By Cameron Weston
AN ALTONA North student recently finished her high school studies in fine style, taking out a major national award for her multimedia work.
Scarlett Van Mourik, who has just completed VCE at Bayside Secondary College, spent much of last week in Canberra, accepting a prestigious Prime Minister’s Award for Skills Excellence.
It marks her as one of the highest achieving students in the country and provides a solid launching pad for a career in film, television or multimedia.
Ms van Mourik received the award for outstanding work she completed while finishing a Certificate III in multimedia, a vocational course offered in conjunction with RMIT.
Her work on a promotional video for Polynesian music group Te Roupu Attawhai got her noticed, and it has since been screened at Federation Square and used by the New Zealand consulate which contracted Ms Van Mourik and asked her to cover the New Zealand Festival next year.
This latest success is not the first trip to the podium for Ms van Mourik, who has also been nominated for several student media prizes, and won the Australian Vocational Student Prize this year.
Ms van Mourik said the process of being named a prize winner was shrouded in mystery.
“We knew we had won something but we didn’t know what. But I thought it must be something good if they are flying us to Canberra.”
The tour of Canberra consisted of a string of engagements and meetings, including some “full-on” face-to-face time with federal politicians.
Although she started in multimedia, Ms van Mourik said that her ultimate goal is to establish a career in film.
And regardless of the medium, her motivation and passion for her work is drawn from the same source.
“I really like creating something that is my own.”
Principal Rosie Salvaris said it was more than Ms van Mourik’s flair for multimedia and visual artistry that saw her take the prize.
“We’re very proud of Scarlett, she is very talented in the multimedia field, but more than that, she has shown a great deal of community spirit.”
