Rhys Jewell

"Our year level was inspiring - we knew each other well."

Friendships that Rhys Jewell formed at Yarra Valley Grammar have stood the test of time. He met some of his closest mates in the classrooms or on the ovals of the School.

Those cherished connections are one element of Yarra that stands out for Rhys.

“Too many people measure success by remuneration. For me, success is setting goals and striving to achieve them and those goals can be focused on career, family or a great group of friends.

“I still have five or six close school friends and we travel together and our children are friends – and we still all listen to the music we listened to back then, too, and have inflicted that upon our children!” says Rhys.

Rhys was the first in his family to join Yarra and he remembers his parents working and saving hard to send him and his younger brother to the school.

He gravitated towards the Humanities, and English Literature was a particular passion. Rhys recalls his teacher, Annette Gitz, and her enthusiasm for her subject.

“Annette helped me develop my creative writing and one year I ended up winning an award for a piece I wrote. She had a clear passion for her subject and brought her students on that journey with her.”

After leaving Yarra, Rhys studied Commerce and Law at Deakin University in Geelong.

“I hoped to get into a Melbourne university and initially I was disappointed. I wasn’t sure about moving away from family and friends and for the first year at university I wondered if I’d made a big mistake. I even thought about dropping out but I persevered that first year and never looked back.”

After graduating, Rhys initially joined an international accounting firm but in 2002, he joined the law firm that he still works with, progressing to partner and the head of his practice group.

“Law is a difficult profession but incredibly rewarding. I work with people who are experts in their field, who think creatively and who are problem solvers,” he says.

Rhys and his friends and former classmates celebrated a 30-year reunion in 2022 and, three decades after leaving Yarra, he still recalls the school motto.

“For me, the motto means not being focused on what is in front of you but to look up and around and see what else is out there.

“Some of the best advice I received comes back to goalsetting. Identify what interests you and go for it, but break that goal into component parts and work out what you need to achieve along the way.”