Student Voice     

Beginning Of Term 4:

Student Voice

College Captains

Welcome back to Term 4 South Oakleigh!

We hope everyone had a restful break and has kicked back into action for the final term for 2024. 

Already, a lot has gone on since our last newsletter update to you! On Monday 14th of October, our Year 12 cohort came together for our Valedictory Dinner at Merrimu Receptions in Murrumbeena. A lot of planning and organisation was happening behind the scenes at SOC with putting together the pieces that formed a beautiful and memorable night. 

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to our Senior School Director, Ms Monga and Year 12 Coordinator, Ms Ferguson for their amazing work in getting the night together. 

We also extend this gratitude to our Year 12 Valedictory Committee, Stacey, Claire, Stef and Jasmine for the work they put in to help us form the night. 

For the rest of the week, we had a few special activities planned in the lead up to our final day which was Friday 18th of October. 

On the Tuesday prior, we got to dress up in our future careers, a fond memory which we will hold. 

On the Thursday, we had uniform signing and students modified their uniform, a day which we enjoyed very much. 

On the Friday, the big day arrived… a day that has been in the making for 6 years, our last day of Year 12! We all came dressed up and ready and partied beforehand in the year 12 room before getting together for our costume parade in the GYM. 

A fond highlight for us was our year 7 cohort leading the guard of honour for our Year 12s, an amazing moment that we will hold dearly to our hearts forever. Throughout this year, our VCE students have been working day and night, studying for their SACs which have now been fully completed. These SACs have prepared us for our final exams, which are currently underway. 

Additionally, our year level was the first cohort to go through the VCE Vocational Major Program (VCE-VM). The Year 12 VM cohort have been working together for the past 2 years and have set the benchmark for VM at South Oakleigh. Some recent highlights from our Year 12 VM cohort include Dunk the Teacher and the most recent, community festival with all efforts towards raising funds for motor neuron disease. A job well done by our Year 12 VCE-VM cohort and we hope that have inspired our Year 11 VM cohort who will soon embark on their Year 12 VCE-VM journey. 

It has been incredible looking back to Year 7 and seeing how far we have come both as students and individuals. Despite some of us who didn’t start in 2019, but joined us along the way, this didn’t stop us from growing and bonding with one another. 

We remember our first day in the theatre when Ms Koziaris was referring to us as the Class of 2024, which seemed like a long-distance way, but we have finally reached the milestone. 

Our Year 7 journey was marked by our first school camp in Phillip Island, first swimming carnival and first athletics carnival and many more firsts. 

From the heart, we would like to extend a huge thankyou to all of the teachers for their hard work and dedication to our learning through from the junior school to senior school. Without the unwavering support and help, we would not be in a comfortable place with the exams and work placements. 

Another big thankyou goes to our Senior School Leaders, Ms Monga and Ms Ferguson as well as our principal team, Ms Koziaris, Mr Katsianos and Mr Picone for their dedication to our year level and inspiring us for the future. As our journey extends past the school grounds, we thank our parents, guardians and loved ones for pushing us to strive for success and aim high every day. 

As College Captains, we too are looking back at our 2024 student leadership journey and like to highlight one of the initiatives from our 2024 cohort, the school podcast, “What’s Up SOC”. We remember when this idea started out during planning at our leadership training day in December last year and we are so proud to see that it came to life and produce 26 episodes! The podcast’s last episode for the year was filmed on Thursday 10th of October. We would like to thank hosts Stacey Maskas and Ella Hayes, who have written and hosted each episode. We extend this thankyou to our Media crew, Mr Philip Clark, Athanasius Tuavai and Antosha Babiy for their work in filming, editing and releasing each episode. 

Currently, our Year 12 VCE cohort are undertaking their exams. We wish them all the best and remember to have a break between study to not get overwhelmed. 

Our Year 12 VCE-VM cohort are undertaking work placement, and we wish them all the best in this journey. This brings us to the end of our start of term 4 update, we will see you in our final update in the next edition of Oak News. But until then, take care!

Greg Acciarito & Genna Windsor 

College Captains

SRC Presidents

PRESIDENT REPORT  

Term 4 of the SRC has always been a time of change. As our term comes to an end, we welcome a new batch of SRC presidents: Jack Wright, Yohan Soju, and Vice President Abigail Avienna. 

Throughout the year, these three have been active and attentive members of the SRC, always striving to do their best and contribute to school activities. They’ve dedicated a lot of time and effort not only this year but also in previous years with the SRC. We are thankful to have such a wonderful group of leaders for next year.

Our new presidents aim to create a supportive environment where representatives can grow their skills and develop new ones. Communication, advocacy, and inclusivity are at the heart of the SRC, and our 2024 presidents aim to nurture these values while introducing new ideas as well. Their vision is to build a productive future for the students of tomorrow. Keep an eye out for new events and initiatives run by these new presidents! They’re secrets right now, but we’re sure you’ll love them!

Additionally, round 3 SRC applications will open later this term. Applications are for all students, including current SRC members and include a written statement about the skills students have and hope to develop within the council. 

We encourage all of you to submit an application for the new year. 

The candidates for Round 3 will be chosen directly by our 2024 presidents! So, take this time to make a good impression!

Thank you for all the support of which Mackenzie and I have received this year. All the events and initiatives we have run have received great enthusiasm from students and teachers alike. 

We’ve had so much fun planning and running events, navigating challenges, and fostering an inspired community. We know your next leaders will have just as much fun, and we hope to see them grow their skills as well. Don’t enjoy their newsletters too much!

See you all soon! If not in SRC newsletters, then elsewhere! Thank you so much for all the fun we’ve had this year. Goodbye for now!

Ana Donnellon and Mackenzie Dickson  

SRC Presidents

Communications  

This term, we’re also using our time to reflect back onto our initiatives throughout the whole year, so that we can improve in the future. Over the course of the year, we have been doing many announcements around the whole school regarding many different events that have been held - the most recent ones in term 3 were the infamous Wellfest Week and House Athletics Carnival. 

By looking back, we hope to innovate newer techniques to promote school events and make sure that everyone would be informed. Expanding on our practices of putting up posters, Compass posts, Talking Points, and verbal announcements, we’re looking to do more communication across the whole school community that would be most efficient, increasing student awareness. 

Looking ahead, we’re planning to encourage more applications to join our S.R.C. cohort for 2025. We hope that by doing this, we would be able to showcase a good image for the S.R.C. to further encourage students to apply to be part of the S.R.C. 

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact Abigail Avienna. We wish everyone a successful term 4 ahead!

Abigail Avienna

(2024 S.R.C Leading Representative of Communications portfolio)