Secondary Life
Sporting Spotlight - DCC at the Snow!
Emily Townend, Head of Health and PE
Some of our talented DCC students spent last week at Mt Buller competing at the Interschool Snow Sports. We are very excited to share and celebrate the achievements of these students with our DCC community.
Katia Sonsini (Year 12) has represented DCC at Vic Interschools since 2018. In previous years, she competed in Alpine GS and Ski Cross, but her favourite events are Slopestyle and Moguls. She achieved top 20 in Division 1 Girls Moguls and finished in the Top 20 in her first run! Katia made the finals, again finishing in the Top 20, qualifying for Nationals in Perisher! What a fantastic achievement!
Ian and Nicholas Pang (Year 8 & Year 6) represented DCC in Division 3 and Division 4 Snowboard Giant Slalom and Snowboard Cross events – their first time! Ian faced some very experienced snowboarders in Division 3 and achieved a personal best of 40.01secs in Snowboard GS, finishing top 65%.
In very icy conditions for the Snowboard Cross event, Ian unfortunately fell, achieving a time of 53.59 secs. Nicholas met with heavy rains and high winds on the day of his races, yet he persevered, displaying resilience and determination. Nicholas finished in the top 80% of his division in Snowboard GS.
Jeremy Pang (Year 1) competed in Division 6 Alpine GS and Ski Cross events. He finished in the top 45% in his division from over 122 racers in the Ski Cross event.
Chiara Sonsini (Year 9) is a fantastic young skier who usually represents DCC in Snow Sports. In her preparation for Interschool Snow Sports, she competed in the Mt Buller Slopestyle Competition on 11 August where she unfortunately suffered a significant knee injury.
We wish Chiara a speedy recovery and look forward to her being back on snow in Winter 2025.
We extend a big thank you to Han Yu Ong and Catherine Sonsini for their support and encouragement of our students last week and congratulate all students involved for their terrific results!
Victorian Schools' Music Festival
Janine Power, Music Administrator
On Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 August our Junior, Intermediate and Senior String ensembles participated in the Victorian School Music Festival. The festival takes place at Hawthorn Town Hall, a beautiful venue that with its wonderful acoustics provides a serene place to hear lovely string orchestral music.
On the Tuesday morning our Intermediate Strings ensemble presented very well, achieving a silver award for their performance. Comments by the adjudicator included “Well done celli!” and “Intonation and rhythm were consistently good from all players, and you played with a nice tone and sense of expression. All were well supported by clear and musical direction.”
Later in the day the Senior String ensemble performed, and the adjudicator was especially taken with their first item, a piece called ‘Tall Ships’ written by our conductor May Gavin. The piece commences with ‘tricks’ on the violin to mimic the sound of seagulls. The adjudicator, a composer himself, suggested that May should share this piece with other orchestras as it was very impressive. The ensemble gained a silver award for their combined performance.
On Wednesday, in the Beginner strings section our Junior Strings received a very complimentary report from the adjudicator commenting on the number of double bass students who played. “Bravo on a lovely performance, you are developing a great range of dynamics!”
All the students are to be commended for the respect they demonstrated as audience members during other schools’ performances and although the younger students were nervous, they all acquitted themselves most admirably.
Please see attached link for a short excerpt of the Senior Strings playing selections from the Sound of Music.