Enlighten Day

Wow! What an amazing time Year 7s had on Enlighten Day last Monday. The girls felt empowered and educated on being comfortable in their own skin, learning how to resolve and deal with friendship conflict and the importance of gratitude.

Open any teen magazine and you will see that much of the information the media bombards teenage girls with is negative and contradictory; no wonder they report feeling stressed and inadequate. I think the girls will agree the workshops helped them recognise their diverse interests and presented them with content that is non-commercial, age appropriate and, most importantly, empowering.

Today I think we can all agree that our girls hear countless conflicting messages about how they should live and who they should be. Danni encouraged the girls to attempt to avoid pain through making themselves meek and ultra-cautious but rather to confront the uncomfortable and deal with it head on. She doesn’t just want girls to be okay – she wants them to be amazing and to know it.

Girls are reminded to practise following the

10 R-E-S-P-E-C-T friendship rules.

Ruling with your head & heart

1. Plan ahead

2. Aim for privacy (see rule 9)

3. Focus on how you feel

4. Be specific

5. Offer time

6. Be calm

7. Be assertive

8. Expect attention

9. Use support if necessary

10. End on a positive

The Year 7 Kilbreda College 2019 sisterhood pledge the following…

We promise that...

We will not gossip.

We will respect each other - body, heart, soul and mind.

We will encourage and support each other.

We will honour each other’s boundaries.

We will look out for each other.

We will surround ourselves with caring, positive people.

NO GIRL GETS LEFT BEHIND!

Leah Cristiano

Level Leader: Year 7

Terracotta Warriors

The 21st of August was the day we Year 7s boarded the train at a quarter past 9 and headed towards the city to check out what is said to have been the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century - the Terracotta Warriors.

We’d learnt about these splendid sculptures in our Humanities classes, talking about who they were made for, why they were made, when and how they were made, as well as the story of how they were discovered in the first place.

As we arrived at Flinders Street, we poured off the train and in our homeroom groups, narrowly made our way through various crowds and buildings (and a staircase) before reaching our final destination: The National Gallery of Victoria.

On arrival, we dumped our little excursion bags on the ground and began eating whatever snacks we had crammed in there. The pigeons and seagulls saw this as the perfect opportunity to try and bargain with us, swooping over our heads and waddling amongst our complex group layout hoping to snatch a treat from one of us.

At last, we ventured inside the National Gallery for a talk about what we’d be seeing at the exhibition. The lady showed us pictures and videos of the Terracotta Warriors and inspired artworks by Cai Guo-Qiang, a famous artist who works with gunpowder. One of his displayed artworks were 10,000 sculpted birds that had been blasted with gunpowder and were hung from the ceiling.

At last, we wandered through the hallway into the actual exhibit and it was amazing. It was deathly quiet and still smelt faintly of fresh paint.

Those of us who noticed, skillfully resisted the urge to smack the hands of the people who came too close to touching the sculpted birds hanging from the ceiling. The birds were displayed in a massive room behind the Terracotta Warriors who stood in tall, glass cases. They were a bit larger than we’d imagined, reaching approximately 6 feet (roughly 180 cm) tall. Along with the Terracotta Warriors, there were additional sculptures that had been discovered, including multiple horses and carts, animals such as pigs, tigers, cows (my personal favourite) and even goats. There were jewels, a giant bell, brooches and carvings. Amongst these treasures, Cai Guo-Qiang’s inspired artworks were displayed on walls, floors and ceiling.

After we finished our visit and took photos against the waterfall-like wall out the front, we sat down outside and consumed our lunch with the enthusiasm of 100 tiny children who had heard the word “chocolate”.

Some of us, accompanied by Ms Sutherland, found ourselves inside the “Music Chamber” which was a small room with screens covering the walls and speakers blaring the loudest, most headache-inducing music. It was still pretty interesting though. Really obscure videos of music festivals and concerts were played on these huge screens. I don’t know how long some of us sat in there, watching these strangely edited videos play over and over.

Then before we knew it, it was time to catch the train back to Kilbreda. For the duration of the train ride, my friends and I played “I spy” using the various signs and advertisements on the train and at the stations we passed.

By the time we got back, it was virtually the end of the day so there were no classes at all. As a year level, we all agreed that that was a good thing.

Isobel Dymond

Year 7

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