Hundreds of past students of St Joseph’s School are scattered throughout Australia and around the world, working across every industry. We’re proud of our past students and their achievements – big and small. In future newsletters, we will be highlighting a past student and sharing what they have been up to since leaving the Joey's gates. 

MICHAEL DEZUANNI

What year did you graduate?

I attended St Joseph’s from 1975 to 1981 as a primary school student. After that I went to Marist College Ashgrove as a border for Secondary school. However, I kept in touch with lots of the St Joseph’s students as they went through Secondary school.

What were your favourite subjects at St Joseph’s School?

As a primary student, I would have to say English and Maths.

Can you tell us about your time at St Joseph’s School? Is there anything you especially remember?

I remember we had a lot of fun before school and at lunchtime rolling down the hill on large tractor tyre inner-tubes, towards Connor Street! I frequently ripped my long pants doing that, to my Mum’s annoyance. We also played ‘red rover’, which was pretty rough and ended in quite a few injuries. I also remember it was very cold in winter, and it was wonderful to stand in front of the oil heaters in the classrooms to warm up when we came back into class.

School sports carnivals were also lots of fun. I was in Emu house and we were in constant battle against Koala to win the sports carnival trophy.

We had lots of great teachers, including the Mercy sister nuns. They could be pretty strict at times, and I had my fair share of being in trouble. But I was always encouraged to do my best, and I learnt to love learning at St Joseph’s School.

What has been your journey since finishing school? Briefly outline your career path and what you are doing now. Have you always wanted to pursue the kind of career you have embarked on?

When I left Year 7 in 1981, I went to boarding school at Marist Brothers in Brisbane, which was a huge shock coming from a small town. However, many of the other boarders were from other small towns, and we had a similar experience. When I left school, I went to the University or Queensland to study for an Arts degree, with majors in English Literature and Journalism. Following that, in 1990 I completed a Graduate Diploma in Education with a focus on English and History. If you had asked me in primary school if I would become a teacher, I would have laughed!

My first teaching role was in Rockhampton at Glenmore High School in 1991, where I taught English and Film & Television for four years. While in Rockhampton, I continued my studies part time - I completed a Master of Letters in Cultural Studies at Central Queensland University (I guess I had caught the study bug). I then moved back to Brisbane in 1995 to teach English and Film & Television at St Joseph’s College Gregory Terrace. In about 2000, I decided to start studying for a PhD part time at the University of Queensland. In 2004, I had a major career change when I took up a position at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) as a teacher educator - I was now teaching the teachers! I completed my PhD at QUT in 2009, and over the next few years I began to move across into conducting educational research. Since that time, I have been really fortunate to be involved in lots of research projects focused on how students and adults learn to use technologies, and how they think critically about their media use. I have undertaken research in hundreds of classrooms around Australia - about everything from kindergarten children’s use of iPads for learning, to high school students learning with YouTube and video games. I have undertaken research for companies like Telstra and Australia Post, the Queensland Government, UNESCO, the State Library of Queensland, Google and Microsoft. I am privileged to be the Associate Director of the Digital Media Research Centre at QUT, where my colleagues include world experts on digital media, including social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. Most recently, I have become a researcher on the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, based at QUT, which is a multi-million-dollar Centre that aims to understand how children aged 0-8 interact with digital technologies at home and school. Also, next year I have a book coming out with MIT Press called Peer Pedagogies of Digital Platforms: Learning with Minecraft ‘Let’s Players’ on YouTube. It has been lots of fun to write as I spent a lot of time watching YouTubers like DanTDM and Stampylonghead!

What do you believe St Joseph’s School has shown you/given you as a person?

I believe I caught the study bug while I was at St Joseph’s School. From an early age I learnt to value education, and that was due to the support I received from the teachers at St Joseph’s School. I was always encouraged to do as well as I could, and taught that my talents were important and special.

What piece of advice would you have for current students at St Joseph’s School?

I would say that you should never under-estimate what you can achieve if you follow your passions and believe in yourself. Stanthorpe and St Joseph’s students are capable of anything and should aim as high as they can.