🎉 NEW HONORARY MODERATOR 🎉
Brenden (known by various usernames across his ATAR Notes life) joined the forums on 18 February 2012, and has perhaps been the single most influential member of our community since.
As of today, he is our newest Honorary Moderator.
Practically every single ATAR Notes initiative over the last five years, on and off the forums, Brenden has played a role. And often, a very, very big role.
Thank you Brenden: Honorary Moderator #25 On the forums…Brenden has been an absolute giant.
* More than 7,000 posts. Currently the ninth most of all time and, until recently, the sixth most.
* Accrued some 2,500 respect, mostly through a time where a post:respect ratio of 20:1 was incredible. I have no doubt that Brenden would be #1 if we adjusted respect for era, taking into account respect inflation.
* Made 200+ posts in ten individual boards, including almost 800 in Victorian Education Discussion.
* This includes the VCE English Work Submission and Marking Board, where Brenden was massive in marking countless essays and investing countless hours of time.
* Administrator for more than four years since
taking over duties from ninwa.
* Sole Administrator for a large chunk of that time, which honestly would not be an easy gig in the slightest.
* And, in my view, one of the most pivotal posters ever in terms of ATAR Notes Culture.
In December 2017, Brenden made a thread –
From the bottom of my heart – Thank you ATAR Notes – and I just think it speaks so well for the kind of impact AN can have. And, indeed, the kind of people AN attracts. Brenden could have easily said, “well, thanks for the help, I’m done now, so I’ll see you all later!”, but instead stuck around to be the pillar of the community he was and is for future students.
I came on AN around May this year when I started answering people's Psych questions and I've racked up a fair few posts in such a little amount of time. Really though, I fell in love with the community at ATARNotes in a way the majority of you won't understand.
And ATAR Notes fell in love with you, mate! From that point onward, just look at some of the threads he has made. This is just a tiny snapshot, not even taking into account individual posts.
Lauren says:
"When I met Brenden, the first question he asked me was "what's your favourite book?" And there's pretty much no way to make a better first impression than that. One of the many reasons why he's remained a core part of ATAR Notes and the lives of ATAR Notes-ers for so long is because beneath all the philosophical rants, the sage advice, and the football discussion, there's a person with the most uncanny ability to empathise with and understand others. I can think of no better person to be pursuing teaching, and no better role for him than to be an incredibly memorable and impactful teacher."
Off the forums…If it weren't for Brenden, things might be very different, including a lot of things we take for granted now in 2019.
FREE NOTES + ARTICLESBrenden has played a big role in cultivating the
free notes section of the site (starting it from scratch in some instances). The same is true for our free articles, many of which Brenden wrote himself. We're now closing in on 4,000 sets of free notes available to download 24/7.
STUDY GUIDESBrenden was huge in developing our first study guides in both Victoria and New South Wales. We now have more than
60 titles across the two states, with more to come.
NEW SOUTH WALES COMMUNITYHonestly, this could be the biggest thing of all. The NSW community we have today on ATAR Notes is awesome, and offers pretty much everything the Victorian community offers (which was established in 2007). Developing NSW was Brenden's baby, and he smashed it out of the ballpark. We know the huge NSW figures: Jamon, Jake, Elyse, Rui, Susie and so on. But literally none of that could have been done without Brenden, and even though ATAR Notes - HSC is a given right now, it didn't used to be the case.
Jamon says:
“Brenden was the very first person I ever talked to from ATAR Notes, and since then he’s always represented everything good about AN for me. Working with him to establish the HSC community was such a privilege; he was and continues to be a source of inspiration and motivation. His posts and respect count are insanely impressive, but even they can’t do justice to the sheer impact Brenden has had on this community. It’s not exaggerating to say that without Brenden, the landscape of the community today would be totally different - He was the spark for the HSC community altogether. Which also means he was the spark for what is now a huge part of my life. Thanks for everything, mate ❤”
TUTESMARTTuteSmart now runs across two states. Who took care of much of the day-to-day stuff in its original iterations? Brenden did.
See initial thread
here.
FREE LECTURESFor context, when I was in Year 12, free lectures didn't exist. They just didn't. If you wanted to go to revision lectures for your subjects a few times per year, you'd be forking out hundreds - even thousands - of dollars. Now, you can do that for free - again, largely thanks to Brenden (for both states). Literally tens of thousands of students have benefitted.
What I love is that the chances are, lecturers today were either trained by Brenden personally, or trained by somebody who was trained by Brenden. His influence has been significant.
See initial thread
here.
On a personal level…I am honestly really thankful to have been able to work with Brenden over the last little while, and to be able to read his posts (which will hopefully be the case in the future, too!). He’s had a big impact on me personally.
We actually joined the forums about ~a month apart, when we were both just starting Year 12, and then, very coincidentally, made our first posts on the very same night, in the very same board. Brenden got actively involved in the forums much earlier than I did and was, in a sense, from a forum generation before me, but that allowed him to be a really fantastic mentor as I gradually became more involved in subsequent years.
Brenden (with Lauren) was, if I’m thinking straight, the first person I ever met from ATAR Notes. He was probably the most welcoming person I’ve ever met. On that day, his enthusiasm for ATAR Notes was very clear to me, and I think that’s something that has rubbed off onto the community more generally over the years. Which is huge.
I am genuinely proud to call Brenden a friend and to be able to make this post denoting his transition into his next ATAR Notes role as he pursues
other ways to positively impact students' lives.
Thank you, Brenden, for everything!
Thank you Brenden: Honorary Moderator #25