Student News

LOTE Week returns in the last week of Term 2!

June 25th-29th

Every year at SCHS we celebrate languages and cultures from all around the world during a week of festivities. Last year we had African drummers, French crepes, Chinese performances and of course the delightful Parade of students and teachers wearing traditional outfits. In preparation for this week, the LOTE team will need your input about activities you would like to participate in. Also we encourage students of all year level to come forward and contact their LOTE teacher if they want to contribute to the preparation and the organisation of the this fabulous week :)

- Mr. Arnaud Gazelle (LOTE)

"Why Do I Study Chinese?" | Student Report

“You MUST study Chinese; half the world speaks this language. So you must too,” said the parents of a child. “But I want to do Chinese because I have fun doing it,” replied the child. “School is not for fun, it’s for studying. Have I told you how much stress I got when I was at scho –,” the parent furiously said before the child cut him off: “I DON’T WANT TO HEAR THAT story AGAIN!!”

Have you ever had this conversation with your parents? Well, let me tell you why the child in this case has the right to enjoy Chinese. My name is Ojas M and I am in Year 9 at Suzanne Cory High School. This year, I am doing Chinese as my LOTE subject.

Chinese so far in this year has been a great experience. Chinese is a language of art and culture. Every character and stroke is done with feeling and emotion. This means that Chinese is a great stress reliever.

Sitting down at a chair for 5 to 10 minutes a day, slowly drifting your pen across the page writing 5 to 10 characters calms me down very quickly. Being able to express my emotions without the annoyance of social interaction is very helpful in high school years. This is one of the reasons I absolutely love Chinese.

The other reason I love Chinese is because it is very fun! Chinese can be extremely boring if you are not able to get your head around it. You can use bits of pieces of verb phrases you learned and make your own sentences.

To learn Chinese well, you must have a great Chinese teacher for sure. Suzanne Cory ticks that check box. My Chinese teacher has made me absolutely love Chinese instead of despising it. Every lesson of Chinese is the highlight of the day as my Chinese teacher at Suzanne Cory always tells jokes and makes rhythms with Chinese words in an educational way to engage us in the lesson, to encourage us to aspire, as well as to contribute in our learning community. That is the core culture of our school.

Telling the secret stories behind characters and telling students the fun secrets of remembering Chinese characters keeps every student’s mind focused on the task at hand in a fun, happy way. So every time we have a lesson at the end of an extremely hot or cold day where the students are feeling lazy, my Chinese teacher somehow manages to get us all to chant Chinese along with him! Having the ability to suddenly make a tired lazy teenager follow a command instantly is near impossible, yet my teacher can do it within the first 10 minutes of the class.

Overall, Chinese is an extraordinary subject to study in any year level. Whether you are a beginner or not, you will always have fun doing Chinese at Suzanne Cory High School.

I sure am having a blast doing it this year!

- Ojas M, Year 9

VCE Media Excursion | ACMI & Season of Excellence

On Wednesday 9th of May the Year 11 and 12 Media classes went to Melbourne City for an excursion. We met in the morning and headed into ACMI (the Australian Centre for the Moving Image) to watch Top Screen, which was a screening of the top VCE Media short films from 2017. Overall the films were incredible, the work that the students had done was inspirational for our own products later this year. The short films showed a wide range of styles and techniques which will help us develop our own ideas. Following on from ACMI we did an escape room; this was a fun, creative activity to help us understand the importance of surprises in storytelling and attention to detail.

After a break for lunch we headed to the Melbourne Museum to look at the Top Design exhibit, which showcased the top photography and print work from 2017, as well as the folios for all of the VCE Media work, including the films that we had seen that morning. It was fascinating to see the amount of work that goes into creating a VCE Media product and the wide variety of options that are available to us. The folios gave us further ideas and inspiration for our own projects and reminded us that time management will be very important when we begin creating our own products!  Overall it was an inspiring and enjoyable day that also helped us to understand the level of work that is required to excel in VCE Media.

- Kate P 11R2

Voice Program | Quaternarium Chamber Choir

Suzanne Cory High School carries a great singing program as a young school. Every student here is encouraged to create music with their most instinctive instrument.  

