Year 11 Pastoral Guardian
Bridget Piper
Recently Year 11 students participated in the Brisbane Dialogue Pilot Program for the School Dialogue on What is wrong with TikTok? In a report presented to Parliament, Elizabeth Johnston eloquently represented the College and dialogued with like-minded students on safety concerns emerging from social media platforms such as TikTok. In a round table discussion with Curtis Pitt-the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly- Elizabeth raised safety concerns about the implications this has on our vulnerable adolescents, and even offered recommendations to Parliament.
Image Captions:
Bridget Piper, Elizabeth Johnston and the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Curtis Pitt, Parliament House.
So, what exactly are these safety concerns?
In recent times, sexual extortion – sometimes called 'sextortion' – has been identified as a significant issue for young people globally. This form of digital abuse is sometimes referred to as 'sextortion’. Simply put, it is blackmail: where someone threatens to share intimate images of you unless you give in to their demands. (eSafety Commission,2022)
With the everchanging social media landscape, young adults are often on the leading edge of this space. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable on social media platforms because they are less inhibited and tend to overshare. In 2022, the Pew Research Center survey on 'Teens, Social Media and Technology' revealed that adolescents between the ages of 13 to 17 now use TikTok, while Facebook has plummeted since its debut several years ago. According to the research, 67% of teens say they ever use TikTok, with 16% of all teens saying they use it almost constantly. (PEW RESEARCH,2022) Dealing with an incident of sextortion can be traumatic for your child and you. Victims can be drawn into a vicious cycle by the perpetrator, who promises to make the problem disappear.
As your child becomes a young adult, they may be targeted through dating apps, but they can also be targeted using emails. So, what might be the warning signs for your child? Perhaps the profile of someone they have met online does not add up. Alternatively, the profile seemed too good to be true — and that is exactly what they were. Maybe the contact makes excuses that their webcam is not working and instead sends explicit images, claiming to be them; the perpetrator may ask for help for medical treatment or money for travel and finally receive a message which threatens to share an intimate image of them. (BOURKE, 2022)
Protecting your child against sextortion means encouraging them to follow basic online safety and privacy practices. As a parent or caregiver, encourage them to set social media accounts to private, browse the web securely- protecting their identity- block and report strange requests, be careful of what they share online, and use strong passwords. While these are just a few ways to protect your child, simple procedures could reduce the impact of damages, such as stopping communication immediately, never comply with any demands, keeping evidence, and reporting any incident to the police. (eSafety Commission, 2022)
This week's SchoolTV resource on Sextortion offer some great insights into protecting your young people and advise on encouraging them to follow basic safety and privacy practices.
This term, twenty Year 11 students have stood as candidates for captaincy in 2023. I would like to extend the thanks and appreciation of our College community for their courage in discerning their candidacy for leadership and their participation in this process.
On assembly this week, it gave me great pleasure to introduce the Mount Alvernia College Captains Elect for 2023:
College Captain: Erin Winstanley
College Vice Captain: Elizabeth Johnston
Academic Captain: Sofia Poy
Cultural Captain: Chiara Pezzetta
Liturgy Captain: Jessica Chripczuk Morales
Outreach Captain: Bridget Waterson
Spirit Captain: Lily Ryan
Sport Captain: Sophia Papantoniou
Captain of Belle Prairie House: Alice Kelly
Captain of Greccio House: Tia Kinghorn
Captain of Perugia House: Charlotte Roche
Captain of Rieti House: Caitlin Howard
Captain of Spoleto House: Sophia Nielsen
Captain of Villa Spada House: Amber Janas
Our commissioning ceremony will take place early in Term 4 when our 2022 College Captains officially handover their roles to our 2023 Captains. In the coming weeks, our current Captains will be working closely with our Captains elect to ensure a smooth transition. We wish them all well.
Another exciting opportunity for one of our Year 11 students Tahni Dreise, was her attendance at the WAIT Conference – Western Australian Indigenous Tourism; enabling her to learn from and forge new connections with other indigenous organizations and communities in Cairns. During the three-day conference, Tahni learnt about coffee art and techniques in coffee making. In addition, she delivered a presentation on her sponsor and employer, The Preston Campbell Foundation, and discussed the confidence she has gained through the her traineeship and the impact the foundation has had on her personal development.
Our Financial Wellbeing Session held on 4 August was a great success. RACQ provided an informative session on the importance of being financially independent. While we are constantly searching for new interactive sessions for our students, the afternoon prompted great discussion on financial decisions made by the students each day-setting financial goals and budgeting. So, please ask your child what the session's key message was and what they learnt.
Congratulations, once again, to Paris Hanna on her success in competing at the Futsal Competition last month in Fiji. Well done on setting goals and achieving your personal best!
As we enter the next phase of the assessment cycle, the hope is your child will continue their school journey with courage -one foot in front of the other- determined to stay focused on short-term steps which reward them and reminds them they are closer to achieving their end goal.
Best wishes,
Bridget Piper
Year 11 Pastoral Guardian
References:
Auroris Media, Sextortion: The Hidden Pandemic, Documentary Film, 2022
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