Student News

Latin Reading Competition

On the 3rd of August we had the opportunity to participate in the Annual Latin Reading Competition, held at Scotch College.We brought in our little sheets of paper, furiously annotated with notes, and shook in our shoes as we hoped to do Ovid’s Metamorphoses some justice. The competition was fierce and the winners of the competition in each year level were absolutely phenomenal, the effort and expression they put into their readings was truly inspiring. It’s fair to say that our experience this year has taught us so much more about the expression of Latin and the pure passion of the language. Overall, it was an enlightening experience and we are so glad we had the opportunity.

By Temi Akinbiyi (K8) and Keerthana Karthik (C5)

Ancient World Excursion

In Week 3, the VCE Latin cohort and the Year 11 Ancient History class attended a two-part Ancient World excursion. During the morning, students visited the Open Horizons Exhibition at Melbourne. The exhibit is on loan from the Archaeological Museum of Athens and contains pieces of jewellery, sculpture, pottery, cookware and more from the Ancient mediterranean. Some of these pieces were from a time older even than the Trojan War and the Ancient History students delighted in viewing items they had previously only read about. The exhibit focussed on trade and resultant cultural connections; as they viewed maps and artefacts with links to Rome, the VCE Latin students could easily imagine the voyage of Aeneas and the impact these cultures had on eachother and on their literature. 

We spent the afternoon at Melbourne Grammar School attending a Roman scholarship day where students listened to university style lectures about Republican women, Rome in the provinces, Xenia in the Iliad, and Theatre in the Ancient World. The afternoon was completed with a QandA panel of university students and professors responding to students’ questions about study and careers in the field of Classics. 

The quotations below reflect the students’ experience of the day.

“Open Horizons  was very educational and eye-opening. It was a different approach to learning - instead of just hearing about the events and artefacts we got  to see and experience them first hand. It was interesting hearing information about the ancient world from a range of experts at the lecture series.” Ibiene Ogaji R3, Year 12 Latin

“I found Rhiannon Evans' lecture about women a great insight to the lesser known aspects of well-known women. The Open Horizons exhibition was so much fun, I loved how beautiful everything was! To be able to see it and not just imagine it from text was mind blowing.” Ruby Dong R1, Year 12 Latin

“The museum visit and lecture series were extremely informative as they provided a historical background to Latin texts studied. Artefacts in the exhibition were directly associated with our study of Ancient Rome and Greece, while the lecture series presented a synopsis to key elements within Roman society.” Nikhil Gaba C4, Year 11 Latin

“The exhibits on display at the museum made us all appreciate the vastness of time and the power of the ancient world. It was cool to be around so many people who knew about this special little-big language called Latin.” Raaif Mollah R9, Year 12 Latin

Mrs Emily Gilbert, Latin teacher

Royal South Street Chamber Choir Competition

On the 17th of August, Miss Tung’s elite Chamber Choir travelled all the way to Ballarat, where we had the honour of performing in the Royal South Street secondary school choral choir competition. This is the first time since 2019 that SCHS has been able to compete in a Choral competition, which meant that only 1 chamber choir member had ever represented SCHS at this event before! So for almost all 18 of us, this was a very new, exciting experience. We were the first school to perform which was both exciting and nerve racking! We were awarded 86 points, and first place won with 89 points, so suffice to say, it was a tight competition. We won an honourable mention (which was a tied 4th place), and only just missed out on top 3 by 1 point. 

It was wonderful for our amazing chamber choir to shine at this competition, and I would like to congratulate every member of our very talented choir! We have a large number of year 12's in our chamber choir, who we will really miss, and wish the very best for their futures! But as the competition’s adjudicator suggested, we hope you all continue to perform with choirs outside of school in the future! Thank you to Miss Tung for your dedication and your hard work, we are all so grateful to have represented our school at such an amazing event! It was a really special, memorable day that allowed us to show off our hard work! We all can’t wait to see what we will do if we get to compete again next year! Until then, we are looking forward to knocking everyone’s socks off at presentation night! 

Sophie Parnham, B7 <3

SCHS Chess Magazine

Throughout Term 3, Chess Club has been busy with a range of activities from hosting the Northern Star Chess competition to producing The Chess Chronicles, our school’s very first chess magazine. Below are some of the highlights of this term.

Northern Star Chess Competition

On the 11th of August, SCHS hosted an interschool chess competition that saw five schools attend: Maribyrnong Secondary College, Lakeview Senior College, Geelong Grammar School, Werribee Secondary College and Melbourne High School. Despite the hard-fought battles over the board, SCHS’s assemblage of students eventually came out on top, claiming the victory.

Shout out to Melvin T (Year 10) for winning the competition and Alan P (Year 9), Scott P (Year 12) and Aaron H (Year 11) for winning gold and silver medals in their year levels! Big congratulations to everyone who put up a good fight!

