With former Olympians as their teachers and following in the footsteps of Hockeyroos player Mariah Williams, the students of Hunter Sports High are bound to strive for sporting success.
The high school was officially named as an Australian Olympic Pathway School on Monday, and Year 12 prefects Charlie Norton and Tai Manaelers are excited to see what it brings for future students.
"I think it's awesome that you can combine your sporting and schooling aspirations," Ms Norton said.
"Now that it's an official Olympic partnership it'll be a lot easier for the guys coming through in years to come to transition," she said.
She said having a space to balance her aspirations was a privilege that general high schools don't have access to.
"I don't think I would have been able to balance trying to play rugby union at an elite level and academically strive for success as well, going to a normal high school," she said.
"I don't think I could've done even a quarter of what I have done here with the extra support systems that are in place."
Mr Manaelers said having former Olympians Nikolai Topor-Stanley and Scott Westcott work in their school was an insight and a privilege.
"Seeing all these younger kids having ex-Olympians here, I think it inspires them to be better at what they do," he said.
"It's also knowing that you've got to strive for academic success, so you have a pathway other than your sport. Obviously they were Olympians but now their teachers, so it definitely inspires you to work hard academically as well as at your sporting life," Ms Norton said.
Retired professional footballer Mr Topor-Stanley represented Australia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and now he works as the assistant strength and conditioning coach at the school.
"I'm making sure they're learning the right techniques how to use a gym, how to read program, being literate essentially in movement, so that if they do go into more professional and senior setups they've seen it all before," he said.
After working his way through the ranks and starting his career from the Australian Institute of Sport, Mr Topor-Stanley hoped students could draw on their experiences and use their time wisely at Hunter Sports High.
"I was lucky enough that I spent a year-and-a-half at the AIS, which I guess would be the closest thing to this and that was my first real eye opener into elite level sport and the facilities and the opportunities.
"The facility here is top class and I just want to set an example with the way I approach the work. I'm positive and engaging, hopefully that rubs off on them, maybe not now but at some stage in their career," he said.
There are seven pathway schools in the country, all in NSW and the Australian Olympic Committee chief of community engagement James Edwards said the AOC was delighted to designate Hunter Sports High as one.
"Hunter Sports High School has been doing the heavy lifting for years, and it's the AOC's privilege to designate the school as an Olympic pathway school and show to them that we value what they do," he said.
"We're hoping it will give daily motivation to every student, including the student athletes who attend this school the Olympic movement prides itself on the values of excellence, friendship and respect."
"Universal values that every student can engage with and it's certainly the values that back up the Olympic team, and we hope will be inspirational for these students."
