John XXIII College Newsletter

Magis report 

Magis Awards Breakfast

Our annual Magis Awards Breakfast was held yesterday in the Thomas More Exhibition Centre (TMEC). It was wonderful to have so many students, staff, friends, and family there to celebrate the outstanding achievements of our Magis and Altiora students. The Awards Breakfast also afforded us a great opportunity to reflect upon the year – and what a year it has been! 

 

The Magis Champion Scholar Awards are the highest awards in the Magis Gifted and Talented Program. The top students in these awards are recognised for their academic excellence, as well as their outstanding contribution to the program. Our 2023 scholars are:

  • Year 7
    • Winner: Zachary Sartorello
    • Runner-up: Charlie O’Toole 
  • Year 8
    • Winner: Samuel Watts
    • Runner-up: Tyler Shan
  • Year 9
    • Winner: Catherine Gazia
    • Runner-up: Charlie Pronk
  • Year 10
    • Winner: Jennifer Ong
    • Runner-Up: Amelia Watts
  • Year 11
    • Winner: Thomas Syminton
    • Runner-up: Asha Paton
  • Year 12
    • Winner: Yvie Rigg
    • Runner-up: Benjamin Mignacca

We are delighted to announce that the Overall Champion Scholar for 2023, with the highest combined academic and competition score, was Samuel Watts. The Magis Spirit Prize, which is awarded to the student who has best embodied the College values and the Magis spirit of ‘doing more’, was awarded to Aditi Nguyen (Year 10) for her outstanding service and leadership within the Magis program. For a full list of award winners, please click on the link below.

 

2023 Magis Awards List

Magis Camp Update

A group of Year 7 - 10 Magis students will depart this afternoon for our annual Magis Camp to Point Walter. This camp is designed to meet the needs of Gifted and Talented students – providing them with an opportunity to extend and enrich their learning further. Students will be taking part in academic challenges, a talent show, a sustainability nature walk, an astronomy session, a creative thinking session, as well as archery and flying fox.  We look forward to hearing about their wonderful experience in next week’s newsletter.

Celebrating the success of our World Scholars

We would like to recognise the extraordinary success of our World Scholar’s Teams at the Global Round of the World Scholar’s Cup on the Gold Coast. The World Scholars Cup (WSC) is an annual international academic program, with more than 15,000 students from over 65 countries participating each year. The competition was held at The Southport School (TSS), one of the most prestigious schools in Australia. In addition to the competition, our students visited the Jellurgul Aboriginal Cultural Centre, hiked to the Tumgun Lookout in the Burleigh Head National Park, visited Honeyworld, the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, as well as an artist-led guided tour through the Archie 100: A Century of the Archibald Prize Exhibition at HOTA (Home of the Arts). I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff who gave up their holiday to assist with the tour: Ms Kelli Beaton and Mr Jordan Webber. Below is a video, prepared by our talented Marketing Team, showing highlights from our Gold Coast Tour.

Our World Scholars Global Team:

  • Chloe Bell – Year 9
  • Catherine Gazia – Year 9
  • Charlie Pronk – Year 9
  • Jennifer Ong – Year 10
  • Janelle Raman – Year 10
  • Amelia Watts – Year 10
  • Hunter Giles-Shanley – Year 11
  • Sarah Macfarlane – Year 11
  • Asha Paton – Year 11

Our scholar’s exceptional performance in all categories of the World Scholar’s Cup, has meant that all our teams have qualified for the Tournament of Champions at Yale University. This is an incredible achievement, and we are extremely proud of our talented scholars. Our Tournament of Champions Teams will be departing this Sunday for New York, where they will stay for a few nights, before travelling to New Haven, Connecticut. We look forward to sharing details of our USA Tour upon our return. Wishing all our teams the best of luck at Yale!

MAGIS: OPPORTUNITIES TO DO MORE!

Stargirls STEM Camp

Are you interested in pursuing astronomy, engineering, or data science as a career path? Join high school girls and other underrepresented genders for a free Astronomy Day Camp from 23 to 25 January 2024, hosted by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR). This camp is open to all high school students in Years 9 to 12 whose gender identities are underrepresented in astronomy, engineering, or data science.

Highlights include:

  • Meet and talk with women who have made their careers in astrophysics, engineering and data science;
  • Use research-grade telescopes to take and process your own deep space images and take part in a night-time stargazing event; and
  • Visit leading space research centres, including Curtin and UWA ICRAR campuses, along with a visit to the Pawsey Supercomputer Research Centre.

Positions are limited, so early applications are essential. See the flyer below for further details. Please notify the Magis Coordinator (Ms Farley) and Head of Science (Mr Carrello) if you choose to apply.

 

Daisy Farley

Magis Coordinator – Gifted and Talented