Also, special thanks to Ms Nguyen for supervising the event and Miss Greaney for organising the team!

Chess Magazine - The Chess Chronicles

Throughout this year, a group of young journalists and editors at Chess Club worked exceptionally well to produce the first issue of The Chess Chronicles, our school’s chess magazine. From carefully curated chess memes to articles on Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, this magazine features some of the very best of the SCHS Chess Club. If you would like to be involved in the next issue of The Chess Chronicles, feel free to email Claire at won0017@suzannecoryhs.vic.edu.au!

Claire Wong (R3)

Click on the image below to access the magazine.

Patterns in nature’ Photography Competition

The SCHS Science Week Photography competition invited students to submit photographs on the ‘Patterns in Nature’ theme. Life on Earth encompasses a myriad of regular forms, sequences and structures and we invited students to capture these details of biology. The judges were looking for an original interpretation of the theme. You might wish to explore how animals use spots, stripes and other shapes to camouflage and signal; or capture the collective arrangement of wildlife in colonies, herds and shoals. 

The winner of the competition was Krishna Manoj from R3 

You can view the competitors entries below.

Snow Camp

The 2022 snow camp was such an amazing experience! Given that the last two winters have been in lockdown, for many of us we haven’t seen snow in a really long time and for some students, it was their first time ever seeing snow! Suffice to say, it was a really exciting trip for everyone.  

The first day we enjoyed singing on the bus ride all the way to the mountain (sorry to those of us who were trying to sleep and our lovely bus driver who had to endure our renditions of just about every musical that exists!). Before we knew it, we were on the mountain where we hired our equipment and got settled in. Being such a small group meant that we got to spend heaps of time together, hanging out, playing games and laughing at some pretty great stories!  

On the morning of day 2, the beginners had their first lesson (apparently spending heaps of time on their butts!), while the intermediate skiers and boarders went adventuring with Jesse (one of the camp coordinators). Then we swapped around and we took our first lesson while the others started to adventure too. After our lesson, it was practically impossible to get some of us off of the ski runs! The day went by so quickly that before we knew it, it was movie night, with movies ranging from ‘Top Gun’ to ‘Tangled’.  

The next morning we had the same routine, the beginners had a lesson while the intermediates went off with the teachers for more adventuring! Then we swapped, which is where students started to really get out of their comfort zone! Intermediate skiers and boarders showed the beginners some more blue runs, with some students venturing down their first ever black runs! After a very tiring day on the slopes, we took the cheerful bus ride home, but most of us were wishing we could’ve stayed for longer!  

Thank you to Ms Dunstan for organising the trips as well as Ms Martini, Mr Dent, Mrs Goodridge-Kelly, Mr Mulcahy, Mrs Guastella and Mr Wright for making it an experience we will never forget!  

Manya Arya R9 & Sophie Parnham B7 

Musical - Working

This year, I had the opportunity to participate in our school’s musical, Working, amongst a cast of very talented and hardworking students. Throughout my journey with this production, I was able to form new friendships with students of different year levels, learn how to work effectively with a cast and develop my performance skills. This allowed me to gain a newfound confidence, as well as an appreciation for the many months of hard work that is required to produce a show.

However, in the end, all of this effort was worth it, as performing in front of an audience truly was an unforgettable experience. The overwhelming amount of support we received from our peers, teachers and even past alumni was a great source of motivation and inspiration for the students. Which is why I would strongly encourage all students to be involved in the musical next year, whether it be backstage or onstage.

After the unfortunate circumstances of not being able to perform in these last few years due to the pandemic, we as students have realised the significance of this opportunity we have been given. In 2022, performing in the musical was an eye-opening experience, and it is a time which I will recall with fond memories.

I would like to thank all students in the musical cast, band and stage crew, I would also like to thank all the staff involved, including our wonderful director, Ms Hall, for putting up with our antics throughout all the rehearsals! Our vocal director, Ms Tung who guided us throughout the whole journey and dealt with our constant outbreaks into “Do You Hear the People Sing” from Les Misérables. Our producer, Ms Kinnane, for her meticulous organisation to ensure the production was a success, and our music director, Ms Dimble, for her consistent diligence in handling the instrumental music and band. As well as Mr Mulcahy, Mr Hart and Ms Williams, for their patience, time and effort in running the audio, lighting and staging for every rehearsal and performance.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who came to watch the production, as this show would simply not have been possible without your words of kindness and support.

Agrima Ghosh, R6

Our school musical, “Working” absolutely blew our audiences away! The talent on stage, in the band and in our production team was absolutely phenomenal! Our show ran from August 3rd to August 7th and it felt like every performance got even better than the last. 

