Student News
Letter from an Alumnus: Why Study History?
While it has been almost three years since I walked out of my last VCE exam, I still find myself often reflecting on year 12 and wondering how the current year 12 SCHS students are finding their studies. So, upon hearing from my manager at the Melbourne Hellenic Museum that SCHS’s Units 3&4 Ancient History class would be doing a tour there, I knew I had to come in and join the tour.
I first visited the Hellenic Museum with Miss Fenby and the 2018 Ancient History class. Back then, I could have never imagined that three years later, I would be able to meet the 2021 VCE History class at the same museum and go through the same tour.
*Image: Lauren and Miss Fenby with the Delphi Charioteer in the Hellenic Museum
Doing a history subject for VCE was initially a daunting thought for me. How useful could the subject be? The fact that I had absolutely no prior knowledge of Ancient Greece or Rome did not help either. I went into the subject feeling incredibly doubtful and unsure of whether I made the right decision.
A month into VCE however, my thoughts completely changed. The content of Ancient History absolutely captivated me, and I soon found myself spending my free time immersing myself in the words of Herodotus, Thucydides, Plutarch, and Livy. Ancient History became the highlight of my year 12 and I absolutely loved listening to Miss Fenby’s fascinating insights into Ancient Greece and Rome, reading about quirky facts of historical figures, and witnessing live demonstrations of ancient battle formations played out in front of us right there in G10.
After graduating, I chose to study a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne, with a double major in History and Economics. VCE History ignited my interest in the ancient world, and as a university student, I was amazed by the number of opportunities my history major provided. In my first year of university, I went back to the Hellenic Museum as a volunteer. In my second year, I became first a sub-editor, then chief editor of the University of Melbourne’s undergraduate history journal. In third year, I was offered a place at Cornell University’s archaeology project in Italy. Those warnings I received on how history is a ‘dying field’ could not have been more wrong.
To the Class of 2021, I know it must be a very stressful time with your VCE exams looming closer and closer, but I hope you also make the most out of your final year and enjoy what you are learning. Wishing you all the very best with your SACs and exams!
Lauren Song, Class of 2018
Unit 3 History Excursion: Hellenic Museum and NGV Ancient Galleries
On the 17th of May, the VCE Ancient History class went on an excursion to the Hellenic Museum and the National Gallery of Victoria, as a part of their studies into the ancient world. They were given a guided tour of the Hellenic Museum, accompanied by former Suzanne Cory Ancient History student turned volunteer at the museum, Lauren Song.
At the beginning of the day, the class congregated outside of Flagstaff station, roughly fifteen minutes before their scheduled tour. Some students chose to arrive in the city earlier than required, and have breakfast with their friends, then class went into the Museum. The building itself is a historical landmark of Melbourne. From 1869 to 1968, the building served as the Royal Melbourne Mint, where coins were created and bills were printed. It was later refurbished and restored by a Greek businessman turned philanthropist Spiros Stamoulis, and turned into the Hellenic Museum in 2007, to serve the purpose of presenting Greece’s history and culture to the Australian public.
When the class entered, they were greeted by the museum's Visitor Engagement Coordinator, Evelyn Darzanos, who served as the tour guide and historical specialist for the day. We were shown through all the exhibits of the museum, ranging from material that we are currently studying at school, to things that were way out of the study design, but were still very interesting. The museum exhibits ranged from Ancient artifacts from the 5th and 6th century BCE, to items from as late as the 1800s. The artifacts ranged from intricate pottery to helmets worn by ancient Greek warriors, to the actual weapons wielded by the key figures in the Greek War of Independence.
After the Hellenic Museum, the students were let loose from Ms. Fenby’s keen supervision for lunch. Though overall uneventful, one student was scrutinised for eating a piece of popcorn chicken that had dropped onto the floor of the train. Still a topic of heated scholarly debate within the class, was the student wrong for eating the food that had allegedly been contaminated, or was he just in his actions of not wasting food, and picking up the singular piece of chicken before the five seconds had elapsed, avoiding contamination?
After the popcorn chicken incident, the class visited the National Gallery of Victoria. Though not all the pieces and paintings were directly tied to what the students were studying at the time, the numerous paintings and interpretations of artists served to give perspective, and to promote the students to think more deeply about what they discussed in the classroom.
In conclusion, a large thank you to Miss Fenby for organizing the excursion and keeping an eye on her rather unruly class as they got to experience these great sites. And a great thanks to the staff at the Hellenic Museum for making it such a memorable experience.
Raheeq B., R6
VCE PE Incursion
Our VCE PE students participated in VO2MAX and Lactate Inflection Point tests collecting live data and understanding core concepts from VCE PE. Luke, our presenter ran a fantastic session with the students challenging everyone which our students thrived on. Mohammed Hanif and Sandy Perera on the students’ behalf engaged with the tests and gave it their all! Both were maximal tests which means they were physically pushed to their absolute limit. Luke was very impressed with our students’ level of understanding of core concepts in VCE PE. No doubt they will achieve outstanding results in upcoming exams!
Mr. Yang - Health and Physical Education Faculty Leader
Music Update
The winter concert showcased the wonderful talent of SCHS Music students, displaying the hard work and dedication to rehearsing and performing songs across Term 1 and 2. The melodic symphony of the orchestra, the bright and loud sounds of the concert and the harmonious singing from the choir were some of the highlights of the night. Big thank you to all parents and friends who attended the concert, with seats completely booked, made the first Winter Concert after lockdown extra special to the entire Music Department.
Despite the multiple changes we had to go through, due to the snap lockdown pushing all of greater Melbourne to a halt, the Suzanne Cory Music Program still prevailed, with Zoom orchestra session, led by Ms Hillary Odgers and Mr Nelson Woods.
