Around The College

Duke of Edinburgh Mitchell River Hike

On Tuesday 22nd October, 46 Year 9 students and 4 staff members set off on the Duke of Edinburgh four-day Mitchell River Hike. The Hike encompassed walking along the magnificent Mitchell River, through a vast variety of bushland and habitats. Apart from the usual challenge of steep hills and rocky ground, this year we also had to tackle the heat. Thursday proved our biggest challenge, walking in 38 degree weather. This was combatted by good planning and an early morning start.

I would like to congratulate all the students who participated in the hike. Your display of leadership, collaborative spirit, resilience and general support for each was highly commendable. I would also like to thank Ms Swilks, Mr Abersteiner and Mr Shah for attending and supporting the program.

Tracey Cain, Duke of Edinburgh Award Unit Leader

Information Technology – Year 10 Cyber Forensics

What a great time we’ve had with our students in Year 10 this year with the introduction of our Cyber Forensics unit where the students build their own computers. This has been a practical ‘hands on’ activity where we have looked at all of the components that make up a computer and dissecting each piece from the case and researched its function within a system. This is an area of study to learn how computers communicate, and is incorporated with Binary Code translation. The Database Management & Design aspect of the unit provides students with the opportunity to build a database package based on a clients requirements which again creates a ‘real life’ scenario.

I’m so pleased to have seen first-hand how this unit has given students the opportunity to gain the knowledge to build their own computer, based on what they want to use it for, and know what to look for when purchasing components separately. As a teacher of this subject, I have seen how everyone has enjoyed the hands on activity and satisfaction of achievement when we plug each computer in and it works as it should! On some occasions, it doesn’t work, and the challenge is to look for and diagnose why something has not functioned as it should. This aspect of the course is a great change from the days of learning from just a textbook. This has demonstrated to students that they are very capable of building any computer to suit their needs, and have the knowledge to research components to suit a particular purpose – not to mention the already acquired practical skills to put it all together.

I’d like to acknowledge Anna Crow, Head of Information Technology for putting this aspect of the unit together and working with our IT Department to ensure that the computer parts we needed to make this unit were available. It has certainly been a great addition to the Information Technology ‘Hands on, Learning by Doing’ approach.

Chris Barry, Year 9 Mathematics/Information Technology/Aviation Sciences

Women in Aviation Conference – Call for anyone interested in aviation!

An opportunity has been brought to my attention for aspiring women to join the aviation industry. As you know, Brentwood already has Aviation Sciences which is a dedicated subject to learn how to fly aircraft. One thing I have been a big promoter of is women in the aviation industry and an opportunity exists for females to participate in the Women in Aviation Conference to be held at Essendon Airport from the 15th – 17th of November. This year’s theme is ‘Empowerment and Resilience’ and is designed to be inclusive and supportive of females at all ages and stages of their career. You’ll have the opportunity to meet with senior leaders and executives within the industry and participate in facilitated networking, mentoring sessions, Social activities and Site Tours. You can register your interest at www.waiaustralia.org/conference

Several years ago I was involved at one of these events, and a female student went home after attending and told her parents that she was so inspired that she wanted to be in the aviation industry. Her parents were very encouraging, telling her she would make a great flight attendant – I’ll never forget her telling me this story – She turned around and said, “I don’t want to be a flight attendant, I want to be the pilot!’ Today, she is a First Officer (Pilot) with Jetstar. It goes to show that if you set your mind to achieving, anything is possible if you push on a persevere!

There are also quite a few scholarships available, and I would encourage aspiring females interested in a career in flying, engineering, air traffic control, airport or airline operations to attend this great networking event.

Chris Barry, Aviation Sciences

Monash Women’s Business Network Lunch

On the 21st October, we had the opportunity to attend the Monash Women’s Business Network Lunch at Riversdale Golf Club. Keynote speaker Claire Rogers CEO of World Vision Australia provided tips to be an effective leader. It was an amazing experience to be able view first hand women empowering other women. With such low exposure for women in leadership roles, the event provided us with the knowledge and awareness of a women's ability.

Hiruni Chandratileka and Paige Rigopoulos

German Immersion Excursion

On the 27th of October, the two Year 10 German classes went into the city on an immersion excursion. The excursion’s purpose was to celebrate the hard work that all of the students put into learning German this year, as well as engage in German culture outside of school and put our language skills to use.

In the morning, we took the train to Flinders Street Station and walked over to Federation Square. We stopped to take part in a German festivity often done around New Year’s. During this time of year, as part of the German tradition, some bakers fill donuts with mustard instead of jam before sending them out to New Year’s parties. Getting a mustard-filled donut is meant to give you good luck for the following year. At Fed Square, Frau Bruns and Herr Hutchinson surprised everyone with donuts – except, two donuts were filled with mustard! After we all randomly picked our donuts, we found that Blake Jachway and Sajid Goni had chosen the mustard donuts. Hopefully this means they’ll have good luck for the upcoming exams!

We then walked to the Hofbräuhaus. Some of us were able to play a balloon game where two teams had to keep a balloon off the ground whilst saying the German names for food and drinks. Congratulations to Blake Jachway, Hope Hanley and Tara Fernando for winning!

We then waited to watch ‘Der ganz große Traum’ (‘Lessons of a Dream’). Unfortunately, we ran into a few technical difficulties. We had to watch the whole film without English subtitles and also lost some time, meaning that we weren’t able to play a German trivia after the movie. We were able to understand most of the film thanks to the past 4 years of German class, though!

After the film, we ate German food from the Hofbräuhaus. This included schnitzel, pasta or sausages for lunch, followed by apple strudel or ice cream with hot raspberry jam for dessert, all of which we had to order in German. Everyone agrees that the food was lecker (delicious)! With our hunger satisfied, we walked to Parliament Station and departed the city to go back home.

All in all, the excursion was a fun day out for all. It was enjoyable to experience some parts of German culture and use our 4 years of built up German skills as Australian students in a real-world scenario.

Danke schön furs Lesen!

Thanks for reading!

Hope Hanley and Ai-Vy Nguyen (Y10)

Year 8 Information Technology – Shark Tank!

We all know the television program Shark Tank where buddying entrepreneurs face a group of Sharks in the hope they will contribute money to the development of a particular product. In Year 8 Information Technology, we have a similar inspiring program where students are encouraged to collaborate and come up with an idea that they think will one day be part of our future lives. The unit encourages students to ‘think outside the square’ and focuses on higher order thinking when coming up with a future technologies idea. Of course, we need sharks in order to judge the students ideas, and this years 2019 mystery shark is Mr Peter Hitchener – Head newsreader for Channel 9 Melbourne! He will be my guest judge for my Year 8 classes and be at school on Monday 11th of November. All students will have the opportunity to speak to Peter and have photographs with him at recess time on the day. It’s a great chance to ‘meet and greet’ Peter and ask questions about his work and explore how future technologies have emerged over the years in the entertainment industry and the significant impact this has had over time.

Chris Barry, Information Technology