School Highlights (cont'd)
2024 Premier’s VCE Awards
We’re thrilled to share that two Kilvington students - Caleb Mendez (Year 12) and Jun Yang Oon (2024 graduate) - were recognised at the 2024 Premier’s VCE Awards Presentation Ceremony on 2 July 2025.
The annual Premier’s VCE Awards recognise students who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE).
Caleb received a subject award for Psychology, while Jun Yang Oon received a subject award for Chinese Language, Culture and Society, after studying through the Xin Jin Shan Chinese Language and Culture School.
Special thanks to Ms Lisa Valentine who attended the ceremony to support our students with their proud families.
Year 7 Toy Time Project
Thomas Rudik, Year 7
Last term, the Year 7s were challenged to design, create and present their products at the Toy Time Expo to the Year 4s.
Over the term, we had time in both Science and Digital Technology classes to develop and build our toys. As part of this project, we had to showcase our teamwork and how we used what we’d learnt in class to bring our toy designs to life.
In Term 1, we'd learnt about forces, which we had to incorporate into our toys. In Digital Technology, we learnt how to use and code a microbit and how to create laser-cut designs and shapes using Adobe Illustrator.
It was quite a challenge to produce a design from start to finish. My team found it difficult and sometimes a bit frustrating to get all the materials stable and fitting together. However, I enjoyed collaborating with my classmates, and it was a relief once we finally built our toy!
I believe the most important part of this STEAM challenge was to have fun while collaborating with others, and making sure everyone had a say in assembling the toy.
Overall, I had so much fun with this project, and I hope the future Year 7 cohort will love it as much as I did!
Congratulations to the award winners:
- Industry award to 'Psycho boxers' - Jacob McGloughlin, Adam Xu, Theo Cooper and Rocky Johnston
- Kids Choice award to 'Orbit Overdrive' - Viyaan Mirani, Daniel Yen, Lucas Wang and Wilson Nuth
- Teachers Choice award to 'Snakes and Ladders' - Chelsey Li, Dorothy Ma, Kashish Kulkarni and Charisse Lee
STEM Young Women in Aerospace and Defence Engineering Program
Aanika Kumar, Year 10
Over four days during the school holidays, I had the privilege of participating in a STEM Young Women in Aerospace and Defence engineering program at RMIT University.
This program included a variety of coding, building and engineering workshops, all designed to empower young women like myself to explore and develop skills and interests within the field of engineering. Out of more than 500 applicants, I was fortunate to be one of only 20 students selected for this incredible opportunity.
On the first day, we started by coding a game in Python that simulated a rover on Mars. Building on this foundation, the next day we constructed an actual rover using an Arduino, a control board and sensors, which enabled it to detect boxes and navigate an obstacle course.
The program also included a visit to HMAS Cerberus Naval Base, where we spent the day touring the facilities and seeing first-hand how engineering plays a crucial role in military training.
On the fourth day, the program concluded with a race between everyone’s rovers. The challenge involved coding the sensors to detect boxes so the rover could navigate a maze in the shortest possible time. In the end, my rover was awarded third place in the final competition.
Overall, this program was an incredible experience, and I am so grateful to have been selected. I developed new skills and learned valuable lessons, and I am especially thankful to all the teachers at Kilvington who encouraged me to apply, as well as the RMIT Rover Team for creating such a meaningful and inspiring program.