Camps, excursions and activities. 

Year 7 Visit Mural Artist - Heesco

The Year 7 cohort went on a street visit to meet international artist Heesco.

Mongolian born, Heesco is an artist mostly known for his large-scale murals and silo art. Heesco also actively makes fine art, illustration, and graphic design related works. 

The take-away messages that the Year 7 students took away from the encounter:

• Heesco lives in Melbourne and has a daughter around the same age as the students.
• This mural may take him around 2 weeks to create, depending on the weather.
• This mural is about a local named Georgie that was a market gardener valued member of Donald and surrounds
• Heesco researched Georgie extensively and used the information that he found as well as what the Donald community gave him for the inspiration for this mural
• There are around 5-7 different paint colours in the mural seen in this picture – spray paint is hard wearing and quick drying 
• The first portrait of Georgie was made using a grid enlargement technique.  Heesco explained the way he counted the bricks helped to bring a small sketch come to life on a large wall.  Students were also told that he is used to painting on a much bigger scale and told them about his silo projects
• Heesco also used a projector at night to sketch the other parts of the mural for accuracy and speed also.

The students Thanked Heesco for his time and were asking so many wonderful questions also on the way back to school.  I am wondering how many have found out a little bit more local history on Georgie, or seen some of Heesco’s other artistic endeavours?

Stawell Gold Mine Excursion

On Monday 11th November five Year 9 boys - Aidy, Brady, Charlie, Marty and Parker chose to take part in a Careers excursion to the Stawell gold mine. Students from both Charlton P-12 and St Arnaud Secondary College were also present on the day. Students were exposed to the many and varied jobs career pathways in the mining industry such as Diesel mechanics, Boilermakers, Engineers and Geologists. Students spoke with employees from all areas of the mine, some who started as entry level positions with no prior training or experience, through to those who had completed bachelor’s degrees at university. This excursion was extremely well organised and informative. Thanks to the North Central LLEN for their organisation of this experience.

University Collaboration at La Trobe University

On Wednesday, 4th December, 15 students attended a University Collaboration event at La Trobe University in Bendigo. This optional excursion targeted Year 8 and 9 students interested in attending university after high school. It was the first event of its kind, with six universities coming together to showcase their courses to students from Donald High School, Cohuna Secondary College, Kerang Technical School and Murtoa College. The participating universities were Monash, Deakin, RMIT, Swinburne, ACU, and La Trobe. Each school was allocated three workshops to attend during the day.

Workshop 1: Sports Management with Swinburne University

Students learned about the one-year course, Planning Sporting Events – Sports Management, a diploma program affiliated with the Richmond Football Club. They also participated in a strength and conditioning circuit, which provided them with a hands-on experience of the course content.

Workshop 2: Rural Health – Medicine with Monash University

This workshop introduced students to Monash University’s Rural Health Medicine course. Students tested their CPR skills on a dummy, with their effectiveness measured by an app that scored their performance out of 100 based on the depth and timing of their compressions. Donald High School students excelled, with many achieving scores of 98 and 99 out of 100, making them the top performers in CPR for the day.

Workshop 3: Aerospace Engineering and Aviation with RMIT

In this workshop, students explored the concepts of Rockets and Wings. They designed and launched their own rockets using an air-powered rocket launcher. Students experimented with different designs to determine which would fly the furthest and land accurately within a designated square across the room.

This well-organised excursion provided students with valuable insights into university life and the opportunities available to them. It encouraged them to ask questions and consider their future educational pathways. A big thank you to Mr. Rodger and Mrs. Griffiths for accompanying the students on this excursion.