Magis

John XXIII has competed very successfully in three important gifted and talented programs in the past week, Creative Edge Challenge at Curtin University on Saturday, the second round of WA Debating leagues on Tuesday, and the prestigious da Vinci Decathlon at Winthrop Hall, UWA on Tuesday and Wednesday.

At the Creative Edge Challenge this year we fielded a team of four, Charlie Richards from Year 12, Nick Brennan from Year 11, and Bella Pether and Akash Parekh from Year 10. The team performed extremely well in the three challenges set, represented the College admirably, and were very positive in their feedback on this exciting event. Tuesday night’s debating also saw many fine performances and a 6-3 win/loss ratio on a night where two of our teams had byes. Congratulations to all teams and coaches/managers. A special Magis debating seminar breakfast for all interschool debaters will be held next Wednesday at 7:30am in the library. After the breakfast students will divide intro two groups, novice and advanced, for instruction from WA Debating league representatives.

For the first time John XXIII College fielded a team in all five year groups from Years 7 to 11 at the da Vinci Decathlon, held at Winthrop Hall this year. It is a difficult and fascinating competition with the ten areas including some complex challenges, but all teams responded well and participated with great enthusiasm and talent. About 400 students competed each day and a full report will be presented next week when results are received, as time constraints limited the announcements on the day. However highlights included the Year 11 victory in the Creative Producers section and Year 9 winning the cartography. Congratulations on all 40 John XXIII College students on representing your College, and warmest thanks to the following key teachers who gave up their time to assist with preparing students for the event; Ms O’Loughlin, Ms Davies, Ms Devanand, Mr Cotter, Ms Ball, and Mr Carello. Special thanks also to Ms Holmes and Ms Devanand for their assistance on the day.

With Creative Edge and Da Vinci completed we now move to the World Scholar’s Cup and two Magis-run College events, John XXIII College Public Speaking and Creative Writing (short stories). Teams are now being finalised for the World Scholar’s event, and it is expected that we will send even more teams this year to the WA round in Term 2, the Global round in Term 3 and the Tournament of Champions at Yale University, USA, in Term 4.

Posters and information have now been circulated about the Public Speaking and short story competitions, which are open to all John XXIII students from Years 7-12. Entries for the Creative Writing must be received by the first Friday in Term 2, whilst Public Speaking nomination forms are now available, and nominations will be accepted up to the first Thursday of next term. A public speaking seminar in week one, Term 2 will then be followed by Heats held at lunchtimes in week two and the grand final featuring the top three speakers in each year group in the GBLT at 7:00pm on Tuesday 11 May (week 3).