2017 Dux of WACE visits Indonesian classes 

Study skill, setting goals, overcoming hurdles, and coping with failures. These are questions that are ever-present and ubiquitous in the daily life experience of Scotch students. These are the topics of the questions that students in two Indonesian classes asked Lewis  Weeda , a past Indonesian student and the highest achieving at Scotch to date. He had just completed his final exams at the University of Western Australia (UWA), double majoring in biomedical science and Indonesian. During his time at university, Lewis had also won grants that had allowed him to go on multiple study trips to Indonesia.

During   his visit on Monday 16 November, Lewis spoke to two groups of students, a Year 10 Language Acquisition class and a Year 12 combined IB Diploma and WACE class. Other than addressing the topics above, he  also shared his past experience as a learner of Indonesian language and culture. He also showed the current students a wider perspective on the academic pathways that they can take in the near future, up to and including at university.

       

Lewis' input was invaluable as not only was he the 2017 Dux of  WACE  but he also finished his Year 12 studies at Scotch with six subjects that he completed with high marks. He was also at the top of the state in Indonesian for that year. According to Lewis, his aptitude and fluency in Indonesian has opened a number of opportunities. Aside from the academic opportunities, it had also allowed him to be more culturally sensitive and to connect with Perth's large Indonesian community. 

A number of students testified to the benefit of Lewis' visit to how they are developing their own perspectives on their respective academic future. Year 12 Indonesian WACE student Tom Westcott remarked that it was "immensely beneficial to talk to someone like Lewis – someone who graduated with exemplary high school results and understand the ins-and-outs of studying. I certainly learnt one or two things about bettering my studies in the Indonesian language course." He also recommends others to talk to other Old Boys for this reason.

Likewise, fellow Year 12 student Oscar Clement, who is undertaking the IB Diploma program, thought that Lewis' presentation gave them a good strategy. "It had lots of insights on how to make learning Indonesian part of daily life in an enjoyable way," he said. He also appreciated how Lewis had opened his eyes to the various exciting opportunities for studying and speaking Indonesian beyond school. Finally, Year 10 Indonesian student Caelan  Browne, who is seriously considering doing Indonesian next school year, found the meeting informative and motivating. "Hearing from a student who is committed to learning Indonesian inspires me to do the same," he enthused. 

Wilfred Liauw and Jonathan Tay
Indonesian Teachers