Co-curricular Corner

Tournament of Minds International Finals 2023

On Thursday of this week, our two Tournament of Minds teams head off to Melbourne to compete in the International Finals! Tournament of Minds is a global competition that focuses on critical thinking and problem solving in a team environment. Our two teams, who are competing in both the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and Language Literature disciplines, have worked incredibly hard to get to this point. This has included after school workshops, weekly trainings and lunch time meetings over the past few months to ensure they are prepared and confident every step of the way. These workshops have involved focusing on stage presentation with Ms Conway, practice spontaneous challenges and discipline focus work with their team facilitators: Ms Butterworth, Ms Campbell, Ms Goodin & Ms Hutchinson. 

With the Opening Ceremony taking place today at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, teams have officially begun their International Finals journey! Add in some team building scavenger hunts around Melbourne City and a quick trip to Queen Victoria markets and our teams will be good to go for tomorrow’s competition at La Trobe University. Keep them in your thoughts as they complete their 3 hour lock up where they will be given a problem and need to create a solution to present to judges and other teams. We can’t wait to see what they produce! 

Well done to our Year 9 TOM students: Isabella A, Samira B, Sarah C, Preeya M, Monica M, Emma M, Stephanie M, our Year 8 student: Ava W and our Year 7 students: Charley B, Kailyn F, Olivia F, Josie R, Ella S, Millicent T. 

Written by: Claire Hatchman, Leader of Student Engagement and Activities  

Senior Book Club 2023 Wrap Up

If you visited the iCentre on a Wednesday morning in Week 2 of each term, you would find a group of students avidly debating the merits and/or shortfalls of the latest book we have read for Senior Book Club. Among us are those who love a plot driven page turner, cliff hangers and plot twists, some who love a moody character novel – even more so if it produces tears, and others who love enemy to lover and good vs evil tropes. What we all have in common is that we love reading and discussing books over a cup of tea.

This year we have read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, A million things by Emily Spurr, All that’s left unsaid by Tracey Lien, and a modern “classic” The perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. The reading of these books has opened our eyes to issues such as freedom, abandonment, grief, mental health, the migrant experience, crime, abuse, friendship, and finishing school.

To share the experience of reading a book, even if you disagree in taste, is a true delight. It broadens the interaction beyond a conversation between an author and a single reader, to a whole group who bring with them a range of experiences and opinions. Our conversations in Senior Book Club branched in many different directions and we certainly encountered the experience Emmerson describes in the quote “the mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions”.

I thank all of the students for their participation in Senior Book Club and look forward to 2024 and the books and conversations that lay ahead.

Written by: Helen Stower, Head of Library and Digital Services

FOTH Choral Showcase

On Friday 6th October, St Anthony’s, Padua and Mount Alvernia students joined together for the annual Franciscans On The Hill (FOTH) Choral Showcase. Throughout the year, Mount Alvernia students have the opportunity to be part of the College Choir and our extension ensemble, The Showcase Chorale, which Padua students can also join. All year, the choirs that performed on the night had been practicing on a weekly basis. 

Everyone performed to absolute perfection! It was amazing to see all the families, friends and teachers who supported the performers. Hearing the audience sing along to Love Story was amazing! 

On the night, two students from each choir received awards for their exceptional commitment to choir, determination to improve and lovely energy to choir in 2023. Congratulations to…

College Choir: Sofia P (Year 12) and Tahlia Jones (Year 7)

Showcase Chorale: Ava Withers (Year 8) and Dominique Van Zyl (Year 11)

A big thank you to the Year 11 Hospitality class and the staff for providing food for the evening. Thank you to Ms Curcuruto (College Choir) and Ms Marsh (Showcase Chorale) for putting in tremendous amounts of effort to ensure we were able to perform as well as we did. I would also like to thank all the students who performed, it was truly an amazing experience, and wouldn’t have been a reality if it wasn’t for you. We hope to see you all back next year for another amazing FOTH Choral Showcase!

Written by: Chrisstie V, 2023 Choir Captain 

FCIP Senior Showcase

With the end of the year comes the Franciscan Colleges Instrumental Showcases with the Senior occurring on the 9th of October and the Juniors the next night. As the cumulation of all the years hard work, it was shaping up to be a night to remember for both excited parents and students. Solos were heard throughout the night with amazing players like Year 9 Sarah C.

The stage began with the Percussion Ensemble, and then the Rock Band got the whole room singing and quite a few dancing in the back, the Strings played wonderfully and the Senior Concert Band closed the night. 

If your child is interested in learning a musical instrument and is not already in the FCIP, please reach out to Trevor Beyer (tbeyer@fcip.qld.edu.au) for any questions you may have regarding the FCIP program at Mount Alvernia College.

Written by: Isabella B, 2023 FCIP Captain 

State Honours Ensemble Program

These past school holidays, three of our musicians participated in the State Honours Ensemble Program. Congratulations to Hailey C (Year 11 – Vocal Soprano), Sarah Chew (Year 9 - Clarinet) and Caitlin W (Year 11 – Bass Clarinet) for their successful nominations for this program. 

Hailey’s reflection on the program is below:

State Honours Ensemble Program, or SHEP, is a program for singing and instrumental students at The Conservatorium, Griffith University. It is one of the best experiences, and people come from all over Queensland for this program. And I am so grateful that I was able to do it. I participated in the program earlier this year, and it was such a fantastic experience that I had to do it again. 

The event is long and tiring but very rewarding. It starts on day one with an introduction from our conductor, Joanne Wright. She was terrific, and I learnt so much from her and the wonderful friends that I made there. We were given our repertoire, which is a mix of different genres, which we rehearsed for about five hours each day for three days and then performed what we had learnt on the fourth day; yes, it was tiring, and yes, my voice did hurt, but the final product was spectacular. 

Over the three days, we learnt a total of six songs, ‘There Is No Rose’, ‘Down to the River to Pray’, ‘Towards Infinity’, ‘Credo’, ‘Put A Little Love In Your Heart’, and as an encore ‘Dancing Queen’. The fourth day was one of the best performances I have ever done, and with the fifty-something-people choir, it sounded terrific. With all the experienced vocals, wonderful people aged twelve to eighteen, and the acoustics of the performance hall, it sounded magnificent.

I loved every second of it and would recommend it to anyone serious about singing and music and would one hundred percent do it again.