Senior School News

Alex O'Shannessy Accepted into GeoTECH - Spatial Hackfest Event 2018

It is through Geography that students can make sense of the world in which we live – learning new skills and applying them. With that in mind, 15 talented young geographers gathered in Melbourne during the July school holidays to have a hands-on experience in identifying real issues and to work collaboratively using open access data to solve problem at GeoTECH’s Spatial Hackfest. The prestigious three day GeoTECH event is organised by the Geography Teachers’ Association of Victoria (GTAV). The high-achieving students from Victoria who participated in this event came from all sectors of education – males and females from metropolitan and regional Victoria in Years 10, 11 and 12 (VCE and IB).

The selection panel was extremely impressed with Alex’s  application and he was 1 of only 15 students selected in the state to participate in GeoTECH.   Over 3 days Alex discovered spatial technology, including virtual reality, GIS, GPS and drones and applying these to real-life situations. Alex met with Cr Jackie Watts (City of Melbourne) who outlined the current safety issues within the City of Melbourne and then they engaged with leading experts at RMIT, the Victorian State Control Centre, highly-respected spatial technology companies at the forefront of geospatial science such as GHD, Victoria Police and GIS professionals at The City of Melbourne.

The program also enabled Alex to gain an insight into the diversity of emerging and innovative career pathways in the rapidly growing spatial industry. Such an event clearly illustrates how geographic technologies are instrumental in improving our understanding and management of a wide range of fields, including emergency and disaster management, urban planning and infrastructure, conservation programs, humanitarian aid and community safety.

Jamie Gould - Humanities Teacher

Defence Technical Scholarship Award Recipient - Aaryan Kulkarni

Congratulations to Year 11 student Aaryan Kulkarni who was recently awarded an Australian Defence Force Technical Scholarship. The scholarship, which included a Microsoft Surface Pro, is open to students who are interested in studying a STEM related course with the ADF.