SMC Sixth Form Alumni

SMC Sixth Form Alumni - A World of Opportunities!

Where are they now?

chiara

Chiara Modestini

Following her course of studies at St Martin’s College Sixth Form, Chiara Modestini completed four years of studies and obtained a BSc (Hons) Podiatry at the University of Malta having come first among the students in her course. Chiara received a Grade A – 90 in her dissertation entitled: “A Comparison of Athletes’ General Endurance when wearing Minimalist versus Structured Footwear” which ranked second best in the history of the course. The study revealed that when long distance athletes wore minimalist footwear, they had a higher general endurance, so her hypothesis was accepted and proven. Chiara is working to have her study published in the ‘British Journal of Sports Medicine’.
A world of opportunities – St Martin’s College Sixth Form
Chiara also forms part of the Association of Podiatrists Malta (APM) and has attended various Pod-Podiums since joining the course. ‘I feel that as a health professional it is vital to constantly keep updated,’ she explained.

Her main interest is in the line of sports and would like to pursue this at Masters level. She is currently focusing on gaining work experience prior to furthering her studies. Chiara would like to make a significant contribution whilst continuing professional development within the podiatry profession.

Congratulations Chiara!

stan

Stan Deborggraeve

Stan Deborggraeve attended St Martin’s College Sixth Form between 2009 and 2011. During this time he studied IT and Marketing at Advanced level and English, French and Environmental Science at Intermediate level. Following his sixth form years, Stan moved on to further his studies at the University of Lincoln, England, where he completed a Bachelor of Honours degree in International Business Management.

Stan explained that throughout his degree, he found the coursework very interesting. “In the first year I was exposed to business modules such as Economics, Strategic Management, Financial Management for Business, Business Law and several others too. The degree took four years to complete and incorporated three years of study and a one-year placement in the industry. My interest in investment banking led me to spend the year in Malta where I worked for Mediterranean Bank Plc. In my final year, I presented a dissertation entitled Has regulation changed the use of derivatives since the 2008 financial crisis”

After his graduation, Stan moved to London. “I have always wanted to work in London for a few years in order to gain experience and exposure in the financial and investment banking industry. I currently work for JDX Consulting, providing consultancy for tier 1 investment banks and other financial services companies.”

Congratulations Stan!

emma

Emma Micallef

Emma Micallef attended St Martin’s College Sixth Form between 2008 and 2010. She studied Marketing, IT and Art at Advanced level and Accounts, Environmental Studies, English and Systems of Knowledge at Intermediate level.

Following her sixth form studies, Emma enrolled with the University of London from which she graduated with a BSc (Hons.) degree in Business Administration with International Business. After graduating, she started working in finance, with Ixaris Systems Limited, a company specialising in electronic payment solutions.

A world of opportunities – St Martin’s College Sixth Form
Emma has a strong passion for acting and performing. She has taken part in various productions and forms part of Teatru Manoel Youth Theatre (TMYT). She is also a drama teacher with a local theatre arts school.

She recently became involved with Drama Outreach Project, and has returned from her first voluntary trip to Cambodia, where she taught English through developmental drama to children in Phnom Penh.

Well done Emma!

Michele Agius

Michele Agius attended St Martin’s College Sixth Form between 2009 and 2011. He moved on to the University of Malta and completed a Bachelor of Communications (Hons) with Computer information Systems degree.

Eager to further his studies, Michele is currently reading for a postgraduate degree in Edinburgh, where he is specialising in web development. The web became a passion of his thanks to his Systems of Knowledge project. This involved developing the previous St Martin’s College Sixth Form website. The work he completed on this project encouraged him to pursue a career in this sector. Since then, Michele has developed a strong and vast web design and graphic design portfolio.

