General News
High School Dance Competition
The HSDC (High School Dance Competition), is an annual Bollywood dance competition, which our Bollywood Club competed in, this year. The competition was held in Williamstown and other schools that participate included Suzanne Cory High School, MacRobertson Girls High School, Werribee Secondary College and many more. 2019 marked Nossal's third year of participation in the competition, last year being our most successful, when we achieved first place along with an award for Best Choreography. Due to this past success, more pressure was felt throughout the whole process of this year's event, in the hope of keeping the well-deserved place Nossal had acquired last year.
Our team consisted of 20 girls, spread across all of our year levels. All brought something different to the team (handpicked by our hardworking captain, Divnoor Kaur, in Year 12). Her hard-working, fierce and determined influence on us was ever so positive. By the end, our team truly showed promise. The whole process consisted of learning complicated choreographies, trying to remember them, accomplishing the perfect facial expressions (a key in Bollywood dance), trying again to remember moves, and formations. Not only our memory in remembering everything was tested but the idea of how we worked as a team, our dedication and determination levels, was also tested. In the end, though, it was a beautiful experience. The jokes, laughing and bonding outweighed any negativity.
The day arrived with us arriving at Divnoors' house at 10:00am, half-asleep yet ready to put on a show. After some touches, we got ready and left for the long drive to the other side of Melbourne. We met our supportive teachers, Ms Ravi and Mr Woon who, throughout the whole night, assured us that we were the best and had a good chance of winning. When it came to the performances of other schools, though intimidated by them (the level of competition had definitely increased since last year) our team stayed calm and collective as a group, knowing deep down that we could do it!
After watching a few of the other schools, it was our turn to perform. With a whole lot of excited and nervous energy, we got on stage ready to start our dance. As the music played out loud and the lights shone on us, we were all ready to give it our all. Dancing on that stage, surrounded by a dedicated team was such an amazing feeling and it was one that we can’t wait to experience again next year. Our dance quickly ended, and we began watching more of our competition. A few of the other schools put on performances that we were nervous to be competing against, but we were eagerly awaiting results, proud of the performance we had just put on.
After a couple of hours, we were invited on stage for the awards to be announced. Nossal High ended up winning the ‘Most Entertaining’ award, ‘Runners Up’ and our very own Annette Varghese won the ‘Best Female Dancer’ award. The places at the High School Dance Competition were based on 50% judges vote and 50% audience vote. According to the judges, we got the highest score from them, but it was the audience vote that let us down, so professionally, we like to say we came first place. This was an incredible result and it was all that we could have hoped for. None of it could have been possible without Divnoor, who managed to lead our team to victory. From costumes to choreography, to disciplining the team, she did it all with the help of Moksha and we couldn’t be more grateful to them both. Representing Nossal at the High School Dance Competition was a fantastic experience and learning opportunity for all those involved, and we can’t wait to rehearse and get back on that stage next year!
Isa Risal and Esha Vashisht
Year 10
Fare Share
Volunteering at a local food bank is one way that people can help those in their area who are in need of nourishment. For twenty of us, it was through an organisation called FareShare. FareShare helps families use their money to pay their bills and other expenses while having access to healthy food.
We attended one of FareShare’s morning volunteer shifts in their Abbotsford kitchen, which lasted around four hours. We helped out with basic food preparation tasks from forming pastry squares into quiche bases, filling the quiches with egg batter and later packing the meals.
We managed to rescue food that would otherwise go to waste and contributed towards the cooking process to cook it into nutritious meals for people in need. By saving surplus, quality food from landfill, we were able to cut food waste and fight pollution. We learned that FareShare’s meals are packed with protein and fresh vegetables to provide vulnerable people in disadvantaged communities, who struggle to access nutritious food, with as much nutrition as possible.
It was easily one of the most rewarding experiences in our lives. We witnessed first-hand how all our efforts were helping those in the area, while forming relationships with other people who regularly contribute their time and effort to making FareShare a success.
Erythrina Chang
Year 11
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