Meet Freddie Carlton-Smith

"I started Nudgee in Year 5 (2010) and graduated in the Class of 2017 as School Captain. I am now completing a Commerce/Law degree at the University of Queensland, and I am the Co-Founder and Head of Operations of my start-up, Yakr. We help to address Australia’s current skill shortage by recruiting skilled professionals from overseas and assisting with their visas. 

I was invited to join NCAM last year to provide the perspective of “younger” Old Boys in our Community. Recently, Erina and I introduced the “Nudgee’s Shout” initiative, where Nudgee buys NCOBs coffee at UQ to help us connect after school. We also had Nudgee’s Shout at our six year reunion, and I am looking forward to expanding the initiative to other universities and events.

I have been proud to be part of NCAM. The Nudgee Community has many faces, and it is important to recognise and foster their diverse contributions. Five years before NCAM was formed, I attempted to capture these diverse contributions in my Senior Valedictory Speech:

[At Nudgee] the extent of [a student’s] learning goes far beyond the four walls of a Duhig classroom:

It means you learn spirit from your peers.

It means you learn compassion from mums and respect from dads.

It means you learn how to treat women from Brother Vic.

It means you learn how to treat the less fortunate from Mr Ellison and it means you learn how to treat everyone from Mr Toovey.

It means you learn kindness from Ms Nardi, passion from Mr Todd and service from Mr O’Reilly.

It means you learn how to command a room like Mr Hanly.

It means you learn how to connect with anyone, like Mr Fullugar.

It means you learn wisdom from Mr Meara and our history from Dr Kirby and Mr Sayer.’

Some of these people have since left Nudgee, and some are on NCAM with me. However, it remains true that Nudgee is extraordinary because of its extraordinary people. Those people are many and varied. Nudgee has always had these contributions. I attempted to capture this in my Valedictory speech. With NCAM, we have a formal structure to recognise this. The aim of NCAM is to be a network that facilitates connections between all of the extraordinary people in our Community, past and present: students, teachers, staff, mothers, fathers, and more. I look forward to seeing it grow."

To get involved and hear more from the Nudgee College Alma Mater, sign up here!