Where are they now? Allira Griffiths (nee Norman)

What year did you graduate? 2003

What were your senior subjects at Proserpine State High School? Math B, Math C, Biology, English, HPE and Economics.

Favourite Proserpine State High School memory? I have so many great memories from my time at Proserpine State High School! Sport was a huge part of my senior years and I always looked forward to my regular athletics training sessions. We were so lucky to have such dedicated and fun coaches in Mr Cox and Mr Harling. You could always hear Coxy coming from a mile away with his booming voice!

I also had many memorable trips travelling for sports (volleyball, touch, hockey, soccer, athletics were my favourite!), school band tours, school camps, various maths and business camps and public speaking tournaments.

My final year of school was such a highlight for me, where I was honoured to represent my peers as School Vice Captain. The final year was a blur of hard work, fun and lots of sports – culminating in some amazing awards, achieving an OP1 and some pretty awesome end-of-year celebrations! Despite all of these fun times though, my favourite memory would have to be meeting my future husband at Proserpine State High School!

Where did life take you after you graduated? After graduating high school, I moved to Brisbane to study a Bachelor of Business, Majoring in Accountancy (with an extended Major in Business Law and Taxation) at Queensland University of Technology. I worked part-time while studying and in my final year I also provided private tutoring lessons to other students, which I really enjoyed.

I absolutely loved university – I met some great life-long friends, had lots of late-night study sessions and was invited to join the university team for a business start-up project, which was such a rewarding experience! I graduated in 2006 and was awarded the Dean’s Award for Excellence – awarded to the student with the highest graduating GPA across the Accountancy and Banking and Finance majors at QUT, an achievement that I was (and still am) extremely proud of.

After university, I accepted a graduate position with Deloitte in external audit, while also completing further studies to obtain my Chartered Accounting qualification. On a personal front, I was fortunate to marry my high school sweetheart, have two beautiful boys, travel, and move back to the Whitsundays where we enjoy plenty of fishing, horse riding and time with family and friends. There really is no place like home!

What job position are you currently in? I have a consulting business which specialises in supporting providers in the aged care and community services sector, a purpose-driven sector that I’ve really found a passion for. I work remotely from an office in Proserpine where I provide consulting services to clients, run webinars (virtual training sessions) and occasionally travel for onsite visits to clients who are located all around Australia.

Tell us about why you picked Accounting and what your study/training journey has been? Ever since I was very young I have loved numbers (my favourite subject was Maths) and I have always wanted to be an Accountant. I actually deliberately didn’t pick Accounting as a high school subject as I knew that I’d be doing it for the rest of my life!

When I was in primary school, my older sister Nicole would also occasionally write maths exams for me at home (based on work three years ahead of my grade!) and I wasn’t allowed to finish until I could get all of the answers correct…this was before computers and the internet were mainstream, and we didn’t have Netflix or Tik Tok to occupy our time! 

This career choice has led me down a pathway from moving to Brisbane for university, to working for a Big 4 accounting firm, completing postgraduate studies (Chartered Accountancy), to travelling around Australia and gaining first-hand experience on how many different businesses across a variety of sectors operate. I am very fortunate to now apply the knowledge and skills that I have developed to supporting a sector that I’m passionate about, while also having the flexibility to work remotely and live in the beautiful Whitsundays.

Best experience since graduating at Proserpine State High School? Aside from getting married and having our beautiful boys, perhaps one of my favourite experiences was being lucky enough to catch my first ever black marlin while we were filming with the team at iFish TV! That was a fun day!

Best advice for current Year 12 students? Be true to yourself, surround yourself with good people, prioritise happiness and don’t be afraid to go after your dreams!

Favourite quote? One of my favourite quotes is “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”. to me this is about investing in yourself, putting in the hard work and being ready to take advantage of opportunities when they arise – and having the confidence to say yes! Sometimes, others may only see the ‘luck’ (or the outcome), but there is often so much hard work and preparation before the ‘luck’! And of course… have fun and smile!