CAPTAINS' CORNER

SENIOR CAPTAIN

As my time at McKinnon comes to a close, it has led me to reflect on all the amazing opportunities the school has given me, and how these have shaped me to be the person I am today. 

Inter school sport is an integral part of the McKinnon community. I must admit, in Years 7 and 8, sometimes it felt like a chore as I was more eager to go home on a Friday afternoon and watch Netflix. But as lockdowns set in, I missed the connections I made with fellow teammates and the coach, so much so that in Year 12, having not played soccer since Year 8, I decided to play in the Senior Girls Team. As awful as I must’ve been, this final hurrah was definitely one I’ll remember forever (even if we lost in penalties). 

I learnt German at McKinnon from Year 7, all the way to completing Year 12 German in 2021. Although encouraged to undertake German by my father (who…you guessed it…is German), the willingness of the language teachers and competitions available made me fall in love with the language to a degree my father probably never imagined. I entered every poetry, video and even rapping competition, not only for the prizes (which did include gummy bears), but for the improvement of my language skills and for the enjoyment I got out of it. I’m now hoping to do a double degree with German at university, because McKinnon fostered my love for the culture and language. 

My final message to younger students would be - join the club, enter into the competition, try the sport. As difficult as it is, don’t listen to what your friends may say, these extra-curricular activities are what makes McKinnon, McKinnon. 

Sophia Diegelmann

Year 12 Student

JUNIOR CAPTAIN

Recently, a few groups of Year 9 students had the opportunity to participate in the Victorian Young Leaders: Global Youth Forum program. This entailed communicating with students across Australia and Asia pacific including Japan, Indonesia, China and India.

These students heard from a variety of speakers such as Jahin Tamir and an aboriginal elder, Aunty Georgina. These students then went out into breakout rooms and discussed what they had learned and also possible solutions and applications to the issues discussed. This included leadership opportunities to climate change issues and many more. Over the three days it was run, the students with the help of Ms Fowler, learnt many lessons and made some new friends along the way.

In an ever-growing world in which we just hit 8 billion people, interconnection and globalisation are becoming more important topics to discuss and understand. These discussions increase our awareness of other cultures and perspectives. This opened our eyes to many issues in other countries and how fortunate we are to live in a country like Australia.

Despite not being a face-to-face program due to the after effects of COVID, we were still able to connect and gain many understandings and lessons from our peers overseas and had meaningful and collaborative discussions. This then led to ideas and solutions being proposed for the issues discussed, such as creating leadership programs for young people as well as volunteering which was highly recommended by many speakers during the program. 

I hope everyone who participated enjoyed it and learnt something but if anyone wants to increase their student voice, leadership qualities or even just has a suggestion I recommend talking to the Junior School Council and next year and in the future taking advantage of every opportunity you receive. Good luck for next year.

Jake Lasnitzki

Year 9 Student