Senior School News
Year 12 farewell
I have the absolute honour to share with the school community the events of the final day of school life for the 2019 Year 12 graduating class.
We started bright and early at the annual breakfast for the parents and students of the graduating class of 2019. What a spread! At this point I must thank the Senior Coordinating team and especially Zaiga Bendrups for their endless dedication and support of our students. Zaiga did it all. The breakfast, the dinner… if it was left to me, we probably would have gathered around a couple of packets of Arnott’s Family Assorted biscuits and a jar of instant coffee. Students opened their time capsules from Year 7 to revisit dreams and ambitions of their younger selves… A wonderful start to a memorable day.
From there we ventured to the Hall for the final assembly and saw one last time the amazing talents of the group with Kaia Duong stealing the show with a phenomenal solo singing performance that set the mood for this last day. Our Captains; Annie, Seb, Libby and Tom were fantastic with their final addresses to the Koonung community and the demonstration of their affection for the school, the staff and their families. The goodwill among staff and students was a highlight. I have never signed so many school uniforms and yearbooks. From there it was time to prep, not for exams (yet), but the valedictory dinner. What a wonderful night for all that attended.
I had the great pleasure of celebrating with and sending off a cohort that I have thoroughly enjoyed working with over the past three years. This night has been the highlight of my career at Koonung, and one that I will never forget.
For those that were not in attendance, and for those that were, I feel it would be appropriate to include an excerpt of my final speech to the cohort of 2019 as their Year 12 coordinator.
To the class of 2019,
I have spent 3 years as your coordinator. For many, our interactions have been within the four walls of a classroom, others, I have never taught… For some of you I wasn’t able to do anything more than say “Hi, how’s it going?”.
In my role as your coordinator, all I hope is that I’ve been able to make the good times better and the bad times not so bad.
I grew up off Greythorn Road in North Balwyn and prior to teaching had never heard of Koonung. When you start out as a teacher it’s a bit of pot luck where you end up. I could not have wished for a more amazing school and students to start my career.
I have been a coordinator since 2015. In my first two years, I had Year 12 and then took on you guys at Year 10. From a biological and psychological sense a Year 9/10 student is just plain weird. Your Year 9 coordinator Brendan Tuckerman may have thought that too. He didn’t actually say that to me, but he left Koonung after coordinating your year level...
I see being a teacher of VCE as the pinnacle of high school teaching. To teach a class of students in Year 12 is great, and I’m sure that I am echoing the thoughts of your VCE teachers here tonight when I say that. It is why they are here. BUT to be the coordinator of a bunch of students that have now grown into a collection of amazing young adults over the past three years is even better. Thank you so much. I believe you may have ruined me for any other cohort of students that I look after. I’ll leave it for you to decide if that is in a good or bad way.
This night. This celebration, is…..about the culmination of, at times, a seemingly endless period of hard work and study.
It’s a chance to thank your parents and carers for their love and support. Make sure you indulge them as they reminisce about your first day of prep and the rest of your journey to now.
It’s about the highs and the lows.
Tonight is the big deep breath before you plough into exams.
For those of you that struggled to get to school…
Those mornings you couldn’t get out of bed…
All those years when 2019 looked like it would never arrive. I am sure I speak for every non-student in this room when I say don’t waste a moment.
Tonight. For you all. Congratulations. You have attained your VCE.
I am proud of each and every one of you.
I see a lot of love and support in this group, I see it everyday. You back each other.
Now, in life, you don’t have to love and support everyone, but you do have to respect everyone.
I have respected you all and I hope I have given you enough support in these past three years.
One last thing - in your lives be complementary to everything you do. Be present and make every interaction you have with every individual the best it can possibly be.
One last message to the students of Koonung who will soon be attending their very own Valedictory in the future as they progress to Year 12. Your goal is not to be better than anyone else, your goal should be to be the best you can possibly be.
Chris Sheehan, Year 12 Coordinator
Year 11 History
On Monday 21 October the Year 11 History class had guest speakers, Jim and Rob, who shared some of their personal experiences from the Vietnam War. From these anecdotes, our class learnt first hand the impacts of the war on the soldier’s mental and physical state before, during, and after their experiences. Rob and Jim discussed their interactions with the US troops, the training process, conscription and some of the struggles they faced such as the 50+kg they carried in the humid Vietnamese jungle. Their stories made us greatly consider the views and values of society at the time of war and the reasoning for Australia’s involvement within it, helping us further comprehend the reality of the Vietnam war and its impacts.
Ruken Zeyto 11F