Josh’s story starts with something simple: planes.
Growing up, he was fascinated by them. The kind of fascination that sticks around, that keeps following you from childhood into the years where you start asking bigger questions about who you might become. Then, somewhere along the way in high school, Josh met a teacher who did more than teach maths. He helped Josh love it. And suddenly, two separate interests found each other.
Maths and planes. Put together, it became aerospace.
Josh is now studying aerospace engineering at the University of Newcastle, and he can trace that pathway back to the moments that shaped him at Maitland Christian School. Not just the classroom learning, but the opportunities around it, the teachers who invested in him, the friendships that turned into deep connections because, as Josh puts it, it is a small school and you get to know everyone well.
He remembers the social side with real appreciation. Being known. Belonging. Building friendships that lasted beyond graduation. And alongside the subjects he needed for university, Josh says he also learned life lessons: how to be a better person, how to treat others with respect. The kind of formation that shows up quietly over time, then suddenly becomes obvious when you step into a bigger world.
But one experience stands above the rest.
For Josh, the highlight was travelling to the Solomon Islands. Seeing life in a third world country gave him a different kind of education, one that cannot be graded. It shifted his perspective on what matters, and what does not. “It gave me a really great perspective on how you don’t have to have a lot to be happy,” he says, “and that definitely transferred to my life.”
Now, in university, Josh feels the benefits of what was formed in him at MCS. The daily structure that helped him learn how to study. The confidence to connect socially. And even friendships that followed him into this next season, making the transition not just manageable, but genuinely enjoyable.
Josh’s story is a reminder that a student’s future is rarely shaped by one factor alone. It is shaped by people, opportunities, community, and the moments that open your eyes to something bigger than yourself.
