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Katja Dedekind may not be competing in the coming Gold Coast Commonwealth Games but she is still going to be an important part of the event.  Even though the Games doesn’t have events for vision-impaired swimmers, the young, vision-impaired swimmer will eagerly join approximately 3,800 baton bearers of the Queen’s Baton Relay.

The young swimmer from Kenmore served as an inspiration to many when she won a bronze medal on her debut at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Embodying her motto, “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you”, Dedekind doesn’t let her visual impairment stop her from doing the things she loves.

Apart from being a Paralympian swimmer, Dedekind is also a great goalball player. Her love for goalball started when she attended a ‘Come and Try’ day in 2012. After a few months of training, she was named as the Best Defensive Junior Player at the Australian Goalball Championships in Melbourne. By 2014, she was given a $250 grant to fuel her pursuit for on-court success.

While playing alongside Australia’s best goalball teams, Dedekind still managed to make waves in the pool in 2015. She was hailed as the Swimmer of the Meet for swimmers with disabilities at the Queensland Sprint Championships. She also managed to collect three gold and five silver medals at the Pacific School Games in Adelaide that year.

By 2016, the unstoppable Kenmore girl did a superb performance at the Australian Swimming Championships. Dedekind won third place in the 200m freestyle and ranked fifth in both the 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly. Swimming with the Paralympic medallists Maddison Elliott, Ashleigh McConnell, and Taylor Corry, they managed to win first place in the 4x50m mixed freestyle relay.

During her first time to represent Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Dedekind surprised her competitors in the S13 100m backstroke as she finished with a time of  1 minute and 12.25 seconds, just a few seconds behind Ukraine’s Anna Stetsenko and Great Britain’s Abby Kane. She was also qualified to race in the 400m freestyle final where she finished in seventh place.

The versatile 16-year-old doesn’t even stop at athletics. She is also an aspiring poet and a recipient of the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Award for her poem ‘The Open Door’.

Dedekind is set to complete her leg of the Queen’s Baton Relay in New Farm on Saturday, 31 March 2018. You can join in the community event celebration of the Queen’s Baton Relay in New Farm hosted by the Brisbane City Council from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. at the Powerhouse Park, 137 Sydney Street, New Farm. Don’t miss the chance to see the baton bearers up close.

For Rachel Hauenschild of Kenmore State High School, this academic year has certainly been a banner year.

For her outstanding academic achievements, Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) named her as this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Academic Achiever Award, during recognition ceremonies honouring the top-performing senior school students.

As one of the Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) Achievement Award winners, Rachel shared her story, plans, and career goals in a QCAA interview following the announcement of winners.

When asked about how she balances her studies with other activities, she said that her secret is to “Be selective and then plan your time effectively to fit everything in.”

Rachel also proves the importance of having a supportive family and strong self-motivation.

“I’m inspired by my parents, who have always motivated me and supported me throughout my schooling. I’m motivated by my desire to achieve the best results that I possibly can,” Rachel said.

She also shared that “…the best piece of advice that I’ve received about school is to always pursue subjects that you’re interested in because it will be more enjoyable and it will work out well in the end.”

Things have certainly worked out well for Kenmore State High School’s Outstanding Graduate, who has been accepted in the Bachelor of Mathematics program at the University of Queensland this year.

“I’ve always had a passion for maths, so I decided that I wanted to pursue this at university,” Rachel said.

Education Minister Grace Grace lauded the 2017 Year 12 cohort of Kenmore State High School as the largest ever to graduate statewide. From approximately 53,000 Queensland students who completed Year 12, 32 students have been recognised for achieving the highest academic marks. Considering the number of last year’s graduates, Ms Grace said that the QCE Achievement award winners should be very proud of their achievements.

Rachel, being 2017’s overall Outstanding Academic Achiever, received a certificate, trophy, and $5000 prize money.

“She achieved exceptionally highly in all her school subjects, the Queensland Core Skills Test, tertiary entrance ranking, and in two university subjects and will pursue her passion for mathematics at The University of Queensland where she has a scholarship,” Ms Grace said.

“I look forward to hearing Rachel’s name associated with many more achievements in the future,” she added.

Other Awardees

The QCAA hosted the QCE Awards at the State Library in South Bank, where 32 students from 20 state and non-state schools received prizes in six categories.

For information on the awards criteria and prizes, click here.

The QCE Achievement Awards are sponsored by The University of Queensland, Bond University, Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology, and University of Southern Queensland.