Outstanding Young Alumni Awards 2019
The awards are presented to young members of the OHA who have achieved significantly in their field. They are divided into 5 categories : Business, Arts, Community, Sport and a new category in 2018, recognising those young alumni members who have made a significant impact in the field of STEM.
The award winners are as follows;
BUSINESS
Jackson Meyer (OH 2014)
Jackson is the co-founder, Director and Group Chief Executive of Verus Global. Verus Global is Asia-Pacific’s fastest growing freight forwarding and logistics business.
Iraish Thirimanna (OH 2013)
Iraish was named earlier this year in the Australian Financial Review as one of the Top 100 Future Leaders for 2019. He is an Undergraduate Engineer with a demonstrated history of working in government administration having recently completed a stint with Yarra City Council.
Jono Somers (OH 2007)
Jono is an Occupational Therapist with a passion for improving patient wellbeing within the primary healthcare sector. Jono is the owner of Next Practice Prahran where he has re-imagined the traditional fit-out of a medical centre to transform the space into a relaxing, modern haven which strives to exceed the needs of all patients.
ARTS
Zara McDonald (OH 2012)
Zara is a journalist and podcaster and co-founder of Shameless Media. In just over a year, the Shameless podcast – a production of Shameless Media – has been downloaded nearly five million times in under 18 months., was awarded Australia’s Most Popular Podcast of 2019 at the Australian Podcast Awards and has more than 3000 five-star reviews on Apple Podcasts.
Olivia Na (OH 2010)
Olivia is the co-founder of Orange Theatre Australia, an emerging theatre group creating original productions and welcoming creative submissions from other artists. Their mission is to provide opportunities for artists to create and present their work to the public eye.
COMMUNITY
Lachlan Coman (OH 2017)
Lachlan is a Student Ambassador Mentor for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. He has a passion for social justice and a commitment to leadership for Indigenous literacy. The Indigenous Literacy Foundation works in over 280 remote communities around Australia and has gifted over 350,000 books in this time to those in need.
Carrie van Rensburg (OH 2017)
Carrie is A Pioneer with a Social Conscience in Sustainable and Ethical Fashion. At the commencement of 2018 Carrie needed to choose a global challenge relating to her course. She chose the impact of Fast Fashion. From there, Carrie has held a documentary screening, started a swap market every few months and finally held the Love Stories Fashion Show where she got to work with a variety of Melbourne brands as well as work with the St Vincent de Paul Society. The Love Stories Fashion Show showcased garments from an online share closet and a local brand committed to sustainable and ethical practices. Collections often incorporated dead stock textiles to ensure the brand is doing what it can to minimise waste.
SPORT
Gabi Ruffels (OH 2017)
Gabi is an amateur golfer based in the United States and recently became the first Australian to win the US Womens Amateur championship, despite only taking up the sport at 15 years of age. She is currently the 51st ranked women amateur in the world
Andrew Brayshaw (OH 2017)
Andrew has just completed his second year in the AFL with the Fremantle Dockers. He debuted in the opening round of the 2018 season after being taken with pick 2 in the National draft. To date Andrew has played 39 matches for the Dockers and kicked 12 goals.
Congratulations to our award winners on their significant achievements!
