International Student – Gus Bacareza finally arrives
On 3 December 2019 the school received an email from Mrs Bacareza about enrolling her son Gustave Bacareza. The Bacareza family was looking for a year 11/12 educational study plan in Australia and chose Fairhills High School.
Then COVID hit – you may remember his story in previous newsletters, where we reported his endeavour to finish his Victorian Certificate of Education in 2020 and 2021 via virtual studies.
Ms Silvana La Leggia was his Business Management teacher for 2020 – 2021. Ms Karen Dean was behind the scenes in helping Gus with his educational plan with Fairhills and Virtual School Victoria (VSV). I, Edmund was mainly supporting Gus for his VSV studies, such as supervising his SACs for the year 2021.
After all the efforts we put in, we finally had the chance to welcome Gus at Melbourne Airport on 25 February 2021 at 7:20am. I drove Gus to La Trobe University where he will be continuing his Australian Education in Nursing – thanks to his mother who inspired him to become a nurse. After settling into his student accommodation at La Trobe we then departed for our drive to the Fairhills Valedictory Afternoon Tea held at KIOSC Swinburne. Gus was welcomed by all as he was well liked and supported by his year 12 classmates via their online WebEx classes.
Finally, the day had arrived when we all got to meet Gus in person – it seemed like a miracle.
We would like to congratulate him that he has made it and wish him a happy start for years to come.
