Co-curricular Corner

Full STEM Ahead! 

Tournament of Minds International Finals

Yesterday we sent off our STEM Tournament of Minds team to the International Finals in Sydney! They are accompanied by Ms Suzy Walker and Ms Tonia Campbell and will enjoy a weekend of exploring, learning and problem-solving. 

The students met with Ms Claire Hatchman, Ms Samantha Jensen and Ms Michelle Licina before leaving for their trip and were reminded of their hard work and how proud we are of them. Ms Licina gave the students some cards to hang around their hotel rooms, emphasising that it wasn’t what they brought back from Sydney what mattered, it was these values that they took with them.

Thank you to Ms Justine Hawkins, Mr Alex Bush, Mr Stewart Waldron, Mr Sean McInerney and Mr Pasang Tenzing for giving up their lunch times to prepare our students for all things STEM over the past few weeks – your knowledge is invaluable to our school community, and we can’t wait to hear how the team goes! Good luck! 

2025 Co-Curricular Captaincy Announcements 

We are excited to announce our Co-Curricular Captaincies for 2025. All nominating students are incredible leaders in their areas who step up, walk the talk and give their all. The selected leaders will represent their peers and should be congratulated on their commitment to their speciality areas.

Choir Co-Captains: Matilda Dixon & Emily Valentine 

Debating Co-Captains: Lizzie Christian & Imogen McKenna

Camera Crew Captain: Milly Mayo 

Model United Nations Captain: Heidi Dowling

These new leaders were presented to the school body this week at assembly. We can’t wait to see what they do with their new responsibilities and dreams for their Co-Curricular spaces.

RoboCup National Championships

Congratulations to Sienna Jakovich and Imogen McKenna who represented the College at the National Championships for RoboCup this year. Our students have been working on this project for months, preparing, designing and coding their robot. Throughout the weekend, there was lots of learning from each other and other teams, and they got to network with engineering companies sponsoring the event as well as UQ Representatives for women in STEM. Well done and thank you to Mr Alex Bush for supporting the team!

Teacher vs Student Debate

The inaugural Mount Alvernia Teacher vs Student debate at assembly had the audience entertained from start to finish. The topic, “It is better to be a teacher than a student,” saw students arguing the affirmative, while teachers took on the negative. With only two minutes to prepare, Emma MacFarlane joined as the students’ third speaker, delivering impressive, on-the-spot rebuttals. 

Amaeh Reed drew laughs by sharing the infamous tale of teachers cutting the La Cucina line, while Dr. Graham playfully reminded everyone that students have “heavy” responsibilities, like tying shoelaces and wearing hats. Mr. Waldron ended with a touching concession, noting that teachers are blessed to experience students' joy and energy every day. 

Save the Dates!

Debating Workshops 

Following our Teacher vs Student Debate, we will be holding debating workshops for new and experienced debaters at lunch times in Week 6 (next week!). You need to come along to these workshops to be considered for the Mount Alvernia Debating Team in 2025. See Ms Hatchman’s post on MyMtA News for sign up link or just show up on the day!

• Year 7 & 8: Monday and Tuesday - 1st break - C105
• Year 9 & 10: Wednesday and Thursday - 1st break - C105
• Year 11: Friday - 1st break - C105 

FUN MUN at Mount Alvernia  

We are holding our final MUN at Mt A afternoon on Friday 22nd of November. Students from Year 9-11 are able to join for this FUN version of the event. A post will go out on MyMtA News in the next week – keep your eyes peeled!