2023 College DUX, Evelyn Noone

2023 College Dux, Evelyn Noone returned to the College for the Term 1 Opening of the Year Assembly. Evelyn, accepted her College Dux award and shared her VCE journey with the students. She delivered an inspirational speech, offering words of wisdom to current students, emphasising the importance of balance during their final Year 12 of study.

The College conducted an interview with Evelyn to discuss her achievements in Year 12, gain insight into her aspirations for the future, and gathered advice for current students about to start Year 12.

Good morning everyone, 

My name’s Evelyn and I will be using the next few minutes to tell you about my whirlwind of a final year at school. It turns out Mr Senior wasn’t lying when he told us that year 12 would be the best and worst year of our lives. I’m not sure how I feel about proving him right. Firstly, for me at least, the transformative journey I embarked on in 2023 had very little to do with schoolwork or the everyday and everything to do with the circumstances in which I felt myself become me, the woman I am and the woman I want to be. I decided what I didn’t have to put up with, what I could endure, how I should advocate for myself and the importance of empathy for others. Basically, how I view the world and all its beauty and the people in it trying their absolute best to exist with no more understanding of purpose than I have, has evolved drastically. Maybe the existential cortex of the brain only fully develops once you reach 17, who knows. 

Shockingly, the biggest thing I learned was that doing what you love does actually yield success. I came into 2023 without the intention of doing art or history. Obviously the universe thought I needed some serious help because my top two scores were in Art Making and Exhibiting and History: Revolutions. I, desperate to prove myself, subconsciously thought I shouldn’t do what I was interested in and instead make my life as hard as possible. I went to one art class and one history class and there was no way I was picking up physics after Mr Senior excitedly explained the estates system of pre-revolutionary France or after Miss Tyler seemed so interested in the oil paintings I ‘only did for fun’. For anyone wondering, you are allowed to so what is fun and what makes you excited about life. No one thing makes you better or less than anyone else but doing what you’re passionate about does make you happier. I have always been a painter, but it shocks me how I never once considered paintings as a viable plan for the future. And so, after years of being a science gal I find myself as college Dux overjoyed at the fact that this year I will be studying a Bachelor of Fine Art at Melbourne University, a course which required many applications and a nervous folio presentation but not an ATAR, and I could not be prouder. The upcoming display of my final oil paintings at the NGV as a part of their annual Top Arts exhibition also helps. 

Art and creativity are the things which I find to connect every aspect of my life together. When I can’t seem to form the words to tell someone I love them a painting for their birthday does the same, a movie can perfectly express how I feel about a certain topic, I process big events by writing my heart out until it makes sense and when a friend sends me a song they think I’d like I feel what It is so be alive. Similarly, when Miss Hunter took over as our Art Making and Exhibiting teacher at the beginning of Term 3, she did so with unrelenting enthusiasm and genuine love for each student and the art they put so much of themselves into. She gets it. My series of oil paintings were created by first taking film photo references of still life scenes personal to me, I then painted the scenes with oils which blended two mediums and therefore passions together. Miss Hunter backed this idea 100% and If it weren’t for her unending dedication, I would not be an exhibiting artist of the National Gallery of Victoria right now. Before year 12, I hadn’t taken an art class since year 9 and despite having no idea what I was doing I was welcomed warmly, and that class became the highlight of my day, week and year. I think everyone should pay a little more attention to the insane talent, passion and hard work that comes through there.

History Revolutions with Mr Senior was another once in a lifetime class full of insane occurrences and joyous curiosity at how humans have always been absolutely unhinged. Highlights within history included using jellybeans as money, being Lenin in our long term history game and secretly supplying the class with what I called ‘Communist Confectionary’, trying and failing to spell bourgeoise, standing and performing La Marseilles before every lesson, wearing a red ribbon around my neck for a good couple of weeks because my political group, the Girondins were guillotined and actually fighting the P.E. class with wooden swords in a re-enactment of the Austrian War. In all honesty, when I dreaded getting up in the morning and walked around the school with my resting disgruntled face, history never failed to make me laugh, you just couldn’t help it when you weren’t allowed to ask a question without first saying ‘All hail the Tzar’. I hope I’m not spilling too many secrets and instead convincing some of you to come to the dark side and take history.  

Despite all these great things about school and people like Ms Matthews to give you crossword puzzles or Mr Smollen to convince you why infinity doesn’t exist, for me and many others it isn’t where we feel most ourselves, which is absolutely fine. I work in a cinema, and nothing is more therapeutic than main character dancing around an empty cinema, going up into the projection room and secretly watching the movie through that little window at the top, running from the rats which inhabit the alleyway or laughing at everyone dressing up for a new release. I went to many fancy-dress parties with amazing costumes, read sad books and listened to angry music, painted into the early hours of the morning, became obsessed with film photography and am therefore broke, did a self-defence class, got stuck on a train, jumped in a freezing pool, saw Paramore, and cut all my hair off. 

If you can make the most of it, good for you but don’t worry if you can’t – do whatever makes your day easier instead. High School is not your life, who you are in high school is not who you will become, there is so much more ahead of you and things will be not just okay but more exciting, joyous, insane, chaotic and life-affirming than you could ever imagine. Year 12s, I remember bitterly watching the person who had to get up here at the start of every year and thinking ‘well yeah I’m sure your life is great, you’re done now’ and yes that’s true but time always passes, its passing right now and whether you like it or not you will get through it. Trust me, I’ve been out of school from 2 months now and that makes me an expert. Thank you all for listening and having me back, I look forward to catching up and moving steadily forward. Have an amazing 2024!