The Huntingtower Bulletin

Achievements

Gardiner's District Championships

On February 15, 25 students represented the Junior School at the Gardiners District Swimming Championships at Monash Aquatic & Recreation Centre. We had some incredible results with 17 swimmers & 7 relay teams finishing in 1st or 2nd in 34 different events! All these swimmers will progress through to the Monash-Waverley Division Swimming Championships on March 01. After a Monash-Waverley Division restructure in 2023, this was the first Gardiners District Swimming event, meaning that all 20 fi place finishes are new District Records.

Huntingtower also finished in 1st in the Schools event!

A big thank-you to Megan Rogers & Carly Major-Gough for their support throughout the event! 

Congratulations to all the students who competed and best of luck to those competing at Division!

 

Relays

  • Boys Medley Relay
  • Girls Medley Relay
  • Girls 10yo 4x50m Freestyle Relay
  • Girls 11yo 4x50m Freestyle Relay
  • Boys 12yo 4x50m Freestyle Relay
  • Girls 12yo 4x50m Freestyle Relay

Individuals

  • Mabel L (11 Girls 50m Freestyle & 50m Breaststroke)
  • Kenneth Z (12 Boys 50m Freestyle & 50m Backstroke)
  • Chelsea Z (12 Girls 50m Breaststroke & 50m Butterfly)
  • Ari D (10 Boys 50m Freestyle)
  • Marcus L (11 Boys 50m Freestyle)
  • Avril W (10 Girls 50m Backstroke)
  • Aimee M (11 Girls 50m Backstroke)
  • Summer B (10 Girls 50m Breaststroke)
  • Jaxson B (12 Boys 50m Breaststroke)
  • Sarah L (11 Girls 50m Butterfly)
  • Rehan S (12 Boys 50m Butterfly)

 

Second Place

  • 10yo Boys 4x50m Freestyle Relay
  • Avril W (10 Girls 50m Freestyle)
  • Aimee M (11 Girls 50m Freestyle)
  • Jaxson B (12 Boys 50m Freestyle)
  • Austine W (12 Girls 50m Freestyle)
  • Ryan A (10 Boys 50m Backstroke)
  • Marcus L (11 Boys 50m Backstroke)
  • Rehan S (12 Boys 50m Backstroke)
  • Cheng-Yun H (12 Girls 50m Backstroke & 50m Breaststroke)
  • Ari D (10 Boys 50m Butterfly)
  • Molly W (10 Girls 50m Butterfly)
  • Warren M (12 Boys 50m Butterfly)
  • Eva F (12 Girls 50m Butterfly)

Swannie Award Winners

Congratulations to Ethan Z and Pranav C, who were both recently recognised at the Debaters Association of Victoria’s Swannie Award Evening for 2023. 

 

Ethan Z (Year 10, 2023) was awarded both the C Grade Swannie Award for the Glen Waverley Region, and the Competition C Grade Swannie Award for having the highest average speaker score of any debater in Victoria over the course of the 2023 debating season. This is a huge achievement, with tens of thousands of students from hundreds of schools across Victoria competing. 

 

Pranav C (Year 12, 2023) was also awarded the A Grade Swannie Award for being the speaker with the highest average speaker scores in the most senior division in the Glen Waverley region: one of the largest in the competition. He was also shortlisted for the Victorian A Grade Competition Swannie Award as the best speaker in the state, and only narrowly missed out. 

 

The evening was also a wonderful showcase of many of our students’ amazing achievements from last year’s various DAV programs, including winning the Junior British Parliamentary debating competition, finishing runners-up in the Intermediate British Parliamentary debating competition, winning the Junior, Intermediate and Online Public Speaking competitions, and finished second in the DAV Schools Competition: the biggest English-speaking debating competition in the world!

Lions Youth of the Year

Congratulations to Josie M (Year 12), who won the Waverley region of the Lions Youth of the Year competition! She was awarded both the Public Speaking award and was named the Overall Winner by the Lions Club of Waverley.

 

This year Huntingtower was represented by Year 12 students Josie M and Daniel L. The Youth of the Year competition is open to all students in Victoria and requires participants to present a detailed application outlining all of their school related achievement, out-of-school community involvement, and their service and leadership skills. They then have to undergo an interview with Lions members who delve into their various achievements and test their general knowledge, before finally presenting a prepared persuasive speech and two impromptu speeches before the local club. 

 

Josie spoke on the challenges faced by new immigrants, while Daniel spoke on the dangers facing photojournalists, before they were required to speak on the spot, without time to prepare, on the challenges posed by AI and how to improve water safety in Australia. 

 

Well done to both students for proudly representing Huntingtower in this year’s competition, and we wish Josie well as she now progresses to represent the Waverley region in the next round of this competition.

 

Mr Matthew McDonald

Director of Student Communication and Engagement