C.A.S. Hawker Scholars

Jae Brieffies is one the highest on the list of high achievers. She completed an extraordinary number of achievements during her time at Willetton Senior High School in Western Australia. She comes from a family of educators and that is reflected in her academic prowess and commitment to her education. Jae fully embraced all of the opportunities offered during her secondary education.

She is a talented cellist and a capable netball player and swimmer. She was a member of the Student Council and was voted Head Girl in her final year. As Head Girl she was a driving force behind many school and community initiatives including the Student Council Forum where she facilitated younger students to have their voices and ideas heard in decisions affecting the school. Jae was a part of the school’s senior debating team, winning the state division in 2018.

Jae was an enthusiastic participant at UN Youth events including the 2017 Sustainable Development in Africa Summit, the 2018 State Conference and the 2018 Evatt Trophy Competition. This sparked her lasting passion for diplomacy and international affairs.

In 2019 Jae was a Western Australian Delegate to the National Schools Constitutional Convention and completed her Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, undertaking her residential project in Vietnam where she spent two weeks trekking, travelling and building an amenities block at a rural school.

In 2020 Jae volunteered at the Volunteer Building Cambodia Community Centre. This is a school which provides English and IT education in a rural Cambodian village where there are few opportunities to gain skills. Observing the resource strain on the school, Jae set up a teacher mentorship program which involved

bi-weekly tutoring sessions for the young teachers in Cambodia to support them in their own English learning and to enhance the English skills being passed on to their students.

Jae is a student who takes pride in her academic pursuits. She was part of the Gifted and Talented program at Willetton and was equally talented in Humanities and Maths/Sciences. She won numerous academic and curriculum-based prizes.

She is an avid language learner. Jae participated in the Western Australian Association of Teachers of Italian exam from 2017 to 2019. She consistently placed in the top 3 students in the state. In creative writing, she was awarded the Katharine Susannah Pritchard Short Fiction Youth Awards in 2017 and first prize in the Poetry Youth Awards in 2018.

In 2017 she was awarded the Willetton Rotary Academic Achievement Award for the top performing academic student at Willetton Senior High School.

She consistently received top results throughout her senior school years. She was DUX of her 350 strong student class in 2018 and 2019. She graduated in 2019 with an ATAR of 99.7, a Certificate of Distinction and a Certificate of Excellence in Modern History, placing her within the top 0.5% of academic performers in that subject.

One of the most formative experiences of her secondary education was winning the 2017 Simpson Prize for Western Australia. Her award-winning essay was on the historical significance of the Western Front in World War I. The prize took Jae on a two-week journey to the Western Front to observe and appreciate the devastating sacrifice of Australian soldiers in WWI. The experience instilled in her a deep dedication to diplomacy and international politics as a means of peaceful conflict resolution. It inspired her passion for politics and provided a sense of empathy for suffering people. These influences remain driving forces behind her educational and career choices. The experiences of C.A.S. Hawker on the Western Front in WW1 have certainly resonated with Jae.

Integrity, a strong spirit of community and giving back are the essence of Jae Brieffies. She is a responsible and mature young woman with a determination to achieve her goals and make the world a better place. There is no doubt she will succeed in this life quest.

She is an outstanding young woman and a deserved winner of a C.A.S. Hawker Scholarship.