Miss Emma Wu, who formerly worked as an opera singer, has joined the SCHS music program as a music teacher and the voice teacher. She has implemented new factors into the school music program. Miss Wu encourages students to embrace their own voices, instead of copying someone else’s voice; she advocates the natural way of singing, as she believes students should work with the unique instruments they have been born with and produce their own unique timbres. Along with Mr. Tony Paye, the Musical Director of SCHS, the students are encouraged to sing with good technique, learn the music by reading music, and listen to music with logical ears. The diminution of the ‘karaoke’ singing style has been applied in the SCHS ‘Cantabile’ Choir (our non-audition choir) by replacing unison singing of pop songs with multi-part choral singing.

A new SCHS ‘Quaternarium’ Chamber Choir has been formed in Term 2, directed by Miss Wu, which includes the 16 most vocally distinguished young musicians and provides them opportunities to sing repertoire with greater complexity and difficulty. Along with the greater challenges, the repertoire is selected from various genres for the young singers to vocally travel through musical history and grant them a greater understanding of musicology. The SCHS ‘Quaternarium’ Chamber Choir will establish their premier performance at the upcoming Winter Concert.

- Ms. Emma Wu (Music)

Wellbeing Team Update

For the first time, Suzanne Cory High School is proud to present a newly established Student Wellbeing team who are dedicated to promote health and wellbeing throughout the school community. This team aims to run events such as Wellbeing Week (Term 2 – Week 7), establish programs for general peer support and raise awareness for mental health concerns that are faced by many in our community. The team also serve as connections for other students that need help in the support seeking process. All students of the school are welcome to participate in the running of these events and contribution is highly encouraged.

The Student Wellbeing Leadership team includes students Rebecca L 12C1, Rubina S (12K1), Anika M  (12B2), Chil G (10K2), Samantha Y (12R2), Varun D (11R1), Mohammed U (10B2) and Julie N (12C1), and is led by the Student Wellbeing Counsellors, Josh and Drew.

Given that this is the first year of running the program, the team has spent much of Terms 1 and 2 so far working on structures, procedures and developing the role itself. With the first major event, Wellbeing Week, coming up in Week 7, the team has been busy planning activities and wellbeing-related initiatives for the week. They have also been hard at work on a peer support Facebook page that they aim to launch before the end of Term 2. 

As students of SCHS, the Student Wellbeing Leaders understand and can personally relate to the high levels of stress and anxiety that comes with attending a select entry school environment. As such, they aim to approach wellbeing from different angles, from facilitating and promoting the individual one-on-one level to school-wide wellbeing initiatives. So don’t be shy! If you would like to know more about Wellbeing at SCHS, or if you’re interested in getting involved and have great ideas that you would like to contribute, speak to one of the Student Wellbeing Leaders about it!

- Wellbeing Team

House Citizenship Update

The House Citizenship Captains have had a busy start to the year, organising back-to-back events inside and outside the school. The year began with the annual World’s Greatest Shave, which also including a hairspray session during lunchtime. Students were able to hairspray their hair with their house colours in order to support the cause, as well as to display their house pride. The main event involved several students volunteering to shave their luscious locks to help raise money and awareness for the Leukaemia Foundation. Fellow peers watched and recorded the final moments of the participants with their hair in the school auditorium.

Relay for Life took place during the middle of Term 1, with the Suzanne Cory Soldiers boasting the largest team on the Wyndham campsite with over 100+ participants from school, including students from previous years. The event was organised by the Cancer Council in order to support cancer survivors and their loved ones, as well as raise funds in order to extend cancer research. Despite the unexpected 2am finish due to the dreadful weather, the Soldiers were able to win the award of the most laps made, successfully completing 242 laps during the day!

The Good Friday Appeal took place the day after Term 1 concluded, which involved students using their first day of holidays to collect money for the Royal Children’s Hospital. Students in teams of 4 went door-knocking in a designated neighbourhood, usually greeted with cute dogs at the door. The participants contributed to the record-breaking result of $18, 043, 251 raised on the day, which is the highest total over the 87 years the appeal has been active!