A world of opportunities – St Martin’s College Sixth Form
Michele also has a passion for photography. What initially started off as a hobby is now an integral part of Michele’s work. His work in this field has helped him grow into one of Malta’s respected photographers. His enthusiasm and experience has helped him to attract projects from some of the industry leaders in Malta. Among other projects, Michele has completed work for Banif Bank, Muscat Motors, Radisson Hotels, Costa Coffee, The Chophouse, NnG Promotions, Malta 5D, Bristow Potteries, Trussardi Jeans, Harmoint & Blaine and Optika.

Along the years he has had the privilege to photograph musical artists such as Anastacia, Leona Lewis, Joseph Calleja, Zucchero, Ronan Keating, Queen legend Brian May and Calvin Harris.
Michele’s work can be viewed on his website – www.micagius.com

justin

Justin Faure

Immediately after leaving St Martin’s College Sixth Form and completing his A Levels, Justin started working for the family’s real estate agency and property auction house, which he co-manages. He is currently heavily involved in the company’s new first Boutique hotel in Sliema which will be opening very soon.

Justin particularly enjoys travelling and has made an effort to travel to as many different places as possible. He is now looking forward to his next visit overseas to Thailand. His long-term dream is to open a company which would offer marketing services to other companies.

helena

Helena Grech

Helena Grech attended St Martin’s College Sixth Form between 2009 and 2011 and studied English and Economics at Advanced level. She went on to study Communications and European Studies at the University of Malta and completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in European Studies.

As part fulfilment of her course, Helena presented a dissertation entitled ‘Addressing an ageing population in Malta – the role of migration’. This research dealt with migration as a tool that could be used to replenish an ever decreasing work force, primarily due to a lower birth rate and a higher life expectancy. She was awarded a work placement at Ernst and Young in her second year at university.

Helena is currently working as a full-time journalist at The Malta Independent.

giulia

Giulia Pandolfino

Giulia Pandolfino attended St Martin’s College Sixth Form between 2009 and 2011. She successfully studied Art and Marketing at Advanced level, obtaining a grade A in both subjects. “The interesting combination of business and creativity in my choice of subjects, inspired me to pursue a career in fashion design,” explained Giulia. She is now following her final year of studies at the London College of Fashion where she is reading a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Fashion Contour. As part of her course of studies, Giulia will be specialising in swimwear design and will be creating her own collection.

Throughout the four years she has spent in England, Giulia has completed internships with a number of fashion brands in London, as well as a six-month placement with La Perla in Bologna, Italy. “During each internship, I have learned a variety of skills which I feel have prepared me to work in a professional setting after graduation.”

Congratulations Giulia!

luke

Luke Zammit

Following his studies at St Martin’s College Sixth Form, Luke Zammit progressed to university where he graduated in 2013 with a first class Bachelor of Science degree in ICT. He then went on to read a Masters degree, presenting a thesis entitled “3D Video Coding and Compression”. Luke will soon be moving to Orlando, Florida, where he will be starting a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Film Production at Full Sail University.

For the past five years Luke has been in charge of coaching the Boys U17 and Boys U15 teams at Kavallieri Handball Club. Training sessions are held at St Martin’s College and the teams include many present and past SMC students.
A world of opportunities – St Martin’s College Sixth Form
The Under 17 team has won the national league three times in the past five years and the Under 15 team has won the national league twice in the past three years. Luke has also been put in charge of the Ladies First Division team at Kavallieri Handball Club until he leaves for the US. Congratulations Luke!

benji

Benji Arrigo

Benji Arrigo was a student at St Martin’s College Sixth Form between 2007 and 2009. He studied Accounting and Marketing at A level. After completing his sixth form studies, Benji moved to the UK to read for a BA Hons degree in Business Management and Finance.

As soon as he graduated, Benji ventured to Asia for one month, where he spent time in China and Singapore. “I was so impressed with what I saw, that I wanted to gain a better understanding of the business culture in such important emerging consumer markets,” said Benji.

