Chris Hargreaves

(OTG 2011)

I was at Trinity from 2006 to the end of 2011, so from Year 7 to Year 12. I was the first one in the family to go through, and later my brother James was there from 2009 to 2014.

I tried to involve myself in a lot of what the school had to offer. I spent a lot of time playing various sports – cricket in the summer and football in the winter, and athletics wedged in between those two seasons as well. I was fortunate to be able to head overseas with the school, playing cricket in England and hiking in Papua New Guinea.

During the senior years I spent time in the outdoor education space – I was a camp leader and was also part of the training team that was put together to support other camp leaders who were coming through. All of these things made for some incredible formative experiences. I remember I had this pretty clear moment early on in Year 12 when I thought, “Well, it’s my last year here, so I might as well try and throw myself into everything.”

I ended up picking up things like debating, more sport, participating in dramatic acts and trying to fill up my time as best I could. Of course I was involved in the House system as well – just doing everything to try and enjoy myself within that and make it a positive experience for the other boys in Roberts House.

I spent some time playing footy at Old Trinity in the Under 19s, and later on I got involved in a tutoring program that was running for a little while for Year 9 and 10 students. I was actually back there a few years ago as part of the Year 8 Learning Journeys program, where I gave a short presentation about my career situation and how I got to where I was.

The message of the presentation was to follow the things that you’re passionate about, and if you want to make a change then you should absolutely do it. Essentially, I spoke about how I ended up becoming a high school teacher.

I left high school to do a Commerce degree and worked in the corporate sector for a couple of years. Funnily enough, I always liked the idea of being a teacher, but I think something in the back of my mind had it pigeonholed as a sort of ‘lesser’ profession. But ultimately, I got to a point where I thought I’d like to change things and also go back and be a student again, so I returned to university and studied a Master of Teaching and now I’m pursuing a real passion of mine.

One of the things I reflect on is figuring out what you want to do with your career is probably a case of trying a lot of different things, and ultimately deciding which one you enjoy most.

At the moment I’m teaching Commerce and Humanities subjects. I’ve got a few senior Business Management classes and a Legal Studies class, and then a junior Humanities class keeping me honest too.

In school I was into a lot of sports, and then I got into rowing fairly intensively when I left Trinity. The commitment to try and row at a high-level sort of took over my life for quite a few years, and I really enjoyed that challenge. More recently I transitioned away from that into cycling, and am now appreciating riding for its more social element but also having access to a lot more racing opportunities. For me personally, being physically healthy and fit is a good support for staying mentally healthy too.

Read Scott McMahon's story

“Over time, I have reflected on my years at Trinity and the friendships I made there, the activities and things I did and were exposed to…”