International Students

Manningham Civic Awards 2022

In Term 3 2022, Assistant Principal Ms. Belinda McGee and Director of International Student Program Ms. Sally HUANG supported Berry EAIN to complete the application for Manningham Civic Awards 2022. The subcategory is the Doreen Stoves Volunteer of the Year Award.

Berry spends her time volunteering, organising fundraising events and activities that enhance community engagement. She holds a volunteering role in many organisations.

The award ceremony was on 28 September, and she received a Nominee Award from Manningham Mayor.

Berry Eain is acknowledged for her passion to empower international students in her community. Berry is an amazing young person who makes every effort to develop her personal attributes to benefit others. She has made an outstanding contribution to the Manningham community, as well as her school community. 

Big congratulations to Berry for her excellent achievement! 

Short Story Competition 2022

International Student Winners

DSC’s Annual Short Story Competition has concluded and our international students Cynthia LAU and Venus FUNG are among the winners! Both of them are happy to share their winning stories with our school community. Their reflection is below.

I wrote a story of a couple falling out of love, yet it was a one sided fall out instead. I came to mind with this plot as I personally believe that falling out of love with someone is common in society. I’ve always wanted to try out a new style of writing and I believe I write best with romance tropes.

Ms Huang encouraged me to enter the competition, and my friends and parents did so as well. I believe they all have a hand in helping me in this journey but I'd like to say thank you to my cousins. They helped me in checking the grammar and plotline, and also listened to me ramble on and on about my characters’ head canons. I don’t think I’ll make it this far here today without their patience.

- Cynthia L., 9F

My story is about a boy named Kenny who travel into a Chinese myth. Through the journey, he learned more about Chinese culture. As I want to let more people to learn more about Chinese culture. Thanks to my parents, I have become a habit reader and have grown to enjoy expressing my feelings about life in writing. I am also grateful to Ms. Huang for encouraging and inviting me to participate in this competition, so that I could be brave enough to use my talents.

- Venus F., 10G

Big congratulations to both Venus and Cynthia for their great academic achievement! 

Read Cynthia's story here:

Read Venus' story here:

International Students go clubbing!

Our international students are pretty active in joining different DSC clubs and enjoy the extra curriculum experience.

I attend the KPOP club every Tuesday during lunch time. Hannah merely persuaded me to enter the club with her because she knows I enjoy KPOP. I have made a lot of new friends in the group that share my interests. We discuss and share the songs we enjoy as well as any noteworthy events that have occurred. We’re supporting and giving love to every artist. I've been a fan of BTS (KPOP group) for about 5 years, and most of the club members also like them, therefore I'm thrilled to meet anyone else that feels the same way. I'm really happy that there is a KPOP club at our school. Before, I rarely have friends that like KPOP like me, so it’s hard for me to talk about KPOP when they don’t understand anything about it. But now in the KPOP club I can talk with people who like KPOP like me, and we understand and support each other.

- Elly T., 9G

I joined the badminton club which is on every Friday after school. It’s very lovely to be there. Even before coming to this school, I played badminton in Sri Lanka for my previous school team, I was the wise captain of the team. I didn’t know about the badminton club in our school until one of my best friends Christy told me and encouraged me to participate in this club. On my first day, Christy accompanied me but I was very nervous because the system here is very different from the system in Sri Lanka, In Sri Lanka, they were prepared courts to play but here the court was prepared by us. We want to bring the systematic mats and the holders to the court and we want to fix it, It was a weird feeling but It was fun. After preparing the net we began to play, while we were playing some other students came to ask if can there join. We accepted them and we play as two teams. Because of the club, I even met new friends. Playing badminton was fun and I enjoyed it.

- Giorgio H., 10F

There are many choices of school clubs at DSC. I chose to attend Art club because I am interested in exploring more about Arts. Students are given the opportunity to create art and to explore the concept of art. By joining art club, I have explored many different art mediums and craft forms, which provided many helps with my creativity. I have met students from different classes, and we exchanged our ideas about our art skills. It has helped me with my social skill as well. 

- Lisa C, 9G

International Student rocks!

Our International Student Peter XUE is part of our music bands at DSC. Recently he attended a Rock Band Workshop Day and Showcase evening organized by Doncaster Secondary College and Templestowe College. Please find his reflection below. 

I have stayed in rock band for seven months. I play electric guitar in rock band. I joined the band because I want to improve my teamwork skills and I enjoy the music. For the rock band workshop day, we talked about how to make music more emotional and how to make the performance more remarkable. During the Showcase evening we played three songs. Among them, my most impressive song was “summer trust” from the Templestowe College. The reason is that the song is different from other rock songs, and it has more imagination.

- Peter X, 8D

International Students’ best four-leg friends

DSC’s school dogs, Ziggy and Bowie, became the best four-legged friends for our International Students at our Learning Hub on the regular basis. Our students love Ziggy and Bowie’s company and enjoy the time they spend with them! 

I along with a few friends played with Ziggy and Bowie by throwing their favourite tennis balls around. We also bonded by sitting down together and patting the dogs.

I enjoyed spending time with Bowie and Ziggy because they made me feel at ease and happy.

Cynthia L - 9F

My friends and I always come to the international office during recess and lunch time. we have Bowie and Ziggy who always come to play with us. Both of them like to play ball games with everyone there. I really enjoy playing with them, they are so friendly and smart. I think they are really cute when they run to catch the ball that we kick. Bowie and Ziggy.

Elly T - 9G

Bowie and Ziggy are always around at the International Student Learning Hub during lunchtime. The most enjoyable part of having Bowie and Ziggy around is that we get to play tennis ball fetch with them, which involves us in doing some physical activities. I like spending time with Bowie and Ziggy because they keep students entertained and provide a very enjoyable atmosphere at the hub.

Lisa C - 9G

I always play with Ziggy and Bowie at lunch and recess, petting them, getting the tennis ball, and talking to them about how I feel. My responsibility at the International Student Learning Hub is to play fetch with Bowie or Ziggy.

I become excited for the future whenever I see Bowie and Ziggy, which also shows that I appreciate spending time with my new best friends. I think about how we will spend our time wisely. I began to see that dogs had a huge capacity for friendship and companionship with a variety of people. Since the first time I met Bowie and Ziggy, I've been aware of how much love and acceptance they provided me, which reduced my emotions of isolation and loneliness and made me feel incredibly happy. Even now, I still eagerly anticipate spending time with Bowie and Ziggy!

Hannah C (International student’s buddy) - 9F 

Sally HUANG 

Director of International Student Program 

Doncaster Secondary College

Phone: +61 3 9848 4677