He moved to Hong Kong and is currently experiencing a rotational placement with a multinational company, Li & Fung, which specialise in global supply chain management. Benji is part of the operations team within the sourcing division. This department works with customers in the fast-moving consumer goods industry in the European and US markets.

sarah

Sarah Caruana-Dingli

After finishing her studies at St Martin’s College Sixth Form, Sarah Caruana-Dingli, attended MCAST and obtained a Higher National Diploma in Art and Design. This is where she discovered a love for fashion and textiles.

Sarah continued her studies at the Manchester Metropolitan University where she completed a Bachelor’s degree in Fashion design. As part of her course, she took part in several fashion shows across the UK. One of these included a fashion show for Toni & Guy who commissioned Sarah to produce a dress which was put on show in Manchester and London.

After completing her studies at University, Sarah carried out an internship with Julien Macdonald’s fashion house in London. During this internship, she was part of the team who worked on his collection for London Fashion Week 2014.

Sarah returned to Malta and presented her collection during Malta Fashion Week 2015. She has also launched her own online shop which showcases her designs. Sarah’s collection can be viewed on her website – www.sarahcaruanadingli.com

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Elena Zammit

Elena Zammit is a graduate of Northern Ballet School, UK, and was among the first intake of students of St Martin’s College Sixth form back in 2007. In 2009 Elena successfully obtained her Matriculation Certificate with Accounting and Computing as her A-levels and Mathematics, Physics, English and Systems of knowledge as her Intermediate subjects. Elena was accepted at the University of Malta to follow a Bachelor of Science in Business and Computing however, her lifelong dream had always been that of becoming a professional dancer. After a successful audition at the age of 18, Elena was awarded a 3-year full scholarship by the Malta Arts Scholarships as well as a Dance and Drama award (DADA) by Northern Ballet School, to attend Northern Ballet School, UK.

Whilst at Northern Ballet School, Elena worked with choreographers including David Needham (ex-principal, Northern Ballet Theatre), Eric Carpenter (ex-principal soloist, Le Lido) and Shannon Lilly-Parker (ex-principal, San Francisco Ballet). She performed with Manchester City Ballet in Giselle (Corp de ballet), Paquita (Soloist) and Coppelia (Soloist). Upon graduation, Elena was offered her first professional dance contract with Celebrity Cruises. She performed in several countries, as a Production Dancer in shows produced by Poet Theatricals, which included Circo Luci SILHOUETTE, Physical Magic VELOCITY and Broadway Nights.

After returning to Malta in May 2014, she joined Moveo Dance Company in September 2014. Elena was one of the dancers in the company’s recent productions, Mindset, See-Quatic and It-Tfajla tal-Ghonnella, and will also be performing in the upcoming performance of Moveo Dance Company, The Other Door- What’s Wrong, Why Not? She is also a dance teacher and currently teaches Ballet, Contemporary and Jazz locally.

Elena has recently decided to continue her academic studies and was accepted at London School of Economics, following a Bachelor of Science, in Business and Management and is expecting to graduate in 2018.

jeanmarc

Jean Marc Pace

After finishing his studies at St Martin’s College Sixth Form, Jean Marc Pace moved to Kingston Upon Thames in the UK. He attended Kingston University to read a degree in Mechanical Engineering. The course took three years to complete.

Following his graduation, Jean Marc decided to continue his studies and completed a Masters degree in Marine Engineering at the University of Southampton, specialising in Yacht and Small Craft (Naval Architecture).

On completion of his Masters, he decided to move back to Malta where he worked with a local ship yard for some time as ship repair manager.

Jean Marc presently works as a project engineer with Medserv Plc. a logistics/engineering base for the oil and gas industry at the Malta Freeport.

jingyi

Jingyi Liu

Jingyi Liu, a native of China, completed her studies at St Martin’s College Sixth Form in June 2014. She is now a freshman at Gettysburg College, USA, a high-ranking college of the liberal arts in the United States.

