Laws or a Juris Doctor degree, and is seeking admission as a legal practitioner.