Edstart

26/11/2025

Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Edstart Achievement Awards!

🎭 Performing and Visual Arts
- Madison Eve Riquelme - St Monica's College Epping (VIC)

💚 Environmental and Social Impact
- Amindi Elvadura - Perth Modern School (WA)

🚀 Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Daniel Cox - The Scots College (NSW)

💪 Sport and Physical Wellbeing
- Lara Pearson - Wangaratta District Specialist School (VIC)

We’re excited to recognise the achievements of these incredible students with an award and a $2,000 grant to support their initiative or training.

24/11/2025

With the 2025 Edstart Achievement Awards winner announcement just around the corner, meet the amazing finalists in the Performing and Visual Arts category!

🖌️ Jahluvi Mtanda - Ballarat Christian College P-12 (VIC)
What started as a love for experimenting with colours and textures has grown into an art business where Jahluvi uses his creativity as a tool for connection. Through his ‘Brush for Balance’ project he hopes to inspire kids to explore their creativity, step away from their screens and discover the healing power of art.

🩰 Ava Young - Riverside Christian College (QLD)
At just 15, Ava has already won numerous national and international competitions, trained at The Royal Ballet School and English National Ballet School, and this September began the prestigious year-round program at San Francisco Ballet School.

🎨 Madison Eve Riquelme - St Monica's College Epping (VIC)
Fourteen-year-old writer and cartoonist has been using her passion for social advocacy to amplify voices often overlooked and shine a light on issues like homelessness and domestic violence. Now, Madison wants to write and illustrate a series of children’s books inspired by real-life stories to help young people understand and talk about these big topics.

🎭 Hamish Monger - The McDonald College (NSW)
Hamish is not only a talented performer but he’s passionate about empowering teens to produce and perform their own original theatre. Through his youth-led theatre company and upcoming podcast, Hamish is dedicated to making sure young artists are heard, supported and celebrated.

🖼️ Lilianah Brownhall - Downlands College (QLD)
Driven by a belief in the transformative power of art, Lilianah explores complex themes such as perception and contemporary philosophy, creating work that encourages audiences to reflect. With a goal to turn her passion into a professional career, Lilianah is creating a mixed-media body of work to be entered into exhibitions and competitions.

🩰 Claudia Moore - The McDonald College (NSW)
With 15 years of classical ballet training already under her belt, Claudia is now embarking on a two year trainee program at Tulsa Ballet - one of America’s leading ballet companies - all while completing her HSC remotely.

20/11/2025

Learn more about the exciting initiatives some of our Innovation and Entrepreneurship finalists are working on in this year’s Edstart Achievement Awards!

🚀 Parham Rahmani - Brisbane State High School (QLD)
Driven by his passion to turn ambitious ideas into real-world solutions that improve people’s lives, Parham is developing Hyper Focus Glasses - smart wearable glasses that track attention and eye activity, gently guiding users back on track with visual and auditory cues to help them stay focused for longer.

🚀 Prabha Thakur - Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics & Technology (QLD)
After discovering there’s a product being used in scientific research that is both unethically produced and compromises the quality of research outcomes, Prabha began working alongside a small team to build a simple, easy-to-use database that offers researchers alternative and more ethical options.

🚀 Roy Mahajan - Cherrybrook Public School (NSW)
Twelve-year-old Roy is already a published author, poet and passionate youth advocate, now focused on helping children build healthier habits in an increasingly digital world. Inspired by his dad’s advice to keep a safe distance from his screen, Roy created iCare - a digital wellness app designed to help parents guide their children toward better screen habits and more mindful tech use.

🚀 Lara Mhanna - Kilbreda College (VIC)
After noticing that many young girls were seeking guidance while some older women were feeling lonely and overlooked, Lara’s idea for Her Power, Our Future was born - a program that aims to build intergenerational connection through storytelling, writing and mentorship, offering a safe space where young girls can share their challenges and dreams, and older women can offer wisdom and support.

🚀 Troy Casey - Mount Lilydale Mercy College (VIC)
Combining a love for the beach, his passion for creating and a vision for building a community centred around the coastal lifestyle, Troy launched his brand Pure Surf. From designing products and building the website to creating content and developing an ambassador program, he’s already growing his community with hopes of becoming a leading youth surf brand.

17/11/2025

Introducing some of the talented student athletes selected as finalists in the Sport and Physical Wellbeing category for our 2025 Edstart Achievement Awards!

🥅 Olivia Gargano - Ruyton Girls' School (VIC)
At just 16, Olivia has already represented Australia three times in ice hockey and spent two years overseas chasing high performance training. Beyond her achievements on the ice, she’s also a strong advocate for female participation in sport, being selected in the inaugural School Sports Victoria Leadership group as well as helping to secure a government grant to deliver an on-ice development program for women.

🚴 Presley Scouller-Evans - Novoschool (NSW)
Combining a passion for orienteering - something Presley has practiced since he was five - with his mountain biking skills, Presley has been competing in Mountain Bike Orienteering (MTBO) for the past two years. With multiple national titles under his belt, Presley is now chasing his next goal of making the Australian Junior U20 MTBO team.

🏃‍♀️ Lara Pearson - Wangaratta District Specialist School (VIC)
Beginning her athletics journey a little over a year ago, Lara already has some incredible achievements to her name - not only did she break four national records at her first ever competition, she broke the Youth World Record in the 200m at this year’s Virtus World Athletics Championship. As a proud T20 athlete from a small town, Lara hopes to inspire others from regional communities on her journey to the Brisbane Paralympics.

