Student News
Suzanne Cory Musical 2020 | CHICAGO Auditions
Give 'em the ol’ razzle dazzle… Suzanne Cory High School is excited to announce its 2020 musical production will be "CHICAGO: High School Edition"!
In the roaring twenties in Chicago, Roxie Hart murders her faithless lover and convinces her hapless husband, Amos, to take the rap... until he finds out he's been duped and turns on Roxie. Convicted and sent to death row, Roxie and another "Merry Murderess," Velma Kelly, vie for the spotlight and the headlines, ultimately joining forces in search of the "American Dream": fame, fortune, and acquittal.
Auditions will be held on Monday, December 2nd (second week of Transition) so keep a close eye on your Compass newsfeed over the next few weeks!
To stay up-to-date with all the latest news, insights and gossip about next year’s show you can also join us on Facebook at SCHS Musicals where we’ll be posting audition tips, reminders, competitions, behind-the-scenes videos and all that jazz!
Ms. Helena Hall
Musical Director
Humanities Symposium | Singapore
At the beginning of Term 3, six students from Year 9 and 10, along with Ms. Rashid, departed from Melbourne and headed off to Singapore for a week packed with new experiences, lots of food, and research for our projects.
After we arrived late on Friday night, we all headed off to our host families to get some much-needed sleep. On Saturday, we bonded with the students while exploring Chinatown. Sunday was a free day for the students, but we all decided to hangout together and head over to Universal Studios. After our fun-packed weekend, we were tired but super excited to head to National Junior College and begin our research for our projects.
We spent the rest of our week together researching our topics and preparing our presentation for Friday's Symposium. In the afternoons of each day, we immersed ourselves in the local culture and ate our way across the country!
On Friday it was finally the day of the Symposium. We were able to watch finished presentations from different schools from all over the world, and present our own research proposals. It was an amazing experience that helped understand our project aims and gave us a greater understanding of research methods and exploration of the Humanities.
It was an amazing experience that allowed us to make friends that will last a long time. We look forward to hosting the National Junior College students when they visit in November!
Bridie T (Year 10)
China Trip | 2019
The following are thoughts and reflections from the students who attended the 2019 China Trip, organised and supervised by Mr. Dave Yan and Ms. Karen De Leon.
"Though we are back to Australia, I still keep going through the wonderful memories we built during the Term 3 holidays. In hindsight, I should’ve taken more photos of you guys, which is the only thing I regret deeply. This trip has given me a valuable opportunity of knowing you better as individuals; I find all of you are amazing in your own way. Term 4 has started and we have to move on. I hope you would treasure the experience and keep making positive changes in your life. Whatever your dream is, keep going for it! You are young; life is full of possibilities.
"China as a whole is a wondrous place, rich in culture and dripping is history. Exploring the tourist triad (Shanghai, Xi’an and Beijing) plus LuoYang was the experience of a lifetime, eating local cuisine and seeing some of the gorgeous places each city had to offer. Seeing the Shanghai Tower, the Terracotta Warriors, the giant Buddha and Tian Mian Square as well as many a temple made the trip absolutely unforgettable for each and every student." Mackenzy G
"Going to China for the China Trip was the first time I can remember leaving Australia. And it was definitely worth it, visiting amazing places such as the colossal Shanghai Tower, riding a bike over 12km on the Xian city wall, watching unbelievable performances ranging from acrobatics to dancing to kung fu, and of course, conquering a small portion of the legendary Great Wall of China. Of course, the best part was obviously the food. My favourite city was Shanghai by far, and being honest, I would want to live in Shanghai. I would definitely recommend visiting China." Akira P
"If I'm being honest, I'd say the China Trip would probably be the best experience of my life so far. The four cities we went to were absolutely great. My top two being Xi'an and Shanghai as these two cities showed us how China has changed over the course of history. And whilst we learnt a lot, we also did a lot of great activities that really bonded us together. I can't even list the activities I loved as the list would consist of them all. The experience in the hotels was also comfortable and it was always great walking around the city. Mealtimes were great for two reasons: the food was A+ and the conversations and games were a blast. I really wish I could go back again someday and do more things that we didn't get to do." Jeryshan X
"Despite having no expendable money, I learnt several valuable lessons on responsibility and independence [during the 2019 China Trip]. This holistic experience allowed me to establish new friendships and heighten my passion for Chinese. I will miss the picturesque landscape and dynamic culture of China but sadly all things must come to an end. I must commend our school for providing us such a well-rounded and cherished experience, with special thanks to Mr. Dave Yan and Ms. De Leon." Raveen K
Chess Club | Term 4
During October of 2019, our students participated in three major events. The first two of these were the Middle School and the Senior levels state qualifiers. Our students excelled in both, and both our Middle School and our Senior level teams qualified to the 2019 Chess Nationals, to be held on the 2nd and the 3rd of December, 2019.