Given that we had not been able to put on a musical production at Suzanne Cory High School in over two years our show was, to say the least, an amazing performance to be a part of. The energy backstage, side stage and on stage was amazing! Everyone was so supportive of one another and made the show a blast to be in.

A musical production takes so much time, hard work and dedication, especially the first one after two years of lockdown, so on behalf of everyone involved in SCHS’s production of “Working”, we would like to thank our cast, band, crew and of course our amazing teachers Ms Hall our director, Ms Tung our vocal director, Ms Dimble our band director, Ms Kinnane, Mr Hart, Mr Mulcahy, Ms Williams, Mr Del Rosario and the rest of our wonderful staff, because we couldn’t have done it without you all :) 

Thank you for a wonderful show, I cannot wait to see what we do in 2023!! 

Sophie Parnham B7

Bonjour Suzanne Cory!

On Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th of August, a number of VCE French students participated in the Alliance Française Berthe Mouchette Competition. This competition was run online by Alliance Française in Melbourne and is aimed to promote French language-learning throughout the state. 

There are two parts to this competition - the written component and oral component, similarly structured as the end of year VCE French exams. The 3/4 French students participated in both sections and a few year 11 students participated in the oral component, where we each chose and presented a topic in French for 9 minutes along with general conversation. It was a wonderful experience (despite the technical difficulties) to see so many like-minded students learning French together!

By Harpreet R2, Carol C7, Carin C8, Agrima R6 and Aakriti R8

Congratulations to all students who participated. They demonstrated great enthusiasm, preparation and resilience despite the nerve-wracking experience of speaking face to face with a stranger in a different language. A special mention to Manasvi Shirgaonkar in Year 12 who competed in the final round on Saturday 10th September. Félicitations!

Ms Magali Bourkel - French teacher

Sport captains update

This term students showed astonishing dedication in sports in both intra and inter school sports. One of the main events was the continuation of the VCE lunchtime sport competition for which the sports were soccer and volleyball this term. Each match had great hype and the highly competitive nature of the comp produced high quality, entertaining sport showcasing the talent that SCHS students possess. A huge thank you to everybody who volunteered to help out! The winners are as follows:

For interschool sports, we had two more teams qualify for State finals. The Senior girls Hockey and Table tennis teams went out to compete in the Western Metropolitan regions competition on the 27th of July. The girls displayed a spectacular performance, both teams winning their respective matches and bringing home a victory. Later on in the term, they went on to compete in the State finals, where the girls also put in a great deal of effort but unfortunately were defeated.

We also had a range of staff vs student activities as part of HAPE week. On Monday, there was a staff vs student volleyball game and on Tuesday there was an AFL 9’s game, both of which the *cough cough* staff *cough cough* won. We are also planning to hold a staff vs student netball game at the start of next term so keep an eye out for signups which will be posted on compass shortly.

We'd like to thank you guys again for your passion and participation you showcase on the sporting fields which makes for a successful sport program :)

Sport captains,  

Gurnoor KJ - B3 and Kalindu G - C7

40 Hour Famine Fundraiser Challenge

After coordinating with external organisations and the school staff, I created a team for Suzanne Cory, in which many students participated in the ‘World Vision Australia’s 40 hour Famine’ fundraiser challenge from the 26th-28th of August. This ground-breaking youth event challenged students to live without something they rely on for 40 hours. Students were creative - as choices varied from some living without technology, while some lived without their favourite food and even furniture! 

The school’s target was to raise $500 and we raised a total of $505. It was amazing to see so many students take up the challenge! Thank you to everyone who participated, stood up and showed their support for those that need it more than ever for a fun and rewarding weekend! 

Aanchal Sharma R8

SCHS’ Got Talent: Music Talent Show

Hey SCHS!

On the 1st of September, Suzanne Cory had its very own Music Talent Show featuring our talented singers! Our students sure do love to entertain us on stage! 

On the judging panel we had Ms Nguyen, Ms Sordello and Nirmidha. We were impressed by every single performance!

The winners were:

1st - Nate with “Never Gunna Give You Up”

2nd - Keyara with “Begging”

3rd - Ashimi with “Never Enough”

Honourable mention - “Sincerely Me” boys and Divya!

I have to say organising the show was a lot of work! But, I couldn’t have done it without the help of the music staff and students! Special thanks to Ms Dimble, Mr Hart and Mr Mulcahy.

Aanchal Sharma R8

Table Tennis Club 

Whether you call it Table Tennis or ping pong, it’s one of a kind! On Monday lunchtimes, students are given the opportunity to play table tennis with their friends at the Gym. This is a great opportunity for students to try something new, socialise and have fun. Each week, the number of students increases - it’s awesome to see so many students interested in playing table tennis! 

The school has also recently purchased new nets, balls, and bats.

