Student Leader Corner
Term 1 has been a busy term for the Student Leadership Team, and I am very proud of all their achievements. The students have participated in many events including the Year 7 Welcome Day, Opening College Mass, Year 7 House Building Day, Investiture Ceremony, Ash Wednesday Mass, Student Leadership Camp, Swimming Carnival, Student Leadership Development Event, and the Halogen Youth Conference. Throughout the term, students have also attended to their regular duties including attending weekly meetings, writing newsletter articles, hiring out sport equipment every recess and lunch, monitoring the flagpoles, and participating in College tours. The students have also written detailed and extensive proposals to create positive change in the school community.
To gain an insight into some of this Term’s highlights, please read below!
Halogen Youth Conference Review
On 27 March 2023, the four college captains travelled alongside Ms Bugeja into the city to attend the Halogen Youth Conference at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. There were 4000 other young leaders in attendance from schools across Victoria. Four high-profile presenters from the sport, arts, media, and business industry, spoke to students about their leadership journey. Amanda Johnstone, Candy Hertz, Nazeem Hussain and Robert Diperdomenico (Dipper) shared their tips, insights and life lessons about how to become a successful leader. It was a great experience that the college captains were able to learn from.
Written by: Nyankat D (Deputy College Captain)
Student Leadership Camp review
The Student Leadership camp took place on the 6 March to the 8 March with thirty-six of our amazing student leaders in attendance. During the camp, students participated in various workshops that helped build teamwork and public speaking skills. On the first night, the student leadership team were treated to an amazing dinner prepared by Ms Murray-Fawcett. Students then spent the evening by the beach and participated in a wonderful talent show where everyone surprised themselves with their diverse talents. The next morning, students watched the sunrise while eating breakfast together as a team, after which they started working on various proposals that were going to be presented to leadership. Once finished, students were able to show off their amazing surfing skills during an eventful surfing lesson with Go Ride A Wave. The remainder of the camp was a great experience that included many highlights. Some of these were the sunrise walks, ice cream trip, painting session, and movie night. The camp also gave students lots of free time, allowing them to connect as a team and create long lasting friendships.
From my experience, the camp gave us a chance to showcase and develop our leadership skills in various ways, whether through the various workshops undertaken or supporting one another through obstacles. I’m sure that I speak on behalf of everyone when I say A LOT of friendship’s were made and we all enjoyed each other’s company. Personally, I enjoyed the talent show and walk to get ice cream because I believe this is where a lot of the friendships were formed, whether it was encouraging each other during a performance or trying to order ice cream in Italian (a fun challenge set by Ms Bugeja)!
Written by: Nyankat D (Deputy College Captain)
Swimming Carnival Review
Swimming Carnival is a day where everyone gets to dress up in their house colour, compete in different competitions to earn house points, and simply have fun. Different activities took place on this day for houses to earn points. Although swimming is an essential part of the day, the Carnival hosted many land events, like volleyball, mini-games, and a fiercely competitive water polo competition for each year level.
Student Leaders assisted at the Swimming Carnival by helping at various events. The House Captains rallied event swimmers during and before their race, the Student Leaders rotated by helping teachers at different land events and the Year 10’s paraded in with the House Captains while showcasing their House Banner. Without the Student Leadership team assisting with the Swimming Carnival, this day would not have run as smoothly as it did.
Personally, I enjoyed water polo as it was fast, entertaining, and very competitive. After an already busy term, Swimming Carnival was a great day to socialise with friends, have fun and earn house points for our team!
Written by: Isaac D (Norman House Captain)
Students across the school all dressed up in their fantastic house colours and it was great to see everyone in their creative costumes. House captains gave their welcoming speeches at the start of the day and the winning house (O’Reilly) gave their winning speech at the end of the event. It was great to see many students from all year levels participate, whether it was competing in competitive swimming or participating in the land events. The Swimming carnival included competitive swimming styles in different meters such as freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke, and relay. Water polo was also played competitively against House Teams, as did our volleyball game and thong toss. It was great to see everyone participating in at least one of these events; it really goes to show how much our house captains' speeches really gave people the motivation to get out there and have fun.
At Swimming Carnival, all the student leaders took it upon themselves to help out at every running station. Our House Captains showcased the newly done 2023 house banners while walking in for the last time with the year 10’s of their corresponding house. Encouragement was also shown throughout the day by our house captains.
As O’Reilly’s house captain, it was incredible to see many red caps at the marshalling area and seeing the sheer amount of people engaging with the day. I really saw the collaboration of our houses come together during our House vs House water polo. It was great to see everyone working together as one to bring O’Reilly points. I think overall, the teamwork and participation throughout all the houses this year had to be my favourite thing of this day. I can’t wait to see what 2024 has to bring!
Written by: Augustha M (O’Reilly House Captain)