Our third event was the Female State Finals. Our female team demonstrated their skill and perseverance, and their hard work paid off as they achieved second place, bringing the silver trophy back with them. Lastly, next week will witness the annual Chess house competition between the teams of all four houses. May the best house win!
Mr. Isaac Ryan
Chess Co-Curricular Coordinator
Year 10 Careers | Barista Training
One of our most impressive initiatives this year has been our Barista Training Program, which saw the latest cohort of 15 students undertake barista training October 18th at Suzanne Cory. These trainees put their skills to the test at the New Parents and Students Information Evening on October 24th, and although it was a warm evening, the baristas were busy brewing hot drinks!
These students can now add this experience to their resumes to assist them in securing casual employment alongside their studies. With one more training session scheduled for 2019, this will bring the total number of students trained in 2019 to 70 - a fantastic result!.
Mr. Brendan Taig
Careers Coordinator
Citizenship at Suzanne Cory High School
Citizenship in our school community is not merely the concept of charity and donations, but is greatly driven by the passion and enthusiasm of our student body who wish to make a difference in our world. In 2020, the Citizenship and Initiative Captains along with some teachers plan to bring about a range of events and fundraising activities for not only our school, but also our wider community and international organisations. From the World's Greatest Shave, Relay for Life to Valentine's Day chocolate roses for the Heart Foundation, there will be plenty of opportunities of every individual to participate and contribute to these great causes. If anyone has any ideas or if existing clubs want help make a bigger change, please do not hesitate to contact the Citizenship team as we hope to make 2020 the greatest year!
Shaneika D & Alysandra K
School Citizenship Captains 2020
VCE ADT Student Profiles
Come along to the ADT Showcase - Monday, 25th November, from 6:00pm-9:00pm in T-wing and the Auditorium - to meet these inspiring students and view and appreciate their impressive work. Art, Design and Technology subjects take persistence, dedication and creative flair to achieve outstanding results, so don’t miss this rare opportunity to celebrate their hard work with us at Suzanne Cory High School!
Ms. Nalan Velisha
Head of ADT
Name: Jonan L
VCE Subjects: English, Methods, Biology, Computing, Visual Communication
What have you enjoyed about your ADT subject? VisCom was a great way for me to explore how designers work and how their products are developed. Since I especially like drawing/designing characters, VisCom helped work as an outlet for creative expression at school.
Tell us a bit about your final product: Final product are posters and a box set for a fictional series called "Battery", a post-human future where robots have built their own societies across a barren Earth. Purpose in context was primarily to depict and promote the series, while the process to create it (in simplified terms) effectively had me sketching and exploring ideas based on a brief outlined by ourselves, choosing ones I liked to develop further and finally refining specific developed concepts for final presentations.
What transferable skills have you gained from taking an ADT subject? A surprising amount of teamwork and collaboration is something I think most "academic" subjects lack and is a skill this subject has helped me to develop.
What advice would you offer to students undertaking this subject? All your works should have a bit of yourself and what you enjoy in them. It makes the process feel a lot less like homework and more like designing the things you like.
Name: Noah N
VCE Subjects: English, Further Maths, Health and Human Development, Psychology, Media, and Theatre Studies (2018)
What have you enjoyed about your ADT subject? I have enjoyed being able to explore the different aspects of all forms of Media, which includes but is not limited to film, print and photography. Within these media landscape I got to experiment with different techniques that all extended my skills.
Tell us a bit about your final product: My final product is a magazine publication which is titled 'Craving Success' and aims to serve as the ultimate guide for University Students living in Melbourne who are roughing it and starting to manage their own funds, to show them that it is possible to eat nutritious and healthy meals, finish university studies and have a social life all at the same time! I was inspired to create this magazine after realising my passion for food through my hours and hours spent watching food videos on YouTube and consistently checking the local Coles and Woolies to see what new free magazine they had for the month. The creation of the product was a lot of trial and error, from forgetting SD cards to people being unavailable, to even more trouble with faulty SD cards, there was a lot of roadblocks to overcome for this project. Taking photos of recipes to put into my magazine was a little tricky and interviewing complete strangers was also extremely daunting but in the end it becomes all worth it when you finally see your magazine come out of the printer and bound and think, wow, I made this all by myself, it's an experience like no other!
