Malgobila News -           

Years 10,11 & 12

Welcome back to Term 3. 

Formal practice has begin

Year 11 students enjoyed their first dance lesson last Tuesday.  There are 76 students participating in dance lessons for the formal to be held on Friday 12th of August.

Monash Scholars Program

Congratulations to Year 10 students Lily Townsend and Jarno Van Der Kniff on being accepted into the Monash Scholars Program.

The Monash Scholars Program provides selected high achieving students from Years 10 to 12 with an exclusive opportunity to engage with Monash University.

Students apply for and are admitted into the program mid-way through their Year 10.  Scholars are expected to commit around 20 hours a year to the program; this will mostly involve attending on-campus events after school hours and during the holidays.

Scholars who successfully gain a place at Monash University after completing Year 12 will continue to receive benefits including leadership and ambassador opportunities.

The program is offered by Monash University to give high potential students a unique head start into university life. It provides opportunities for personal and academic development, as well as, giving students the knowledge, skills and confidence to make the right study choices. It also enables them to expand their network of like-minded peers.

Lily and Jarno were presented with their certificates and acknowledged for being accepted into the program during a Year 10 assembly last week.  Congratulations to Lily and Jarno on being accepted into the program.

Students at work!

VCE Food Studies 

VCE Food studies students can be seen below mentoring Year 8 students on how to make a yummy apple crumble.  This was the first time Year 8 students had a class in the Malgobila hospitality kitchen. The students were very excited and had lots of fun.

Year 10 Wood Design

Student working on there woodwork designs.

Yummy food

Kokoda Trek

written by Brianna Foster and Owen Sanderson

Over the school holidays we trekked the Kokoda Trail, over nine days we walked a total of 138 kilometres. We met the ten other Year 11 recipients of the scholarship from Secondary Schools in Orbost, Swifts Creek, Warragul, and Bairnsdale in Melbourne, before flying to Brisbane and then to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. After staying the night in a hotel at Port Moresby, we were taken by bus to Owers Corner where we met the 70 porters who would be assisting and guiding us through the dense jungle and mountainous terrain. 

Each day we walked for around ten hours, trekking through the jungle and moss forests, hiking up mountains, stopping at points of historical significance to learn about their importance, and travelling through villages where they gave the children gifts such as books, pencils, and footballs. We were very grateful for the opportunities to participate in a dawn service at Isurava and to walk the grounds of the Bomana War Cemetery.

We were recipients of the Arthur Grassby scholarship, which is a local scholarship that aims to bring motivated Year 11 students from the Gippsland region together to learn about the sacrifice made in the Kokoda campaign in the footsteps of the young men of the 39th Battalion, 68 of which were from the East Gippsland area, and experience the environment our soldiers fought in during World War II. We were on the trek by Charlie Lynn, a retired army major who has been trekking the trail for over 30 years and walked the trail for his 100th time with us. During which he imparted to us his leadership skills,knowledge of the trail and its people and his extensive knowledge of Australia’s military history. 

The Kokoda trail is the ultimate test. It challenges you in ways you didn’t even think would be a challenged. At the beginning we thought the Kokoda trial was dominantly a physical test, and although it was physically exhausting, the mental discipline you need to complete this trail, is almost unbelievable. Waking up 5:30 am every morning, isn’t physical, its mental. Thinking “how am I going to do this?”, isn’t physical, its mental. Giving brigade hill a dirty look because you know how hard its going to be, isn’t physical, its mental. All the trekkers were fit enough to do it, but believing that we could was the hard part.

There were days you would cry because of how much pain your body was in, but then you remember why you were there. You weren’t there for yourself, you were there for fallen soldiers who made Australia the way it is today. We walked the Kokoda trail because we believe that it is our responsibility to get to know the stories of the men and women who saved Australia. As you climb the hills, you wonder how the hell the soldiers ever did it with the little equipment they had? How did they do it in the wet season? I’m in so much pain as I walk, but how did they ever do it with bullet wounds all over their bodies? We don’t know how they did it, but they did it, and we say thank you. 

Sophie - representing Victoria for cricket.

On the holidays I had the opportunity to take part in representing Victoria in the junior strike league for cricket. The trip was a great opportunity to make new friends and go out of your comfort zone. 

I tried many new things, we didn’t win the competition but had great fun on the field with the other team. We learnt about the aboriginal culture in Darwin and how to weave baskets.  - Sophie Lewendon

End of term celebrations for Year 12 students

Last term the Year 12 students enjoyed a day at school in their Oodies and PJ's.  Thanks to VCAL for the wonderful cup cakes to help with the celebrations.  

Students also took the opportunity to say good bye to staff member Jess who left us at the end of term to begin her maternity leave.  Jess and staff organised a gender reveal for the students, we look forward to hearing of the impending arrival of a little baby boy next month.

Important Dates:

Year 11 students

Year 12 students