Student Achievements

Premier’s ANZAC Spirit School Prize Reflection

On Monday 21 November, I was delighted to attend the award ceremony for the 2022 Premier’s ANZAC Spirit School Prize, as one of twenty winners. Being presented my award by the Honourable Blair Boyer, the Minister of Education, gave me an opportunity to reflect on all that I have learnt and the many new people I have had the privilege of meeting through my research for this competition. 

In particular, I am most proud of having contacted the daughter of the veteran I researched, who recounted fond memories of her father which allowed for me to understand the type of man Michael was, beyond his service to Australia.

At the ceremony, I also had the opportunity to meet my fellow awardees, all of whom come from schools around South Australia. I am looking forward to meeting everybody in more depth and forming some new friendships. I am also really excited for the April 2023 trip to Darwin and the Top End of Australia; it will be my first time travelling to Darwin! The itineraries that were presented at the ceremony encompass a variety of different activities from hiking to learning more of Indigenous culture to visiting museums, all of which I am excited to take part in.

Being part of this study tour also includes the responsibility of researching an Australian serviceman or woman who served during the bombing of Darwin in 1942. This responsibility is part of my being an ambassador for the competition – and is certainly something that I am looking to immerse myself in. Darwin holds great significance in Australia’s war history, and to be part of a group of high schoolers who have the opportunity to explore such a state, is simply amazing.

Vinka Lakic

Year 10 Student

Catherine Obst Public Speaking Competition

On the Thursday 24 November 2022, four brave students along with two teachers set off to go to the Catherine Obst Public Speaking Competition at Tatachilla Lutheran College. We left Endeavour College at 8:00am and all got into a minivan for a 90-minute drive to McLaren Vale. We were all excited and ready to go! Endeavour’s two competitors, Olivia Vasilev and Charlotte Dahlenburg were very nervous yet excited and spent the entire ride practicing. 

In total there were seven schools and 14 students who participated. There were many strong competitors throughout the day, and our students were very fierce competition for them, but in the end Tatachilla Lutheran College came out with the win. A big thank you to Mr Bonini and Ms McIlvena for coordinating and supervising the event, Alex Fechner and Rachel Ratsch for being great support and cheerleaders throughout the process, and Olivia Vasilev and Charlotte Dahlenburg for putting lots of work into this process. Even though we didn’t come win, we all had a very enjoyable time there and got to meet new people, as well as seeing some old friends too.

Alex Fechner, Olivia Vasilev, Charlotte Dahlenburg & Rachel Ratsch

Year 8 Students 

Once Upon a Festival

On Friday 4 November several Endeavour College students attended Once Upon a Festival, hosted by Immanuel College, where students were educated about poetry and storytelling by guest speakers. The main section of Once Upon a Festival was under shelter, where we could exchange our old books for new ones and where music students from Immanuel College sang songs like 'Sk8er Boi' and 'California Dreamin'. Two guest speakers that stood out to students were Joel McKerrow and Will Kostakis.

Joel McKerrow performed several poems to us with the goal of demonstrating the importance of storytelling and visualization in poetry. After reading his poems, he used storytelling and vision to inspire students to compose their own poetry.

Will Kostakis explained to us that while writing a story from a character's perspective, it should sound like the character is telling it, with a few jokes thrown in. Will Kostakis encouraged students to write our own short stories from the perspective of the protagonist, and the kids read out stories about communist spies and 'emos' losing their DVDs.

On behalf of all Middle Years students who attended, we would like to thank Immanuel College and all guest speakers for inviting us to Once Upon a Festival.

Aiden Young

Year 9 Student