What transferable skills have you gained from taking an ADT subject? I have learnt how to email someone out of the blue asking for their help and formulating the email in a way that will hopefully net a response! Dealing with rejection and disappointment has also been a valuable part of my VCE Media experience, something I thought was amazing was absolutely trashed by my friends who were giving "constructive criticism" for me to use and learning to understand and adapt to this has also been beneficial.
What advice would you offer to students undertaking this subject next year? Stay organised! It is extremely hard to pull off a Media product and unfortunately, it is not humanly possible for it to be finished in one night, so make a plan of attack and how you want to go about this product. For Media 1/2 try out what you think you might like, I chose to make a film in Units 1/2 and although I liked it and it was a fun challenge to go about, I knew I didn't have enough skills and effective time management to be able to improve on this for Units 3/4, so I chose to learn about print and magazines and went with that instead.
Name: Anna X
VCE ADT Subject: Studio Arts
What have you enjoyed about your ADT subject? I really enjoyed my creative process in Studio Arts. I was able to freely express myself artistically and make something that I can be proud of. Although the process was not easy, the fact that Studio allowed me to have a creative vision motivated me to challenge myself and achieve something that I otherwise would have put off or just gave up on.
Tell us a bit about your final product: My final product revolves around fairy tales that were inspired by my childhood bedtime stories which, when I read them again as a young adult, I realised that these fairy tales hold a different meaning to when I read them as a kid. This was what influenced me to re-imagine a series of fairy tales in visual form that I hope can inspire more unique interpretations to these classical tales. In developing this, I explored a lot of symbolic and even unexpected subject matter which I hope will make you wonder: "What is that supposed to mean?"
What transferable skills have you gained from taking an ADT subject? I definitely learnt a lot on the importance of time management and organisation. It forced me to learn to manage my time effectively if I wanted to achieve the very ambitious project that I had set up for myself. In that sense, it also made me realise that, while my final product is no Van Gogh or Picasso, I have a starting point where I can continue to improve on my artistic skills.
What advice would you offer to students undertaking this subject next year? My biggest advice would be to play to your strengths! Take advantage of the fact that you can pretty much create whatever you want in 3/4 Studio and do something that you know you are passionate about. This way, you will have the one VCE subject that you will actually enjoy and the end result will be so, so much more satisfying.
Name: Jennifer N
VCE Subjects: Chemistry, English Language, Mathematical Methods, Further Mathematics, Visual Communication Design, Biology (2018)
What have you enjoyed about your ADT subject? I love the freedom that comes with creating something from your own imagination. The bursts of creativity late at night made me really excited.
Tell us a bit about your final product: I have always been fascinated by houses and my Year 10 architecture class sparked my interest even more. Thus, when it came to choosing my folio content, my first client need was to make a house for an architectural building company much like Henley, Metricon, etc. My second client need was Brand Identity and I named the company after myself (Jennifer Nhat-Thuy Nguyen = JNTN). Through the different design stages, Research, Generation of Ideas, Development and Refinement, I explored different options of house forms and floor plans which was very fun because there are just so many options for a house. The program SketchUp was the highlight for me (after I got used to it) because it was so cool to see my houses come to life in 3D. If you are thinking of environmental design, I highly recommend SketchUp!
What transferable skills have you gained from taking an ADT subject? Since VisCom has lots of theory analysing visuals it did helped me in my English Language class. They basically utilise the same skills except in VisCom I am examining the purpose and thinking behind designs whereas English Language is about analysing lexicology and language.
What advice would you offer to students undertaking this subject next year? DO NOT CRAM! DO AT LEAST 1 PAGE A DAY! Read your brief all the time so you remember your client needs and constraints and purposes. ANNOTATE! I left them to the last day and boy was I wrong to do so. MOST IMPORTANTLY, be gratef
Year 10 Language Excursion | Chinese Museum
Chinese culture features an abundance in historical, architectural and spiritual value. Their culture has diffused into that of our own, in the form of various restaurants, temples and ethnic enclaves like Chinatown. The Chinese museum sparked our interest as we delved into the history of China, containing many influential artefacts which shaped modern-day Chinese culture to what it is today. We were amazed by the sheer power of governance and authority that each reigning emperor possessed. We also got the opportunity to embark on a culinary endeavour, as we embraced the authentic Chinese cuisine.
This excursion proved to be a vital aid in expanding our knowledge and educating the future generations about one of the greatest ancient civilisations to exist. On behalf of our Year 10 Chinese group, I would wholeheartedly recommend this excursion as it was an enriching and valuable experience.
