Guests were warmly welcomed by the school’s Chaplain Glen Treble, Deputy Principal Gordon Oldham and current Year 10 Traralgon Secondary School Captains, Chloe Ellen and Layla Graham.

A highlight of the morning was the return of Class of 2020 alumnus, Jesse Buhagiar, who attended St Paul’s Traralgon Campus from three-year-old kinder to Year 10, completing VCE at the Warragul Campus, and is now studying a Bachelor of at Biomedical Engineering at Monash University.

Despite having a final university exam that afternoon, Jesse returned to share heartfelt advice with the upcoming VCE students, emphasising the importance of good study habits, avoiding distractions, and, above all, supporting each other through the final years of schooling.

Reflecting on his own VCE experience at the Warragul Campus, he encouraged the cohort to embrace the opportunity of completing their senior years locally in Traralgon.

“I loved my time at Warragul,” he said. “However, if you asked every single student from my Traralgon Year 10 class, I can almost guarantee that every single person would say you’re living the dream to have VCE here.”

He noted the value of time saved from commuting – time that could now be invested in study, work, sport or volunteering.

A few weeks prior to the event, students attended a dedicated VCE assembly led by the Traralgon Secondary School’s Academic Leadership Team. The session outlined what to expect from the two-year journey ahead, including a comprehensive array of VCE subject offerings that meet university entrance requirements (subject to student interest and selections) and the exciting new facilities in the pipeline: the transformation of the old library building into a new Year 7 Centre by 2026, and the building of a new purpose-built VCE Centre and Specialist Hub ready by 2027.