Deputy Principal

PADUA VS MT A BASKETBALL 

This week, our Year 12 Captains played their second game in a series of friendly sport matches against the Captains from Padua. This time it was basketball. Unfortunately, our students weren’t victorious but they were very competitive and more importantly they had a lot of fun. As well as our Captains, a group of 30 Year 12 supporters attended the game to cheer the competitors on.

This series of sport games is part of our goal to “build connections” between the students at the two schools, of which the recent Year 7 Mt A/Padua picnic was also an initiative. The other year levels will enjoy similar activities with the Year 8 students taking dance lessons alongside the Paduan students next term, which will culminate in a social. Please stay posted for what the other year levels will be doing.

PARENT ENGAGEMENT SESSION III - THINKUKNOW

This week, we held our third Parent Engagement Session for the year. This sessions was called ThinkUKnow. Parents who attended the session were provided with an invaluable opportunity to gain essential knowledge and insights into online safety and digital literacy. ThinkUKnow, is a program run by the Australian Federal Police and Microsoft, and it equips parents with the tools and information needed to navigate the ever-evolving digital landscape and ensure the online safety of their children. Attendees had the opportunity to learn about potential risks and vulnerabilities, as well as practical strategies to protect their children from online threats. We extend our thanks to the AFP and Microsoft for running this informative session and the Mt A parents who attended. 

This week we also concluded our ThinkUKnow student presentations. These presentations were tailored specifically to the current topical issues each age group might face online. The presentations were delivered by QPS representations and built positive engagement between children, young people and police. We feel these are important conversations to have as they equip students with the knowledge and skills to be able to take actionable steps to always maintain their safety online.

ALTITUDE DAY

Recently, 10 of our Year 9 students attended Altitude Day, an annual event aimed at empowering students to become active and inspiring leaders of their school and the community. The day was a blend of inspirational talks and energising group activities, as well as being an opportunity to meet and connect with other like-minded Year 9 students. 

This week, in the Year 9 Personal Best lesson, the 10 students addressed the cohort and shared with them some of the learnings from the day. I was very impressed with the students’ summaries of the various parts of the day, and I am excited about the leadership potential amongst these students and the wider Year 9 cohort more generally.

Please read on to hear what some of the attending students had to say about the event, including an outline of the Good Box activity, which Year 9 students completed at the end of the session. A big thank you to Head of Greccio House, Ms Michelle Licina, for accompanying the students on the day of the event.

Student Reflections from Altitude Day:

SAMIRA BELHAG

One of the potential keys discussed at Altitude Day was “play with passion”. We talked about how passion is your drive and your motivation. Passion is the reason you get up in the morning. Your passion could be something like art, freedom, justice, and so on. These are your passions and your possible future. Whether you create a career out of your passions or not, these passions will always be a part of your life and in your blood. 

TAHLIA DUNCAN

The second value that emerged at Altitude Day was “courage before confidence”. You must have courage to take the first step in order to display confidence; if you do not try and have the courage to put yourself out there you will never unlock your potential and you won’t be able to show your confidence. Plus, confidence is not something that comes naturally and will need a lot of self-belief and courage to develop. Also, you must not be worried about what others will say, if they judge you or even if you fail.  If you do not start the race, you will never make it to the finish line. Also, judgement is a choice and if they are trying to get rid of your courage by judging you or trying to tear your confidence down then they are the person with the problem. Plus, what is the worst that can happen? By thinking this it will help unlock your potential and help build your courage, confidence, leadership, and your growth as a person through school, work, and your day-to-day life. Don’t replace your dreams because of fear or lack of courage. 

CHARLIE BATTISTI

One of the activities we partook in was “make a map and take action”, which allowed us to visualise our life path. We were given a piece of paper and instructions on what to draw. As we wrote the letters A to B on different corners of the map, this allowed us to recognise the uniqueness of everyone’s individual pathway and that life is not linear.

MADI PRICE

Over the course of Altitude Day, three amazing guest speakers came to share their personal stories of courage, passion and kindness. These people are Tom Price, Kano and Maddie. But personally, Tom Price stood out for me (representing ‘You Are Not Alone’). Throughout his senior years at High School Tom experienced mental health issues and decided that he wanted to make an impact in society. So in 2021 a group of his mates created a video featuring celebrities from all around Australia to spread awareness regarding youth mental health and youth suicide. ‘You Are Not Alone’ (YRNA) emphasised the reality of teen suicide due to mental health issues and how you can help yourself and the community.  After the video blew up on social media YRNA started fundraising and spreading awareness around Queensland about strategies and what mental health is. 

