YEAR 9 Discovery W
Student Reflections
Empowered Together
In the final week of term 2, Year 9 students participated in Discovery Week, full of multiple sessions. One of these sessions was a presentation called Empowered Together. Empowered Together is a program educating students about consent. This program tackled the awkwardness of the topic in a fun and creative way. Throughout the 90-minute presentation we also discussed the laws of consent, and how consent differs based on things such as soberness. Overall, it was an open discussion about an important topic delivered in a way we can all understand. – Alex O’Rourke and Nate Atkinson
City Experience
During Discovery Week, the Year 9 cohort had the opportunity to visit the city on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. On the day, we got to experience many different landmarks and destinations all throughout the city and find hidden gems that we hadn’t visited before. These destinations included the incredible graffiti lanes throughout the city, Melbourne Central, the Melbourne State Library, RMIT, the aquarium, Flinders Street Station and St. Paul’s Cathedral. We were able to demonstrate and practice responsibility, time management and our navigation skills, whilst still enjoying ourselves. During our trip to the city, we were able to enjoy ourselves and become tourists in the marvellous city that we can call our home. - Savannah O’Rourke and Ella Paganoni
WHAT Bus
During Discovery Week, all Year 9 students were encouraged to participate in a week's worth of incredible activities. One of the activities was the youth bus, where all students got the opportunity to do a range of different relaxing activities. The WHAT Bus is a part of the Frankston Youth Services to help teenagers and young adults through hardships and dealing with mental health. These activities include badge making, playing bongo drums, Mario kart in the bus and Giant Uno. From this activity, all students gained awareness of a place that ourselves and young adults can go for support or just a place to simply relax and get our minds off things. We have gained a better understanding of our community and support systems we can go to if we are struggling. - Lilly Bouttecon-Klingan and Tiahnee Cox
Speak And Share
During discovery week, each Year 9 class participated in the Speak and Share program. We learnt about mental health and how sharing your problem is a problem halved, we did different activities focusing on our own mental health and others. They inspired us to speak out about our mental health and problems. Many students really opened about themselves in this lesson and inspired others to do the same. They taught us about self-growth, and they encouraged us to normalise having conversations around mental health in a safe, judgement-free and inclusive environment to promote happy and healthy students. Speak and Share link here - Poppy Seers and Ocean Green
City Scavenger Hunt experience
The city experience was an exciting way to socialise with peers you often wouldn’t talk to. It gave us the feeling of making your own path though the city to complete the objectives. The scavenger hunt was a neat way to build confidence as students had to find key locations and take a picture there. The points system was also a fun and enthusiastic way to challenge and encourage peers. Will went to the city’s local hobby shop and bought some Lego, and Jonah went and ate some Belles Hot Chicken. Overall, the city experience was definitely not an activity to miss! - Will Gielen and Jonah Martin
Monash University Student Visit
During Discovery Week, we were very lucky to be visited by Monash University students for a whole double period. During that period, we listened to the students' experiences and were able to ask any questions regarding university. There were seven students, all with different degrees, ranging from the arts to STEM related subjects. They went into detail about what their degrees entail and how classes work in university. After they explained their experiences, we could ask questions for the rest of the time remaining. They were extremely helpful and cleared up any queries we may have had regarding university. - Sasha Barshevski and Jack Worland
Thinking Traps
During Discovery Week, we participated in a collaborative presentation by Thinking Traps. We learned how to cope and manage our thinking traps by comparing our thoughts to notifications on a phone and how to work through them. We used methods to identify our problems and find solutions, like how you would go through notifications on your phone. Our students cooperated well in this presentation and learned a lot about our thoughts and young brains, whilst having fun and comparing it to a real-life scenario on our phones we all have experienced. - Brooke Disney and Paige Smith
Celebration
Friday was a day of celebration in discovery week, which included a magician who happened to be an ex-Frankston High student. He wowed the entire year 9 cohort with his amazing magic tricks. The tricks he performed were so advanced, that nobody understood how he did it. A magician wasn’t the end of the fun though, because we also had awards in the form of 3 $500 vouchers to Giant to put towards a new bike. Winners of the $500 Giant Bike vouchers from were Billy Henderson, Brody Lloyd and Lily Garrett. Thanks to the Speak & Share crew for the incredible prizes and engaging presentations. An amazing lunch cooked by the year 10 coordination team was also a highlight. It included sausages and drinks that everyone enjoyed. The highlight of the day, however, was when Mr Joyce cut off his COVID beard towards the charity, “It’s okay not to be okay”. It ended up being a terrific day and a lovely way to end the semester. Sam Murray, Joel Howell and Alex Hamilton
