The ANU Extension Program’s final graduation ceremony marked a proud and poignant milestone, celebrating the achievements of students who have combined senior secondary study with university learning, while reflecting on the lasting value of the program for the ACT community.
The Australian National University has celebrated the achievements of the final cohort of students to complete the ANU Extension Program, recognising not only their academic excellence, but also the confidence, resilience and sense of belonging they have developed through their time at the University.
Held on campus in Canberra, the graduation ceremony brought together students, families, teachers and staff for an evening that was both celebratory and reflective. For many in the room, it was an opportunity to honour a program that has given ACT students a unique chance to experience university study while still in Years 11 and 12.
Opening the evening, Professor Joan Leach reflected on the significance of the program in helping students prepare for their next stage of study and life.
“The program that students have just been through offers school students a chance to study a course at ANU in their final two years of school, and that’s a big deal,” Professor Leach said.
She noted that the value of the program extended well beyond academic enrichment. By giving students early exposure to university expectations, environments and modes of learning, the program has helped them build familiarity with tertiary study and confidence in their ability to succeed within it.
“Universities can be intimidating places,” she said. “We hope that the ANU has been a welcoming one.”
That sense of welcome and belonging was a defining theme of the evening. Throughout the ceremony, speakers returned to the idea that education is not only about knowledge and achievement, but also about connection, growth and the confidence to step into unfamiliar spaces.
A program that has shaped students and community
Academic Convener Sean Perera told graduates that the evening was about more than academic results.
“Today we honour your academic excellence, but more importantly, we celebrate your determination,” he said.
Reflecting on the students’ journey through the program, Mr Perera said growth rarely happens in isolation, but through the relationships, conversations and shared experiences that shape the way people see themselves and the world.
“Growth rarely happens in isolation,” he said. “It happens in the conversations that shift our perspectives, in the disagreements that teach us patience, in the encouragement that lifts us just at the right moment.”
He also acknowledged the broader community that had contributed to the students’ success, including teachers, parents, peers and ANU staff, and praised the final cohort for the mark they had made on the program itself.
“You have changed us for good,” he said.
That message resonated strongly on a night that marked the end of the program in its current form. Professor Leach described the occasion as “a little bittersweet”, recognising both the achievements of the graduating students and the significance of this final chapter in the ANU Extension story.
“This is the last year of the ANU Extension program in this form,” she said.
Education as challenge, belonging and possibility
Speaking on behalf of principal Priscilla Wray, acting principal Maha Yasin offered a reflection on the deeper meaning of education and why programs such as ANU Extension matter.
Drawing on her own experience as an educator, she described education not simply as study, testing and performance, but as a process of nurturing potential and helping students grow into new environments.
“You can’t draw much out of an individual if you haven’t nurtured them first,” she said.
Her speech highlighted the role the Extension Program has played in helping students develop that foundation before entering university more fully. By introducing them to campus life, course structures, academic expectations and a tertiary learning culture, the program has helped reduce the uncertainty that can make higher education feel daunting.
Ms Yasin said the program had offered students both the visible and invisible benefits of education: not only certificates and academic accomplishment, but also resilience.
“Courses like this, while they provide you with the visible language of education, which is the accolades and the certificates, there is the invisible language that they also offer, and that is the language of resilience,” she said.
A lasting legacy
The ceremony took place at a time of broader change across the University’s learning and teaching environment, as ANU continues to refine its priorities and plan for sustainable future models of student support, educational innovation and engagement.
That wider context made the ceremony especially meaningful. While the evening celebrated the success of the final cohort, it also served as a reminder of what the Extension Program has contributed to the ACT education landscape: a bridge between school and university, a pathway into advanced learning, and a model of education grounded in challenge, opportunity and belonging.
As ANU looks ahead, the legacy of the program remains clear in the achievements of its students and the many lives it has touched.
For the graduating cohort, the ceremony marked the culmination of two years of commitment and curiosity. For the University, it was a chance to recognise a program that has helped generations of students imagine themselves in higher education — and arrive there with confidence.