Since Gettysburg College is a liberal arts college, it provides an overview of the natural sciences, humanity subjects, the social sciences, the arts, quantitative reasoning and second languages. Besides the subjects students choose to major in, they also need to study subjects from across the curriculum. This encourages students to be open-minded and also let them connect knowledge from different fields.

Gettysburg College has a career development centre which provides students with countless internship opportunities. It organises some job immersion trips which give students an appreciation of their preferred industry. “I’m really looking forward to these internships,” said Jingyi.

Every student is encouraged to study abroad for at least one semester. This is especially because it is an integral part of the Gettysburg College academic experience, embodying the curriculum goals of engaged learning and global citizenship – “Make the world your classroom.”

Jingyi is also very proud of the College’s Experiential Education Programme. It provides students with innovative opportunities to experience diverse environments, to understand and respect those with different values than their own, and to grow as individuals. Jingyi joined an ice climbing trip during the winter break. “It was challenging, but so much fun! I never thought I could climb ice with only ice axe and crampons!”

female

Frederica Agius

After finishing her studies at St Martin’s College Sixth Form, Frederica Agius attended the University of Malta and studied History of Art. She completed both a Bachelor, as well as a Masters degree, for which she researched Palazzo Parisio in Naxxar.

Frederica is now an MPhil candidate with the University of Malta and is planning on continuing her studies at Doctorate level. She is currently studying the frescos at the Grand Masters Palace in Valletta and the patronage of Grand Master Wignacourt. “I’ve moved from the turn of the twentieth century all the way back to the early 17th century,” commented Frederica.

Apart from her studies, Frederica is also Assistant Curator at the Wignacourt Museum in Rabat. “As Assistant Curator, I treat the place as I would my own house and take great care of it. I also organise events and exhibitions there, whether they are art related or not! I organise lectures, talks and guided tours, as well as themed evenings. My favourite event was a guided tour in collaboration with the band Stalko where we took it in turns to explain the art and for them to play a set of songs. I also take care of the didactics in the museum, the booklet, and any published material.”

Frederica is a tutor at the University of Malta and coordinates the credit of Museum Placement at the Wignacourt Museum. She often gives lectures and talk, and her articles have featured in a number of newspapers and magazines. She has recently published a booklet on the Dragonara Palace in St Julians.

jorinde

Jorinde Degenhardt

Jorinde Degenhardt came from Germany to study at St Martin’s College Sixth Form. After completing her sixth form studies, she left Malta to start her University studies in the Netherlands.

“I chose the course Tourism and Leisure at the Saxion University of Applied Sciences. The language of instruction is English. I chose this as I feel it provides an added advantage for future career prospects. Studying in Holland gave me the opportunity to meet new people and visit many countries like Romania, Indonesia, Spain and France.

Thanks to the two years I spent in Malta, I found no problems following lectures and writing in English. Throughout my course I have already gained a lot of insight into business on an international level. Besides my course work I have been on study trips to Paris and Valencia and completed several smaller internships in Germany as well as in Malta.

Part of the course requirement is that I have to complete two six-month internships. I have completed a six-month internship at an event agency in Cologne. For my next internship, my plan is to travel to America or New Zealand. I am very happy with the choices I made. Malta and St Martin’s College taught me a lot and helped me find my career path. I am certain you’ll see me back in Malta for many years to come!”

Kurstin Gatt

Kurstin Gatt finished his studies at St Martin’s College Sixth Form in 2010. He studied at the University of Malta and completed a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in Arabic Studies. Kurstin achieved the highest overall average in the Faculty of Arts in 2013 and was robed by the Rector of the University.

Kurstin moved on to pursue his studies in Germany, for which he was granted a full scholarship. He completed a Master of Arts course in Arabic Studies and Islamic Law at the University of Leipzig. He has attended many conferences all over Germany related to his studies and was chosen to deliver a presentation about the Maltese language to an international audience in Halle, Germany. His presentation was entitled Maltese: A European language with Semitic roots: A linguistic Analysis.

He has also taken the opportunity to study German and sit for internationally recognised exams.