YRNA’s vision is ‘to one day live in an Australia in which youth suicide is not the leading cause of death, an Australia in which all young people are accepted and valued, and an Australia in which we speak up, rather than staying silent’.  To achieve this in our own community the first action is to find what helps you and enact initiatives to make others remember. 

Even though this process is going to be a long action, it is doable and can be done through everyone’s passion.

So, the overall piece of advice Tom shared with us was that if you are struggling always talk to someone and ask for help, even if you think it doesn’t matter. Having this mindset would allow more teens to feel confident when sharing their story with their friends, family, teachers or adults. 

KATHLEEN GOODALL

As well as Tom, we had the opportunity to meet Kano, a motivational speaker. His main messages focused on stepping out into courage even if you are not quite ready. To start, Kano’s story began when he and his family migrated to Australia from India when he was seven years old. He experienced, what I would consider as racism, during his time in school; his peers wouldn’t let him join in on their games and would often move to different areas of the school ground when he was around. But Kano didn’t view what he experienced as racism, but more as a lack of awareness, from his peers. He didn’t let that take away from his spirit and his enthusiasm, and eventually ran for school captain in high school. He did end up getting that position, and he used his role to positively influence others and educate them on their unconscious bias that they held towards him and others. Kano’s main messages were to build awareness and to unlearn the bias that you may have within you. He gave an insight into how unconscious bias can affect a person in ways that were not necessarily considered. This means, you do not deliberately act to alienate someone, it just sort of happens. Kano also said that in order to feel complete in life, you must be yourself, and not the façade you put on when at school or around certain groups, but authentically your true self. His story proved that with the right mindset and the willingness to continue, the challenges you face make you stronger, whether that is migrating to a new country or just messing up your mascara. You learn along the way once you take that action.

IMOGEN MCKEENA

One of the final speakers that was presenting was Madelyn Jones, but she preferred to be called Maddie. Maddie was a person that came from a smaller and connected town, but after college she got a job in Sydney and moved there. This made her aware to more things, gave her new experiences but also helped opened up her eyes. Maddie is the co-founder of a charity organisation that helps the homeless, this is called the good box. But before I go into what they do I want to talk about how it started and how it has changed someone’s life. Every day she would go to her job and she would also see at least two homeless people on the streets. After doing some research she realised how big of a problem this is. This is when she and her co-worker decided they were going to do something about this. They came up with an idea for a box that had essential items and some gifts as well as handwritten notes to inspire. There is no set list for the box because they do all different types of ones depending on the season and what is available. But some examples of ones they do are, specific hygiene boxes that are catered to gender, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and ones that are made to help take care of pets. After many prototypes and sleepless nights, they finally started to hand out their first one. This went to a man named Damo. Damo was homeless from the age of seven because of abuse, violence, and other circumstances. He was put into foster care at the age of nine but then returned to the streets. When he received the good box, he was 45 years old. He had lost hope and thought that he would be on the streets forever. That was until he read a handwritten note that was in the box that he was given. This gave him the inspiration to get off the street. The charity then helped him find a job and get an apartment. To this day he is off the streets and volunteers regularly at charities including the good box. This shows that a little can go a long way and you don’t need a lot to change someone’s life. 

SOPHIA PRICE

In these letters of hope Maddie has asked us to do this:

• To start by addressing the note. You can say something like “Hi” “Hello there!” “Dear Friend”.
• Write a message of support to the person receiving the box. You can express your well wishes, your love and care, inspirational or hopeful messages. 

Some examples could be:

• 'Times can get tough, but you are tougher. I'm rooting for you!'
• 'Hi friend, just letting you know that you are awesome and I'm thinking of you. I hope this puts a smile on your face'.
• 'We hope this Good Box brings you a smile today :)'
• 'Hey friend, I hope this Good Box brightens up your day and know that someone cares’.
   
• Feel free to decorate the notes and include colour!
• Sign your first name at the bottom of the note to let them know who this note is from making it much more beautiful and personalised! Make sure to not add your surname to this. 
• The Good Box distributes notes to people experiencing homelessness all around Australia, so there is no guarantee they go to a specific city. So please try to refrain from referencing specific places or even states. For example don’t write “Dear Fellow Queenslander” and this should be changed to “Dear Friend”.