SIDE Camp - Week 5

In Week 5 our Year 11/12 SIDE students and Mrs Hogan & Mrs Nixon travelled to Perth for SIDE Camp. We stayed at the SIDE accommodation in Leederville for 4 nights. The students completed their school work during the day which was interspersed with visits from teachers. It was really helpful for students to see their teachers face-to-face and receive extra, personalised support. The afternoons and evenings were jam-packed with lots of fun activities such as visiting the arcade, watching Avatar at the movies, late-night shopping, eating churros and having pizza at Hillary’s Boat Harbour. Here are some comments from the students below on how they found camp:

“It was very helpful meeting my teachers face-to-face. It showed me the humanity of my teachers and it made me feel like they know who I am and that they care.”

– Mitchell Roberts

“My favourite part of camp was going to Bounce.” – Liam Browne

“It was great seeing our teachers as they explained things to us in person and made it easier to understand.” – Tommy McLachlan

Halogen Leadership Conference

On Monday 20th our student leaders joined many other student leaders from all over Perth to attend the Halogen Leadership Conference. Heading off in the early hours of the morning, it was a long and jam-packed day full of helpful leadership tips, lots of group interaction and the opportunity to meet some stand-out Western Australian leaders.

First up was Eliza Green, pro-surfer, and winner of multiple titles. Eliza saw a gap in the wet suit market with a lack of suitable suits for all shapes and sizes of women. To meet that need Eliza launched her own diverse and inclusive wetsuit brand. Starting with women’s suits, Eliza plans to expand her range with men’s suits in the near future.

Next up was James Foley. James is an author and illustrator of picture books, middle-grade novels and comics, having written books like ‘Stellarphant’, and his latest book ‘Secret Agent Mole’. James was hilarious and by far the most engaging speaker. He had us all in stitches as he shared his journey to achieve his goal of publishing his own work. Students can check out James’ latest book in our school library. James even signed it for us!

Next was Matthew Pavlich, another crowd favourite. Matthew captained the Fremantle Dockers for a record nine years and can now be seen regularly as a Channel 9 sports Commentator.

Lastly, we heard from The Hon Simone McGurk MLA, our minister for Youth in The Government of Western Australia. Simone has been a member of Parliament since 2013 and shared some helpful information that has helped her in her leadership role.

The students also had opportunity to meet the speakers, get autographs ask questions and have photos taken with the speakers during the break times.

We would like to say a big thank you to Peter Geraghty, our trusty bus driver for getting us safely there and home on the day. A big thank you also goes to Suzi Sprigg, our awesome parent helper.

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