MONIVAE College were excited to recently announce their 2025 School Captains, Phoebe Dunn and Luke Hannig.

Currently in Year 11, Phoebe and Luke are anticipating the final stretch of their senior studies and said they were enthusiastically looking forward to the role.

Living in Portland, Luke has commuted to and from school by bus every day since he joined Monivae in Year 7.

This year, he is studying Unit 1/2 in Mathematical Methods, Physics, General English, Product Design, Religious Education and a Unit 3/4 in Business Management.

In between his busy schedule of studying and travelling to and from Hamilton each day, Luke also spends his time working at a pub in Portland.

Hamilton-local Phoebe, who joined Monivae in Year 7 after attending St Mary’s Primary School in Hamilton, is also juggling a diverse academic load this year, including a Unit 1/2 in English Literature, Mathematical Methods, Biology, Outdoor Education, and Religious Education, along with Unit 3/4 Psychology.

On the sports front, Phoebe has been active in Under 17s and Division Two netball with the Hamilton Kangaroos Football Netball Club, and eagerly anticipates moving up to a senior grade team next year.

She also competes in basketball for St Mary’s in HBA’s Division 1 women’s league.

“I like my netball and my basketball in Hamilton here, and I also work at a café, I just like to get outside,” Phoebe said.

Both Luke and Phoebe are currently exploring future study options, and at this stage plan to take a gap year in 2026 before undertaking tertiary education.

The 2025 captains are excited about stepping into their new roles and shared their aspirations for what they will bring to the school.

“We just want to create a really positive environment and build on our culture, because we’ve got a lot of changes coming next year,” Phoebe said.

“We just want to make it a really welcoming, happy place - which it already is - but we just want to keep improving that.”

“I hope to kind of change peoples’ perspectives of each other, and just appreciate each other for who they are,” Luke said.

The captains both share similar ideas for what leadership means to them, which they hope to embrace as they take on the task next year.

“I think it is just being a good person to each other and treating each other with respect, setting a good example, and not being afraid to be who you are so people know that it’s ok,” Luke said.

“It’s about being a positive role model, and making people feel comfortable and that they can approach you with anything,” Phoebe added.

“We’re just really excited for next year.”