Year 7 News

Asphyxia

On Wednesday the 17th of February the very talented Asphyxia visited the year sevens at MGC. Asphyxia is a puppeteer and an author (she wrote the Grimstone series) but she also has a very special hobby, making journals. 

Every Year Seven is expected to start a journal this year and write in it frequently. At the end of the second semester we will put them all in a time capsule. The capsule will only be opened again when we are in year 12. Asphyxia came to lend us a few tips and show us some of her journals. She showed us how she had bound the paper together with thread, making a ‘signature’, then how she made three signatures and after added a fabric spine.

Walking over to her pre-made and loved books, Asphyxia tells us about how having a journal provided a safe place for her to open up about her past, present and future events. She flicks through one of them; we could all see how her thoughts had just spilled on to the page creating artwork that made everyone think. Rushing colours dance around the page reflecting happy memories. As the pages turn, we see some darker pieces with chopped up words and solemn faces. 

Asphyxia’s journals gave us great inspiration for our own. On behalf of everyone in Year Seven I want to say a big thankyou to Asphyxia for sharing with us her amazing talents. I’m sure we will have more great opportunities like this in the future. We will all be very happy that we had this experience when we open up our journals in 5 years’ time!

Elsa Symons 7M2

A Positive Sky

On Monday the eleventh of April, the Year Sevens had a very positive start to Term Two with the help of a guest speaker, Martin Heppell from the Resilience Project. Martin Heppell was invited to Melbourne Girls College to talk to the Year 7s about resilience and provide them mental support. With over two hundred eager listeners, Martin Heppell talked them through a series of presentations, exploring the importance of a positive mind. 

They started off with a summary of what was going to be taught, covering three main aspects, gratitude, empathy and mindfulness. He also mentioned the fact that music, exercise and laughter were three things that are completely in our control to improve our frame of mind immediately. To lift the spirits up more, he presented a video showing a man with a carefree attitude singing to himself, regardless of other people’s judgment. This was a great model to the students, that what others think about you does not necessarily matter. Soon in the video, another woman joined in the karaoke, again ignoring the presence of anyone else. There was sarcasm and jokes which forced laughter out of the Year Sevens encouraging them to keep the same attitude. 

Next, moving on from the video, Martin Heppell shared some of his personal experiences and moments of leadership and adventure. He modelled resilience as he shared several different memories of his childhood that held a moral or message, hinting at the bravery and positivity in them. He showed the Year Sevens another video of a man who was just trying to create a happier community by encouraging people and making their day simply through a hug.  Several of the public in the video ignored this man but after one person showed that positive thinking the others soon started to follow. It was interesting how stimulating this was; you could say there was no-body in the room who wouldn’t have considered making an action to brighten someone’s day.

Although, through all the positive remarks, some bitter facts were shown to prove how important it was to remain happy and smiling. Almost 65% of adolescents keep their pain and trauma to themselves and Martin Heppell told the Year Sevens how significant it was that this did not happen. It is vital to share your thoughts and pain with somebody that would understand so we can reduce this number. 

And finally Martin Heppell told stories of some very inspiring yet brave people in our community, whether they were disabled or simply eager to learn. It was truly motivating to know the number of positive actions that were being displayed every single day. 

Thanks to the Year 7 team and our special guest speaker, Martin Heppell for their support. It was very satisfying to know that there will always be some backup support to always keep going no matter what.   Hopefully this positivity would still remain regardless of how dramatic the situation is and the positive start to Term Two will bring a little more sunshine to everyone’s day. 

Arushi 7R1