Where are they now – Lachlan Owens (SPC 2013-18)

The College recently reconnected with Lachlan Owens (SPC 2013-18) who is chasing his dream career in aerospace engineering as a first-year uni student in Melbourne. The career path comes as no surprise to Lachlan, who has always had a love of maths and the sciences.

Lachlan Owens speaking to current Year 12 students at the College earlier in 2019.

Where has life taken you since leaving SPC?
At SPC, I did a lot of science and maths subjects, and I was focused on that, and since Year 9, I was actually determined to get into aerospace because it was a mix of everything I liked, maths, physics and chemistry as well, and space. I am now studying first year at RMIT in aerospace engineering. I am commuting to university in Melbourne. During the first semester, I was travelling roughly three days a week, and this semester, it’s just one day a week of travel with a considerable online component.

What are your fondest memories of your time at SPC?
It would have to be the friends, I think, definitely. A great sense of friendship, it was a group that you would hang out with every day. You take it for granted, because you see them every day and when you go to uni, you are all dispersed and it’s harder to get together.

Which teacher during your time at SPC had the greatest impact on you? Why?
For more carefree stuff, it would be Mr (Mark) O’Loughlin, and when it came to the more logical side, I would say it was Mr (Hamish) McCrum.

How has your education shaped your professional life so far?
Education has probably made me a bit more factual. At uni, you’ve got to do your best to present factual information and be more honest in what you’re doing. You don’t want to publish poor resources or lie to people, it doesn’t get you anywhere.

How has your time at SPC shaped your personal values and your family life?
For this, definitely a sense of community and almost like, honour, kind of, more of a chivalrous thing, I’d say. Everyone here at SPC is usually doing the right thing and they are always looking out for each other as well.

If you could pass on a message to the students of today, what would that be?
After secondary school, life isn’t linear, there are so many paths you can go down. It doesn’t stop at one end, you may think you’ve hit a brick wall but there’s a door somewhere on that wall to find a new path.