Overall, students this year have shown more enthusiasm and participation regarding events in comparison to previous years. We hope this continues to increase throughout 2018, as well as over the upcoming years!

- SCHS House Citizenship Captains

Student Alumni Interview | Naomi

Swinburne University: Bachelor of Int. Architecture

Q: What is your experience of your university course?

I've found my course enjoyable so far, but unsurprisingly the workload has been intensive. For every hour of class I have, I'm spending over twice the time doing work at home. As design courses don't have exams, I feel there are many more assignments in Semester.

I've found you'd have to be prepared to be spending money throughout the year to complete assignments. This, of course, is similar to other course costs like textbooks. Fortunately, I've keep all my equipment from VCE Viscom, which have been incredibly helpful in my construction/architecture drawings. I've had had to spend a lot more on things like drawing boards, tracing paper, scale rulers, balsa wood, boards, glue, knives and other architectural equipment as I've received more assignments.

Q: What have been your experiences at Swinburne University?

In regards to Swinburne, the campus environment is very nice. There are often event weeks and other social happenings on campus which make for a relaxing and enjoyable experience in-between classes.

What I've found most interesting is some of the final year or post-grad opportunities they have for design students. They have the Design Factory, which operates locally and globally. It has a network including Stanford and a Finnish university in which students work together to complete design projects presented to them by external companies. Essentially, it's good to ask about these kind of unique opportunities at open days.

Q: Do you have any advice for SCHS students?

For year 10s in regards to work experience, I found it quite helpful when I did work experience in 2015 at an architectural firm. It was a good way of getting a feel for the kind of workspace and atmosphere, and helped me to choose my career path in architecture/design.

Alumni can contribute to the school newsletter by contacting Mr Taig via email (taig.brendan.b@edumail.vic.gov.au)

Upcoming Sports Events

Students are reminded that the following sporting events will take place in the coming weeks:

State Golf | Wyndham Region Cross Country | Wyndham Girls Soccer | Wyndham Region Intermediate Badminton | State Senior Boys Baseball.

SCHS Short Film Competition

Are you a wannabe Spielberg? A Romero-esque horror auteur? Or maybe you've got the quirk of Wes Anderson? Then the SCHS Short Film Competition is for you! Let your imagination run wild on the theme of "an epiphany", and make sure you follow these rules:

·      Filming/editing group can be up to 5 people in the same house

·      Max. 3 groups per house

·      Max. 1 entry per group

·      Films must be around 1 min. in length and shot with your own camera/phone

Submit your films on USB to your House Art Captain, and be in the running for some fantastic prizes (including house points!). Submissions close June 15th, so get those cameras rolling!

Deakin University Tour

At the beginning of Term, Mr Taig and Ms Paye had the opportunity to tour Deakin University Waurn Ponds. The university is home to a wide range of facilities.

Epworth Geelong Hospital is a new hospital located adjacent to the university. It is so close that you walk between the buildings without losing wifi. Epworth Geelong is a fully functioning hospital, and a teaching space for students. Medical students also have access to Medical Clinic training rooms on campus.

Deakin also houses state-of-the-art science laboratories. These labs are used by students studying forensics, biology and chemistry. Students can also learn forensics in mock crime scenes.

Deakin is ranked #1 in the world for exercise and sport science. Their sporting facilities include a MCG size oval, a FIFA grade soccer pitch, running track with gate sensing technology, and training and testing rooms. Deakin is one of the two universities offering Optometry studies in Victoria. Their facilities include eye testing machines, and an optometry shop, where students can practice testing customers.

Deakin Engineering have access to a wide range of facilities. A virtual reality room can be used by students to visualise their designs, and test their ideas prior to production. Mr Taig got to help give birth to a virtual baby, using the virtual reality tools. Deakin also has robotics, electronics and large scale 3D printing facilities on campus.

The highlight of the Deakin tour was the electricity room, used by Electrical Engineering students. Mr Taig and Ms Paye were shocked to see Tesla Coils making music!