Jonathan’s journey in life goes full circle

Jonathan came to Concordia in Year 8 before graduating in 2010 and holds fond memories of his time at the college.

“I was instrumental captain and played trombone in most ensembles and I was awarded the Helen Abernathy Award for Music in my last year,” Jonathan recalled this week.

“I also had an excellent teacher in Paul Edwards who had an infinite passion for jazz music. He always pushed the envelope with the powers that be at the school and secured us several trips which were fantastic experiences,” he said.

Jonathan was also involved in the school’s musicals including Pirates of Penzance and Bugsy Malone, so many would have thought his future would have been in the arts.

However, a passionate teacher at Concordia introduced him to another skill, which would shape his life forever.

“My highest scoring class would’ve been Graphics where I was taught by Jason Smith, who was the most passionate and inspiring teacher I’ve ever come across,” Jonathan said.

“He involved us in the F1 in Schools Challenge which is a multi-faceted challenge to build the fastest miniature F1 car you can.

“My mates and I entered a team and got as far as the State championships. Because of Jason we got access to the most cutting-edge CAD (computer-aided design) software, and we were doing all kinds of crazy stuff before any of the other schools in Toowoomba were even aware it existed.

“I realised that I had a talent for this type of thinking and my career can be directly attributed to the skills learned in Jason’s lessons.”

Jonathan also paid tribute to Janelle Jackson who was the Head of English Department.

“The skills learned in Ms Jackson’s English class laid a foundation for me to build on during the complex history and literature-based subjects at Queensland University of Technology,” he said.

Jonathan first started a Bachelor of Design majoring in Landscape Architecture but switched to architecture the following year. He has since undertaken a Masters’ Degree and works as an accredited architect where he has logged more than 4600 hours of dedicated project work.

“I have been involved in several school architecture projects including St Peters Lutheran Springfield Kindergarten, Grace Lutheran Primary School Kindergarten Clontarf, Arethusa College Deception Bay, Carmichael College Library Stage 1, Morayfield and now Concordia Junior Campus stages 1&2 and the Concordia Early Learning Centre,” he said.

“I hope to use this opportunity at Concordia to honour the fantastic teachers who encouraged me during my schooling here.

“In a way, my life has come full circle, never did I dream sitting in the classrooms here that one day I would be designing the future classrooms for future generations of Concordia students.”