⚽ Zachary Holston - Central Coast Sports College (NSW)
Alongside his rigorous training regime and commitment to becoming a professional goalkeeper, Zachary has launched a Goalkeeper Academy at his school - mentoring young athletes, developing their skills, building their confidence, and creating a pathway for future success.

🏑 Matilda Pelham - Loreto College, Marryatville, SA (SA)
Since falling in love with hockey as a child, Matilda has been driven to compete at the highest level. She’s represented South Australia in six state teams and was recently selected in the U15 All Australian Team. Now she’s focused on making the U18 and U21 State Teams for 2026, with her sights set on representing Australia at the 2032 Olympics.

13/11/2025

Meet some of our incredible Edstart Achievement Award finalists in the Environmental and Social Impact category who are leading the way towards a better future!

🟢 Emma Myers - Immanuel Lutheran College (QLD)
Inspired by her research into habitat fragmentation and its devastating impacts on wildlife, such as koalas, Emma aims to launch a large-scale project focused on rebuilding wildlife corridors across central Sunshine Coast - creating safer ways for animals to move between forested areas and helping reduce wildlife deaths caused by traffic.

🟢 Minh Trinh - Caroline Chisholm Catholic College (VIC)
Driven by his passion for sustainability and social justice, Minh along with his school’s Eco Committee have set out to tackle the problem of food insecurity by utilising garden beds at their local community centre to grow and distribute vegetables to vulnerable members of the community. However, with increasing demand, Minh is now hoping to expand this project and install an additional 5 garden beds at his school to keep up with the ongoing need.

🟢 Mackenzie Li - Mac.Robertson Girls' High School (VIC)
After hearing countless stories of young people, especially from marginalised groups, feeling dismissed or unheard in healthcare spaces, Mackenzie founded The Aletheia Project - a health advocacy initiative that aims to improve access to inclusive health education through workshops, storytelling and youth-friendly resources to empower young people to confidently navigate healthcare.

🟢 Daniel Cox - The Scots College (NSW)
During an eye-opening trip to Vietnam, Daniel was inspired by the resilience of children living in challenging conditions. This experience led him to launch a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the wellbeing of children in Vietnam’s most remote and underserved communities. Since founding the organisation in 2023 Daniel has already led a number of projects and is now developing a bamboo basket cooling carrier - an innovation to extend the cool life of milk vital for at-risk infants, being collected by mothers making long and frequent trips.

10/11/2025

📣 Finalist announcement 📣

Congratulations to our finalists of the 2025 Edstart Achievement Awards - selected out of hundreds of nominations from students across Australia.

💚 Environmental and Social Impact
- Amindi Elvadura - Perth Modern School (WA)
- Daniel Cox - The Scots College (NSW)
- Emma Myers - Immanuel Lutheran College (QLD)
- Mackenzie Li - The Mac.Robertson Girls' High School (VIC)
- Minh Trinh - Caroline Chisholm Catholic College (VIC)
- Vicky Chen - Methodist Ladies' College (VIC)

💪 Sport and Physical Wellbeing
- Joshua Brass - Canterbury College (QLD)
- Lara Pearson - Wangaratta District Specialist School (VIC)
- Matilda Pelham - Loreto College Marryatville (SA)
- Olivia Gargano - Ruyton Girls' School (VIC)
- Presley Scouller-Evans - Novoschool (NSW)
- Zachary Holston - Central Coast Sports College (NSW)

🚀 Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Daniel Cox - The Scots College (NSW)
- Lara Mhanna - Kilbreda College (VIC)
- Parham Rahmani - Brisbane State High School (QLD)
- Prabha Thakur - Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology (QLD)
- Roy Mahajan - Cherrybrook Public School (NSW)
- Troy Casey - Mount Lilydale Mercy College (VIC)

🎭 Performing and Visual Arts
- Ava Young - Riverside Christian College (QLD)
- Claudia Moore - The McDonald College (NSW)
- Hamish Monger - The McDonald College (NSW)
- Jahluvi Mtanda - Ballarat Christian College (VIC)
- Lilianah Brownhall - Downlands College (QLD)
- Madison Eve Riquelme - St Monica's College Epping (VIC)

Winners will be announced at the end of this month - stay tuned!

26/10/2025

Final chance for students to nominate for this year’s Edstart Achievement Awards and be recognised with a $2,000 awards grant to help fund a project, initiative or training across innovation and entrepreneurship, social and environmental impact, performing and visual arts, and sport.

Nominations close at the end of the week on Friday, 31 October.

Full details and nominate at https://edstart.com.au/award

24/10/2025

Meet our team: Having previously worked in both the childcare and banking sectors, Jessie is able to draw on her experience and knowledge as part of the specialist team looking after families at our partner schools.

We took the opportunity to talk with Jessie to find out a bit more about her and the important work our Family Support team does in assisting parents and their school fee payments.

Read more: https://edstart.com.au/blog/meet-our-team-jessie/

20/10/2025

Here’s an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to be in the running for a $2,000 awards grant to kickstart an awesome idea or further progress their business venture.

Now in its fifth year, the Edstart Achievement Awards recognises primary and secondary students across a range of categories, including Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Full details and nominate at https://edstart.com.au/award

Edstart Achievement Awards Program

06/10/2025

Every action counts when it comes to protecting our planet. Here’s an opportunity for students to take their environmental initiative to the next level and make an even bigger difference.

The Edstart Achievement Awards is a chance for primary and high school students to be recognised with a $2,000 awards grant to help fund something they’re passionate about.

Full details and nominate at https://edstart.com.au/award

Edstart Achievement Awards Program