Year 11 News

IMMUNOLOGY DAY at GTAC (Gene Technology Access Centre)

To celebrate world Immunology Day, ten Units 3 & 4 Biology students were chosen to attend the “Your Body at War” event at the Gene Technology Access Centre (GTAC) in Parkdale. The day began with a presentation from Professor Phil Hodgkin on Sir Gus Nossal and his contributions to the discovery of antibody formations, followed by Dr. Fabienne Mackay discussing her team’s research on the activation of B-cells.

The first activity was titled “Bonding with Antibodies”, where the group learnt about antibodies and their applications by tracing a hypothetical pneumonia outbreak back to its initial host within the hospital using a lab technique commonly used by immunologists. The next was “Pathogen Attack!”, where we played a computer game designed to teach us about the process of the immune system overcoming infections.

Lunch gave us the opportunity to speak with immunologists about their current research projects, their previous achievements, and what made them want to join the field of immunology. It was inspiring to see that of the ten immunologists invited, seven were women, and the three we spoke to all had made huge achievements in further understanding the inner workings of the immune system, and were working on projects they were interested in and enjoyed studying.

Our final activity for the day was microscopy, where we observed immune responses to diseases of the body, and were informed on why the body reacted in certain ways. Overall the day was extremely inspiring, and it was interesting to learn about how far we’ve come in understanding the immune system in such a short amount of time.

Students that attended the day were Maya Trevorrow, Zali Tocknell, Rhiannon Lewoshko, Luka Walsh, Malik Ramsey, Ruby Johnson, Eve Jensen-McCann, Freya Briggs, Skye Charles and Alex Wickham

By Alex Wickham Year 11

Lions Youth of the Year Quest

Lilia Midlovets and Marco De’Mille in Year 11 both took part in the Lions Youth of the Year Quest 2019.  The program is designed to encourage student interest in leadership, public speaking and in taking an active and constructive role in the community.

Both students presented themselves well and were a credit to the school, impressing the judges with their level of preparation, knowledge of their chosen topic and their public speaking skills. Lilia chose to talk about the importance of gratitude, and Marco chose to talk about the value in listening to and learning from others.

Congratulations to both Lilia and Marco with the way they conducted themselves, and their polished and engaging speeches. Lilia is also to be congratulated for making it to the next round of Youth of the Year. We wish her the best of luck!