Laura Quigley (pictured in action above) is a young, enthusiastic teacher in her eighth year of teaching Primary level, with six of those years being based at Benton Junior College. Laura finds her job very rewarding and is passionate about making a difference in her students lives.

Living on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula gives Laura the opportunity to indulge in one of her favourite hobbies and sports - scuba diving. After studying Marine Biology, Laura has been fascinated with what lies and lives beneath the water. With immediate access to wonderful dive sites such as Mornington, Flinders, Blairgowrie and Portsea piers as well as amazing boat dives within Port Phillip Bay Laura has been able to acquire her Advanced Open Water dive licence.

Laura often incorporates her diving experiences into her teaching and shares photos and learnings with her students in science lessons and class discussions. Her students are fascinated with photos of male weedy sea dragons carrying eggs on their tails, sleeping seahorses, camouflaged velvet fish, decorative nudibranchs and so much more.

Laura is excited at the prospect of being able to ‘take’ her students on a scuba dive adventure by participating on Project Manta. More than just photos, this opportunity will not only enrich Laura's life and allow her to pursue a rare aspect of her much loved hobby, but to marry her passion for diving with her passion for teaching science and thereby creating a meaningful and valuable experience for the children.

Whether it is instilling a sense of responsibility for caring for our sensitive marine animals and their environment or opening up the underwater world, the objectives of TeachLive will be a worthwhile achievement and a memorable learning experience for Laura and her school community.