Magis

Over the past week there have been some excellent performances by Magis and Altiora students representing the College. Congratulations to Magis captain Rory Hewson who has qualified for the grand final of the Speak for Faith Public Speaking Competition in the heats held at the Catholic Education office last Saturday.  Another key Magis Year 12 leader, Charlie Richards, also represented the College with distinction in this event.  Meanwhile Year 9 student Alice O’Sullivan added to her impressive creative writing successes by finishing second in a national poetry competition. Our Year 7 debating team of Meg Derbyshire, Wesley Soares, Hannah Johnson and Maya Mintz, which won their division in the WADL division at Christchurch, was defeated by Hale in the Octofinals at Perth College on Tuesday but are to be congratulated on a wonderful season. Special thanks also to their team manager Mrs Mary-Anne Lumley, and to the fantastic group of parents and other family members who supported the teams.

The Magis Camp is being held at the lovely Point Walter Campsite this weekend.  There is a packed program including key workshops by David Castellani from Alpha Motivation and Kathy Boyatzis, Director of Creative edge and Opti-MINDS, who will also do a session with our Year 7 Opti-MINDS Language-Literature and Science-Engineering teams at the camp. Special thanks to Mrs Alison O’Çonnor who will be assisting at the camp, and to Alice O’Sullivan and Lorian Marshall who will be giving talks to the students.  Warmest thanks also to Mr Peter Masur has been working hard with the Year 7 Science-Engineering team.  Good luck to the John XXIII Tournament of Minds and Opti-MINDS teams as they prepare for regional finals on 31 August.  The Current Magis Academic Challenge running at present is Creativity which involves brief mini challenges from these prestigious competitions.

Good luck to our three World Scholar’s Cup Teams which will be heading off to Sydney for the Global round on Wednesday. They will be competing with over 2000 students from more than 30 countries.  World Scholar’s Cup officials have made some timetable changes and an updated final Handbook has now been distributed to students and emailed to parents.  Special thanks to Ms Kirralee Dawson and Mr Christian Thompson who will be assisting me at this event. The students will also have the opportunity to see many famous tourist highlights in Sydney over the week we are away. Special thanks to our Yale 2018 Tournament of Champions team, Year 11 students Ben Linsten, Alex panther and Emily Tyson who have been coaching the teams.

Jim Miller

Gifted and  Talented Program coordinator