Hamim A & Raveen K
Year 9 Language Excursion | Immigration Museum
How many refugees are allowed in Australia every year in comparison to the amount of refugees who currently haven’t found a safe place to call home? You should know the number if you are a student in one of the two Year 9 Chinese classes in 2019.
In term 4, the two Chinese classes in Year 9 visited the Immigration Museum in Melbourne’s CBD. There, we were taught about the various cultures of refugees and migrants who moved to Australia in “waves”. A few of the students also dressed up in the traditional clothes of the migrants. The cultures progressed from the earliest: Indigenous Australians, to the current wave of migration from middle eastern countries. Though the White Australia Policy remained in place for 50 or so years, Australia’s cultural diversity has grown significantly since the initial arrival of the Indigenous Australians and will continue to grow.
Many students’ aspiring YouTuber dreams have the potential to come through as the two classes were presented with their second task, making a foodie-style vlog on their food of choice. Their editing, filming and clickbait skills were put to the test as they attempted to film, or actually filmed, a 3-5 minute long video recommending, or not, their food or restaurant. The food ranged from fried rice to hotpot, on a 30 degree day, to dumplings. The videos will be uploaded to the Suzanne Cory YouTube channel - LOTE Chinese.
Despite the heat, the excursion was a valuable experience for those wanting to learn about migration, or those wanting to join the YouTube community. Xiè-xie dà-jiā - thank you, everyone!
Rachel L
Wellbeing News
Young Women's Group: Golf Australia All Girls Teen Golf Program
An amazing opportunity has presented itself for the female students who are part of the Young Women’s Group to participate in Golf Australia All Girls Teen Golf Program which is designed to empower teen girls and to increase their confidence through developing golf skills. This is a pilot program which will be conducted over three weeks with the first session being held at our school oval. Stacey Peters, an elite female golf professional will assist in supervising the first session at school scheduled for Monday, 11 November, 2019. Stacey Peters is passionate about developing and empowering female players as Golf Australia’s female national pathway manager and a member of their high performance team. She won the Victorian Open in 2013 and is a seven-time winner on the ALPG Tour. She also won the Open de France and Open de España titles in 2012.
We are also very fortunate to have the SLGC elite coaches Chris Andrews (one of the top 50 world’s longest hitters) and Grace Hallinan (Junior Player of the Year in 2011) who are both staff members of SLGC and have had many years’ golfing experience. We would like to thank Golf Australia and Sanctuary Lakes Golf Club for providing this opportunity to incorporate this program as part of our SCHS experience.
Ms. Lina Paye
Wellbeing Counsellor
Digital Photography & Film Making | Co-Curricular
This year in the Digital Photography and Film Making Co-Curricular, students have experimented with various Photoshop editing techniques including creating a comic book effect. Students have also made one-take films and stop-motion animations, and any student interested in pursuing digital art, photography, or filmmaking should consider this exciting subject!
House Cup Winners | Rothwell
This year, 2019, was a rollercoaster of a year. Our house started off rocky with the Athletics and Swimming Carnivals, but then we picked ourselves up with some inspirational speeches from Aiman and Amelia, we began to succeed. With our first success beginning with our win at House Chorals, followed by House Art. Then on Presentation Night, it was announced that Rothwell was the clear winner of the HOUSE CUP, meaning it was the first time that our house, Rothwell, won the HOUSE CUP in Suzanne Cory High School History. This made 2019, Rothwell’s Golden Year and Rothwell’s greatest moment in history.
As the year draws to a close, it is time to say farewell to the Class of 2019. So, on behalf of the Rothwell 2019 & 2020 Leadership Teams and Rothwell House, I would like to say thank you to all the Year 12s for making this year a Golden Year for Rothwell and that we will all miss you dearly when you are gone. I would also like to say a special thank you to our Yr 12 House Captains, Aiman and Amelia, to our Yr 12 Domain Captains and SRC, Kate, Cameron and Sharon. Thank you to all the Yr 12s for making 2019 such a memorable year and good luck to all the Yr 12s for your exams and for the future.
In the past few weeks, House Debating has been happening and after two rounds, Rothwell is in the lead with 2 Wins, Blackwood and Cottrell are tied in Second Place with 1 Win and Kororoit is coming in last with no wins. The winners of the third round will be announced soon and also the winners of House Debating.
Rothwell Leadership Team (2020)
House Captains: Martin N & Minhal S
Vice Captains: Jimmy L (Year 11) & Patrick N (Year 10)
Domain Captains
Sport: Sandeepa P
Chorals: Jay D R
Initiatives: Catherine M
Wellbeing: Lena T
SRC: Crystal K (Year 12), Alice D (Year 11) and Raaif M (Year 10)