The lockdown also put a wrench in the work in terms of chorals progress, with houses being unable to rehearse their mass choirs, instrumental bands and small choirs. Despite this, everyone is still working persistently to put on an amazing show on the 20th August- the new chorals date. The quality of the performances perceived so far have far exceeded our expectations and we can't wait to see and listen to what each house has prepared for the competition.
Throughout this term, 6 artists from each house worked together to illustrate a message from the chosen songs of each house: Blackwood's being "History" by One Direction, Cottrell's being "Coming Home" by Shepphard, Kororoit's being "Back Home" by Andy Grammar and Rothwell's being "Someone To You" by BANNERS. All houses produced amazing pieces of work, all of which required a more than commendable effort and we thank these artists for taking time out of their days and several lunchtimes in creating them.
Arati Nair and Matt Sabarez (SCHS Music Captains)
ADT Week
ADT week in 2021 kicked off on Monday the 17th of May with a Foccacia Art competition, the only competition where you get to eat the winners! All teams had some nature themed ideas and used the vegetable materials to create an array of different scenes in their dough. Congratulations to Cottrell for their winning entry.
Monday night saw the return of Live music to SCHS with the winter concert. It was an impressive show of our student’s talents across all the different groups and performances. Well done to all the performers!
On Tuesday, the winners of the Media competition were announced after a showing of all the entries. Each entry was themed for our Celebration of 10 Years of Suzanne Cory High School and covered many different styles and types of media from video to photos and drawings. Well done to Simrah A for blowing the judges away.
Wednesday saw another round of music with the wonderful Pat McKernan who regaled us with many stories from his life filled with both music and travel. Thank you to Pat for spending time with us.
Thursday saw the IT crew get students to test their retro gaming skills with the stop the dot and falling blocks competitions on the Micro:bit controllers. Congratulations to the Rothwell team who were a step ahead of the other houses in this competition.
Last but not least, Friday turned on the perfect weather for our traditional House Chalk Art competition outside the Agora. All House teams got really involved in recreating some famous work in their House Colours. Amazing effort by all teams, but in 2021, Cottrell had the edge.
A big thank you to all students who got involved in the events and competitions across the week and we hope that we will continue to see you at these events in 2022.
I would also like to send a huge thank you to the ADT and music Staff who’s effort made the week not only possible, but such a success.
They are:
Mrs Muollo and Mr Van Wyk (Food studies) Mr Paye, Ms Wu, Darcy M, Luke H, Sarina I, Sharon L, Karen M, Hilary O, Christine T & Nelson W (Music and Instrumental department) Ms Velisha and Mr Juricevich (Media) Mr Marcok and Mr Leong (IT team) and of course Ms Blain, MS Walia and Ms Borschman in the Art team.
Ms Green – Head of ADT
Humanities Week
Week 9 at Suzanne Cory High School was our annual Humanities Week. Typically, a wide range of activities are held every day, each of which relates to the wider subject of Humanities. Unfortunately this year we started off on a slightly shorter week, with Monday being the Queen’s Birthday. Also, as with most other activities, Humanities week this year was much smaller in scale due to the still lasting effects of COVID-19.
Nonetheless, we managed to make the best of a terrible situation and organised activities that truly showcased the talent and the dedication of the students at our school. On Tuesday, we had Mr. Wright’s Big Humanities Quiz. It proved, as it has in previous years, to be a tremendous success and we all had quite a bit of fun.
On Wednesday, we had the Great Debate where our Year 12 students on the negative team competed against our Year 10 students on the affirmative team on the topic of “Whether Government prioritisation of STEM subjects ignores the contributions made to society by humanities.” The negative team ended up taking the win, however the Year 10s came home with the award for best speaker going to Wen Shue, with Aakriti Malhotra and Sophie Parnham drawing for second place, proving their hard work paid off!
Finally, we ran our Mock Trial on Thursday and Friday where the Year 9s and 10s ran an entire trial, where Luke Skywalker stood accused of blowing up the Death Star, with Darth Vader as the prosecution. The presiding judge ruled in favour of Darth Vader, and Luke Skywalker was found guilty. All in all, it was a tremendously fun and exciting week, especially considering the limitations we had because of COVID-19.
Our dedicated staff and students once again proved that despite restrictions and the challenges of this year, we can still come together and celebrate our learning and engagement at SCHS. A big thanks to everyone who participated in Hums Week.
Lakindu De Silva, K8.
LOTE Week
The last week of Term 2 was our annual LOTE Week, where we celebrate the cultural heritage and traditional customs of our student community. I was very pleased to see all of our students participate with such enthusiasm. As I walked through the Agora on Monday, Mr Wright was performing to a wrapt audience of quiz participants. The answers were coming in fast as students tested their knowledge of world language facts.
On Tuesday, the students descended on the Hawker's Market, run by Miss Wu and her host of volunteers. Cultural delicacies, such as onigiri, milk toffees, fruit sandwiches, pakora and bubble tea were available for our students to sample.
On Thursday the auditorium was at capacity and we got to witness students singing in a variety of languages, as well as perform some amazing dance routines. The atmosphere was electric. I'm always so impressed by the talented performers that participate in the LOTE Week displays.
Friday was our cultural dress day. Students came to school in a range of traditional outfits and the range of colours, textures and materials brought some brightness into the cold winter day. What a fantastic way to end our celebration at the end of term.
Thank you to the students who helped to prepare events, performed, dressed up and ate at our market. It allowed LOTE Week raise money for two charities; the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and Covid Relief in India. Your participation has made a huge difference to these groups.
Ms Louise Leong - Head of Lote