In the summer of 2014, Kurstin spent three months in Tunisia working on a project organised by AIESEC, a student organisation, where he taught English to Tunisian students. During his time there, he attended a short intensive course in Modern Standard Arabic and Tunisian dialect.

Kurstin has also travelled to Israel and Palestine where he took part in a study programme entitled Two Nations and Three Religions in Israel and Palestine. The purpose of the study programme was to investigate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the political situation, and delve into the three biggest religions that are present in this region.

Kurstin plans to return to Malta, work and travel to different Arab countries and volunteer among Arab refugees in Malta. He would also like to promote the importance of languages, particularly Arabic, as well as study the challenges of terrorism in modern times at Doctoral level.

michela

Michela Miceli-Demajo

Michela Miceli-Demajo finished her studies at St Martin’s College Sixth Form in 2011. Throughout her sixth form years, Michela expressed a particular interest in Accounts, which was one the subjects she studied at Advanced level.

“It was never my intention to follow a course at the University of Malta,” admitted Michela. Her main focus was to sit for ACCA exams. “However, I followed the advice I was given by teachers, friends and family not to miss out on the student life and the opportunities that studying at university brings about. Till this day I feel grateful for choosing that path as I have now finished my last University course and will be graduating BA (Hons) in Management. Throughout my years at university, I also sat for four ACCA exams and I am now looking forward to applying the skills and knowledge that I have learnt, in real practice. My journey does not stop here as I am now focusing on completing my ACCA qualification as well as working full time in the accounts department at the M. Demajo group.”

Emma Tranter

Emma Tranter completed her sixth form education at St Martin’s College Sixth Form in 2014. She then continued her studies at the University of Malta where she read a BSc (Hons) Business & Information Technology. Her interests in the field of IT led her to specialise in cyber security. Emma obtained an MSc from the University of Birmingham in 2018. Throughout her studies, Emma always had a deep interest in photography. Since being drawn to the lens, she indulged in music, dance, travel & day to day photography, which allowed her to nurture her versatility in composing the best shot. At 16, she held her own exhibition at St. James Cavalier in Valletta. This led her to become a standout photographer at Malta Music Week, being entrusted with the personal photography of international acts. This increased exposure helped Emma to secure work on an international platform and particularly, with world-famous female DJ duo, NERVO. Over the last two years, Emma has taken the role of tour manager and photographer, travelling to over 50 countries documenting the duo’s journey at exclusive parties, sell-out-shows and world-renowned festivals, including Sziget and Tomorrowland. Her work in the music industry has helped her to network further and collaborate with other world-famous music artists, such as Sigala. Emma managed all this while balancing her Masters, her social life and her three beloved cats who she dreads leaving behind every time she goes away. Since leaving her student life behind, Emma has continued to branch out and continues to work with Sigala and Nervo on a regular basis, as well as finding new and innovative ways in which to incorporate her knowledge and interest in Artificial Intelligence and Information Security. She has recently also joined the corporate world and continues to invest in a few exciting projects whilst looking forward to what 2019 has in store!

So many accomplishments! Congratulations, Emma!

michela

Michela Miceli-Demajo

Michela Miceli-Demajo finished her studies at St Martin’s College Sixth Form in 2011. Throughout her sixth form years, Michela expressed a particular interest in Accounts, which was one the subjects she studied at Advanced level.

“It was never my intention to follow a course at the University of Malta,” admitted Michela. Her main focus was to sit for ACCA exams. “However, I followed the advice I was given by teachers, friends and family not to miss out on the student life and the opportunities that studying at university brings about. Till this day I feel grateful for choosing that path as I have now finished my last University course and will be graduating BA (Hons) in Management. Throughout my years at university, I also sat for four ACCA exams and I am now looking forward to applying the skills and knowledge that I have learnt, in real practice. My journey does not stop here as I am now focusing on completing my ACCA qualification as well as working full time in the accounts department at the M. Demajo group.”