Just 10 days since opening her account on the national stage with a 1.92m leap, the Sydney 22-year-old pulled off a similarly big jump across Bass Strait to open this weekend's Launceston Alive Easter festival.

Before putting on a clinic for an eager group of Launceston-based school students at Windsor Park, the Commonwealth Games medallist spoke of her journey from student to elite athlete.

"When I first started sports I was terrible at every sport you can imagine - Mum put me in swimming and tennis and dancing and it was just shocking," McDermott said.

"One day I was doing my school athletics and I won pretty much all the events and my dad was like 'okay, maybe we've got something here', so I did little athletics and I loved it.

"I got into high jump when I was in under-9s and I've continued on with that - I had a little dream when I was eight years old to represent Australia and to be one of the first women ever in Australia to jump two metres, since the women's Australian record is 1.98m.

"Fast forward and last year I won a Commonwealth Games bronze medal in my home stadium on the Gold Coast.

"But we're still chasing two [metres] because we know that's where the Olympic medals are, and there's no [Australian] woman that's ever got an Olympic gold in high jump."

Having jumped 1.76m in 2011, McDermott has upped or matched her personal best every year, with February's 1.94 effort in Canberra her best to date.

The University of Sydney student said she was pleased to have finally earned the title of Australian champion after a run of disappointing results in nationals, but was determined not to be changed by it.

"Becoming what you've trained for can be scary.

"You've trained and people say you can become that and you want to, and then it's there and all of a sudden you've become that title and it's just making sure you don't change. You stay true to yourself, that's just an added little extra to the resume."

And what wisdom can she give to young athletes and their parents?

"I love that sport brings the community together," McDermott said.

"You can continually strengthen and encourage the development of a child into an adult and show them that they're loved regardless of their performance, and once you understand that you can compete without having to fear what you're going to jump."