Peter Corkill
Principal
Dear fellow members of the JMSS Community,
Welcome to Term Two. From what I’ve observed to date, all of our students have returned in good spirits, and ready to take on the challenges which no doubt lie ahead. Despite the cold and wet weather, it is good to see everyone well and truly ‘up and about’.
I would like to congratulate Acting Assistant Principals Mr. Chris Mann and Ms. Caitlin Ryan for taking over the leadership of the Student Empowerment role from Mr. Jeremy Mackinnon who has taken three weeks of long service leave. Both of these Leading Teachers have worked together efficiently and effectively, and provided outstanding support for our students and staff during their time at the helm. I would like to congratulate them both and thank them for their terrific work over these weeks. Mr. Mackinnon will return at the beginning of Week 4.
World’s Greatest Shave
I would also like to congratulate our student body, under the passionate leadership of our School Captains Alexia Arta, Cameron McCutcheon, Caitlin Carpenter and Michael Cotugno and their committee of helpers, on their outstanding achievement of raising over $21,000 for the World’s Greatest Shave charity which provides funds dedicated to the research for cures of blood cancers. Lots of shaved heads, many ‘pied’ faces, and even more ‘ice-bucket dunkings’, including yours truly, helped inspire the students to raise this incredible sum. ‘All in a good cause’ we muttered to each other, as the ice water hit on a pretty cold day! This event has become something of a tradition at JMSS and it is quite amazing that a school of our size can actually smash the targets we set for this event – this year it was $15,000 whoa!!
First Regional Exchange for 2023
We have had the pleasure of hosting ten Year 10 students from regional Victoria at JMSS over recent weeks. They have all adapted to their new school home readily and enthusiastically and embraced the many opportunities we have to offer. Organiser Abbey Goff, program teacher Leanne McLoughlin and myself took the regional students and their JMSS host buddies to the AFL footy at the MCG last Sunday, to see the Collingwood v Sydney match. The crowd of over 70,000 made plenty of noise and it was an exciting match to watch. For many of the attendees it was their first visit to the MCG and everyone had a great day out. I would sincerely like to thank the JMSS student chaperones and their families for their generosity in hosting our regional visitors and thereby allowing them to see all JMSS and Monash has to offer over a three-week period. I can’t thank you all enough – it is truly wonderful to have the program back so strongly after the Covid years stopped the program in its tracks.
BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am pleased to be able to re-introduce this segment into our Newsletters. I have been aware for a long time that many of our students have a wide range of interests and talents, and in fact much of this is unknown, often even to their friends. I have two reasons for bringing some of these wonderful young people ‘out of the shade’. Firstly it is amazing to see the breadth of interests and talents we have in our student community, and secondly it is refreshing and even a little inspiring to how these hobbies, interests, sports and competitions act as a welcome relief from studies, and in many cases even compliment their academic work. The significant change of pace and endeavour actually re-energises these students, and above all helps them keep a sensible BALANCE between schoolwork and other skills, talents and passions which they clearly possess and enjoy. The mental engagement in something so different actually adds great balance and perspective to their lives.
This week features Jake Sharrock, Year 12, who is a talented maker of jewellery. Jake tells his story here, I’m sure you’ll agree Jake has a significant talent on his hands!
When I was in Year 7 at Camberwell High School, there was a History Day, and they brought in a man who melted down some pewter (a tin alloy that melts at ~200C) and cast an arrowhead, then let us all pass it around. Seeing a real, tangible object be made from molten metal was super inspiring, and I decided (much to my mother's concern) that I wanted to start casting pewter! I used my pocket money to buy some old pewter jugs, cups, and goblets at my local op shops, as well as a small steel pot to melt the pewter in. Pewter can be melted on a kitchen stove, so I started from there. I originally used silicone rubber cooking moulds originally intended for isomalt and melted sugar casting, then impression moulding in kinetic sand (yes the kindergarten playtime kind), then in Year 8 I 3D designed a box that, when 3D-printed and used to make a mould in silicone, would weigh ~200g if cast in pewter.
I continued casting pewter for several years (until Year 11), then eventually I decided that, with the advent of getting a part-time job, I had enough money to make "real" jewelry. I did some research on YouTube looking for a tutorial, and found one that explained how to make a pendant with a jewel set in it. With some slight modifications I changed the design so that the gem would sit in a gap instead of backed against a sterling silver sheet, bought the sheet, gem, and equipment (getting some for my birthday). This included a jewelry saw, filing set, and the first of several (4) blowtorches. I then started work on it, and after a very long time, and one reset back to square one, I finally completed it, about 10 months after I decided to build it. It was finished earlier this year, and I gave it as a gift to my +1 to Year 12 Formal.
This took so long to complete that I actually started and finished several simpler projects over its course. I set a gem in a ring setting I made by soldering the setting onto some wire, and set a gem in a pre-made blank I purchased online. I also made a set of earrings for my Mum's birthday.
I find the time to complete these projects fairly readily, as the reality is there isn't that much intensive effort required to learn or make these things. In fact, a large part of the process is planning, designing, and waiting for things to ship to Australia (looking at you www.gemsngems.com). I create pieces at a very low rate, and pretty much all of my more involved pieces are pseudo-commissions from my friends. The general idea is that I will ask them for an idea, and then make it, and offer it to them for sale for the same price it cost me to make it. If they want it, great! I've gained experience, and have got to spend time in an engaging hobby for free! If they don't want to buy it, I don't hold it against them, it is quite expensive sometimes, and I find somewhere else for the piece to go.
In terms of how I have learnt this, I've taught myself (with YouTube's help), and while I haven't learned from a more experienced, professionally taught jeweler, I would certainly love to!
As a hobby, jewelry-making is as time-consuming and expensive as you want it to be. Really, I started on this journey in primary school, with a 10$/week budget! The first piece of "jewelry" I ever made was earrings for my mum, very crudely made ones, no more than earring hoops and chain superglued to crystals I had made using borax! It cost me almost nothing to make, and my mum still wears them sometimes! If you want to make completely custom jewelry, I will warn you that the price (especially entry costs of equipment) can be quite steep. However, if you are interested but don't want to spend lots of money on a hobby you don't know will stick, I recommend buying gems and pre-made settings, or working with cheaper materials it is more likely you'll have the equipment for, such as wood. Jewelry can come in many forms, and if 10-11 year old me can make jewelry, so can you! Pick something you want to do and do it! Don't give up, keep going at it, and I promise you'll get something worthwhile out of it. You can also spend an hour a week on this, and make some headway, but ultimately what you put in is what you get out. If you are happy with taking a long time to make something, you can make it no more than a bump in your schedule.
My current project is a good example of how jewelry isn't that unrelated from other crafts. I've used my knowledge and experience from previous projects to move into making a sword with a carved, gem-set hilt! It's an ambitious, expensive project, but so far it has taught me about how "tangs" work (the section of a sword/knife that extends into the handle), some basic Fusion 360 (computer-aided design, I had the blade and tang machined using a CNC router and shipped to me), and I've ended up doing research into Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs, of all things!
Jake Sharrock, Year 12
Congratulations Jake, what a great story! I am sure you will inspire other students to set time aside for those things in their lives which mean a lot to them. Keep up the great work!
Best regards
Peter Corkill
Principal