A decade ago, Amelia Adam and Elizabeth Macintosh assumed the role of student and teacher. This week, they joined forces to deliver an interactive Feast of Words festival at Coonabarabran High School.

Now in its 10th year, the annual Feast of Words festival provides local students with a specialised series of workshops from industry experts.

This year’s event was no exception, with Amelia sharing tales and bloopers from her career as a broadcast journalist, while Elizabeth tackled dialogue and character building through her experience as an author.

The reunion was a homecoming of sorts, with Amelia a former school captain and Elizabeth recently retiring from teaching at the school.

“It’s bizarre being back here,” Amelia said.

“It’s been a few years since I’ve been back home and it feels a bit different this time because mum and dad (Annette and Bruce Adam) aren’t living here anymore.

“But it is such an honour to be asked to present at Feast of Words.”

Now based on the Gold Coast, Amelia is employed by Seven, covering general news out of the Gold Coast and Brisbane bureaus.

As well as reporting on unrelenting COVID-19 stories, Amelia said a recent highlight was spending a week in Yeppoon covering bushfires.

“I am hoping to show the students that hard work pays off, as well as creating some inspiration and motivation,” she said.

“For me, it actually began when Mrs Macintosh encouraged me to enter the ‘What Matters?’ competition while I was at school.

“After I won, that was when I realised, hey, I could write - so everything for me changed at that point.”

For Elizabeth, who has had numerous short stories published in anthologies, she felt returning to the classroom as a Feast of Words presenter gave her more clout.

“I think the students started thinking of me a bit differently than ‘just a teacher’ after they had seen some of my stories,” Elizabeth said.

“It’s quite uncanny to be presenting with Amelia - I taught her in years nine and 10 and was her year advisor in years 11 and 12 - we even climbed Mount Vesuvius together on a school excursion!”