BSSC Year 12 student, Emily McCooke, clearly remembers how impressed she was at her first Year 11 assembly when she realised her new college shared her family’s core values.
Her parents set a high standard for tolerance and accepting others for who they are, and raised Emily and her brother to appreciate that everyone has different life situations.
“Dale Pearce’s welcome to us made me realise BSSC was an incredibly inclusive place.
“I often tell people about the welcoming quality of the college, as well as the variety of subjects on offer—which is actually a kind of inclusion too.”
Emily’s found the independence and freedom students are given has inspired a strong sense of being treated like an adult.
“Teachers don’t nag you if you haven’t done the work, BUT they do praise the students who have,” she says. “And, if you are getting behind and ask for help, they will do everything to support you.”
She has also discovered other teachers are often happy to help if her subject teacher is not available.
Her Year 12 course includes Phys Ed, Biology, Outdoor Education, Allied Health, and English. Allied Health is her favourite subject—ideal for someone on a pathway to study paramedicine.
“Allied Health is very hands-on, and we have an exceptional prac space, so it’s more like real life.”
The inspiration for a career as a paramedic has been there for a long time. Emily’s dad and grandfather have both suffered serious illnesses requiring an ambulance. Each time, she was impressed by the way the paramedics cared for her family members.
In 2021, she had a motorbike accident and cracked one of her thoracic vertebrae.
“I remember how amazingly they looked after me, and how safe I felt.”
This experience sealed her decision, and she plans to study at La Trobe in Bendigo or enrol in a double degree in Nursing & Paramedicine at ACU in Ballarat. Her long-term goal is to become a Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance (MICA) paramedic.
In the meantime, when she sits down to study, Emily always has music playing—she’s a huge Chris Stapleton fan—and makes sure there’s tons of natural light and fresh air.
“Then it’s head down and bum up for an hour, followed by a short break, then on to the next subject. I often find it’s while I’m outside shooting netball goals that something I’ve been unsure about suddenly clarifies.”
Emily does not find VCE particularly stressful and keeps things simple by giving her studies her best shot without overthinking it. She attributes her attitude to the way she’s been raised to do her best and not to stress after that.
If she could go back and give her younger self some advice, it would include the saying, ‘You don’t get what you wish for, you get what you work for’.
“I know my goals, I know I’m working towards them, and I know there are a number of pathways into this career.
“I do know you can still work hard and not reach a goal or hope, but I also believe the right people will come along and the right situations will happen, at the right time.”
Her attitude makes it easier for this self-described ‘social butterfly’ to fit in all the other things she enjoys in her life.
Friends are incredibly important for Emily, and she’s discovered it’s so much easier to achieve her goals when she’s hanging out with good people who will have her back when the chips are down.
She describes her role at the café, Rise & Grind Axedale, as “the best part-time job” she could wish for. She also loves being part of the Mount Pleasant Football/Netball Club, where she’s now in her tenth year of playing netball.
Emily has a coaching role at the club—doing all she can to spark a love for sport she hopes will keep young netballers active throughout their lives.
Growing up on a farm inevitably brings an awareness of not only where our food comes from, but how much work is involved in growing it—and protecting it.
Two kelpies help with their sheep—one kelpie has only three legs but still manages to fulfill her role rounding up and directing the flock—and the family’s farm is fire-ready.
Her dad is a member of Mosquito Creek CFA and Emily believes being ready for fire is critical when you manage so much land.
Summer is always a time of heightened awareness for anyone living rurally, but Emily says another issue concerns her more deeply: the consequences of breakdowns in human relationships.
“We all need strong and positive relationships with the people we are close to. Social media will never replace that one-on-one presence—like how lovely it is to sit down for a meal together.
“I feel like anything that weakens or threatens the quality of family relationships and wider social connections, is something we should be seriously concerned about as a nation.”
Emily knows she is lucky having parents who really love each other and have been “just the best” role models and mentors for her and her brother.
“It’s taught me gratitude,” she says.
