Gifted and Talented News

Future Problem Solvers

It’s been another busy term at MCA for our co-curricular academic endeavours. As I write, I am delighted to stop press to inform our community of the brilliant success of the Future Problem Solvers’ Team and Mr O’Brien, who have made it to the National finals of this prestigious competition for the first time. As noted, the Future Problem-Solving Program (FPS) is an international educational program that focuses on developing critical, creative, and futuristic thinking skills.  It challenges students to apply their minds to some of the significant issues facing not only the world of today, but also that of the future.  At this stage of the competition, the Year 11 team – Harrison Dyer, Maximillian Bathersby, Remy Versace, and Alex Apelt should be congratulated on their efforts.  They have worked extremely well to achieve pleasing results in two practice problems on E-Waste and Digital Realities with their qualifying problem on the Robotic Workforce worthy of a place in the National finals to be held in Brisbane, this year. Feedback received thus far has drawn attention to their strongly researched range of challenges, their logical thinking, and their use of clear explanations. Moving forward, all students should consider involvement in the program because of how it teaches them to problem solve, to use their imagination, and to work as a team.

NSCC (National Schools Constitutional Competition)

This year’s participant in the National Schools Constitutional Competition was Gian Netzler from Year 11, who attended the Queensland round on Thursday 27 July. This online, day-long event proved engaging and informative, and Gian had the following to say:

“Queensland Schools Constitutional Convention is a great outlet for those interested in the contemporary social issues that affect Australian Society. The main issue to have caught the attention of the media is the Voice referendum. This referendum is rallying for the extension of constitutional rights to Australia's Indigenous peoples. The proposed extension will grant an Indigenous council powers to legislate laws regarding Indigenous people. It is important to note that many communities of Indigenous people are often isolated and segregated from Australia's urban environments. Subsequently, these communities are very contrasting in their social and economic issues, with controversy lying in segregating the two councils.

Mr Eddie Synot, a key organiser spearheading the movement, spoke on behalf of the yes vote, clarifying the intentions of the referendum from the muddied politicised rhetoric-pumped news outlets with agenda. My main takeaway from attending Queensland Schools Constitutional Convention was hearing from a diverse pool of views regarding this issue and the ability to converse in an open-minded manner without any irrational politicised sentiment."

The Premier’s Reading Challenge 2023 

I continue to encourage reading in College. We have splendid facilities in our Library, and I personally have never encountered a school with a more dedicated and innovative team. Supported by the Library, a group of enthusiastic readers managed to complete the Premier of Queensland’s Reading Challenge for pupils in Years 7 to 9. Their achievement will shortly be acknowledged through the receipt of formal certificates. The following students impressed by managing to read fifteen or more books in a fixed time period: Michael Stacy, Sam Caffin-Smith, Alex Thornhill, Fletcher Young, Jimmy Starrenburg, Xavier Peatey, Archie Engstrom, Jack Northcote, Jakub Falcnik and Hudson O’Neill. 

Short Story Forum 

Our weekly reading club to discuss meritorious short stories continues to thrive, with new members joining. This term we have read and analyzed stories as diverse as ‘The Drover’s Wife,’ by Henry Lawson, ‘The Fly’ by Katherine Mansfield, ‘A Family Affair’ by Kazuo Ishiguro and ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ by M R James, amongst others. Boys are reminded that they do not need to do any preparation in advance, just show up at the beginning of Wednesday morning break to Room 403 for a weekly dose of culture and intellectual stimulation!

Brain Bee State Final

Year 10 students Aidan Phillips and Lachlan Vink competed in the state finals for the annual Australian Brain Bee Competition on 1st August. This involved months of studying neuroscience and having to perform exceptionally well in two lead-in exams to make it to the state finals. The day comprised of students from across the state touring the research facilities at the Queensland Brain Institute, UQ, and learning about the latest developments in neuroscience research. The students then competed in an exciting game-show style competition at the end of the day, to work out who would be the Queensland winner. Aidan Phillips is to be commended on making it all the way to the top 8 in the State. Well done Aidan and Lachie, for all the hard work to get this far! I would also like to thank Ms Ellie Kenny for her committed and enthusiastic support. 

Cyber Taipan Round 1

Exciting things are also happening with our school’s Cyber Club. On Friday 18 August our team took part in Round 1 of the prestigious CSIRO Cyber Taipan competition. We are fortunate enough to have secured the continued support of our industry professional, Adam Graham, who supervised the boys on this day even though it was during the EKKA break. Recently, we also benefitted from the excellent insights of Remy Versace, a Year 11 student, who shared what he had learnt from participating in the competition last year and this has encouraged the club members, too. CSIRO Cyber Taipan National Finals will take place on Saturday 14 October and Ms Tara Franklin, facilitator, and I wish the team all the best for that important round.

STEM Club

Stem Club continues to prove popular with students in Years 7 to 9 and I would again like to thank Ms Rowan Dekkers and her team of Science specialists and Year 11 ambassadors, who have delivered fun and engaging sessions on the following topics, alongside others. Boys have sent secret messages in morse code and invisible ink, investigated circuits and produced energy using solar panels and wind turbines, split water into pure hydrogen and oxygen gas using a battery and 2 pencils, investigated magnets and made their own compass and ferrofluid and dissected the throat, lungs and heart of a goat. I can only imagine what is planned for Term 4!

Robotics Club

One club that has kept a relatively low profile and yet enormously benefits its loyal members is the Robotics Club. Mr Richard Alpin, who has facilitated this co-curricular activity for several years, sent the following update: ‘The Robotics and Autonomous Systems Club has grown in 2023 with up to 10 students attending on Thursday afternoons. Julian Lewis in Year 8 continues to amaze with his First Person View (FPV) flying of his home-built racing drones. With the creek also much fuller this year, he was also able to operate and tactically submerge the remote-control boat he had built. Jesse Pattel-Brown (11) rebuilt a Linux machine to support programming of our club’s drone which conducted an autonomous image capture task in Term 4. The boys have also been programming Lego EV3 and Spike systems to autonomously shoot rubber bands at targets and continue to work on their flying skills using CoDrones. We also received our drone kits in Term 3 and the boys have been busy 3D printing, soldering and testing their creations ready for flights at the end of Term 4. One of the key highlights of the year was a visit to Insitu Pacific at the start of Term 2 where the boys were able to see large drones being assembled for the Australian Defence Force.’     

Australian Mathematics Competition 2023

Last but not least for my round-up, is the news that 160 students across Years 5 to 10 are keenly awaiting the results of the Australian Mathematics competition which took place in College on Thursday 3rd August. Personally, I am more of a words than a numbers person, but it was exciting to see so many boys focused on tricky online mathematics puzzles. 

Coordinating the many activities that boys attend in the academic co-curricular life of MCA continues to present enormous insights into the boys’ talents and how they use their gifts to grow.