Recently, I was lucky to meet with the Sports Coordinator of Reclink Australia, a non-profit organisation that helps in facilitating sport programs. After discussing the table tennis club and the expansion of the possible idea, we were fortunate enough to have 2 table tennis tables sponsored to us by Reclink Australia to help support the club!

We hope to see you next month at Table Tennis club and get excited for in-school tournaments too!

Thank you Ms Guastella for helping out and supervising!

Aanchal Sharma R8

Macbeth Incursion

On Friday 19 August, the Complete Works Theatre Group came to our Auditorium to perform Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ to the year 9 cohort. It was exciting to be able to offer a live theatre experience again – something that’s not been possible for the last two years. 

The three actors took all the roles between them. They gave a fast-paced and energetic performance, focusing particularly on the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Although some scenes were cut or omitted, the narration made sure students could follow the action, and they also brought out elements of the historical context and some key themes.   

This is a selection of the feedback from my year 9 class, 9.07:

• It gave us a better understanding of the play because we were able to see the expressions. 
• I really liked the historical context they explained.
• The themes and images in the play (bravery, nature and un-natural, greed and ambition, fate, morality, order, birds as a bad omen) were all expressed in detail vividly.
• The different tones used made me understand the emotion behind each line.
• The play gave me a better understanding while still keeping in the key scenes.
• The performance helped me get a better understanding of the metaphors and historical context. 
• The voice projection, modulation and varied tones and expressions were engaging and very well performed.

Helen Jarvis, English Faculty Leader

EcoCore

Hello Cory!

EcoCore has had a busy term 3. Green Week this year has gone through some changes and we are so happy to see everyone get involved. With our new additions to the Clean Up Cory program, we also saw a higher level of participation in our environmentally friendly activities! 🤝💚 

Out of those who entered the Turn It Green competition; design competition, these students have presented us with excellent ideas and we are so proud of our entire school community for being more environmentally friendly. This was also seen through the enthusiasm to keep our environment clean; during our annual school-wide cleanup. (Shout out to Blackwood for coming in first for Clean Up Cory! Well done!! 💙🌱)

Additionally, we were able to raise a total of $171 for the Australian Conservation Foundation, just from our movie screening!! 🎉 This is our first fundraising event from Eco Core and we are immensely thankful for the support from everyone! We are glad to hear that the school not only had a fun time but was also able to contribute towards a positive change in the environment! Good job, Cory! :D

Outside of Suzanne, Eco Core was also able to connect with and give back to our local community by volunteering at Victoria University to collectively plant over 5000 trees that day!! It was an amazing achievement as a club! We hope this event has taught everyone involved that your positive actions in our environment go a long way, no matter how small they may seem.

While we can celebrate all our achievements this term, we would also like to urge everyone in Suzanne to always think your actions through when interacting with our environment. We are responsible for the actions we take now in the present, as they will have consequences in our future. It is up to you to decide whether those consequences are favourable or not! That being said, thank you always to those who actively participate in Eco Core's activities, especially our Eco Core '22 team! You have shown us endly dedication and love for our environment, so thank you <3 We hope this spirit will continue onto our future club members (good luck to everyone who applied :D) it has been an honour leading you this year, Cory! <3 Always remember to be there and be environmentally aware. 

Sincerely, 

your year 12 Eco Core captains, 

Myint Tha (B8) 🦦 and Ryan Lay (K1) 🐧

Epworth Sleep Laboratory

As an early revision opportunity during week 8, the Units 3/4 psychology students were involved in an incursion run by the Epworth Sleep Laboratory. They reviewed the importance of promoting healthy sleep hygiene and sleep routines, as well as the factors that prevent good quality and quantity of sleep. 

The highlight of the incursion was being able to see live recordings of the brain wave patterns (EEG), muscle movement and tone (EMG), and eye movements (EOG) for one lucky student (who did their best to fall asleep during the presentation, so that everyone could observe the brain wave patterns typically associated with sleep). 

All in all, it was a very in-depth and timely revision opportunity for our students as they prepare for their final exam. Wishing them the best of luck, and even more importantly, great sleep hygiene!

Alexandra Carroll -  Psychology Teacher

Book Week 2022

It was great to see everyone back for Book Week this year so students and teachers could actively participate in the proceedings on campus. The theme for the week this year (which is set by the Children’s Book Council) was ‘Dreaming with Eyes Open’

For Monday we ran ‘Book Face’ in the Library at lunchtime where students and staff tried to match up their faces to a library book cover. People found that it was much more difficult to do than it looked but we had some great results as you can see.

On Tuesday we had the Library Treasure Hunt where students were given clues to hunt down book titles and on Wednesday we had the Book Week Trivia Quiz with book vouchers are prizes. 

On Thursday the Senior Book Debates commenced with Cottrell as the ultimate winner.

Friday was Dress Up Day and there was a lunchtime parade in the Agora with some very imaginative costumes. Henry Zhang of Year 12 and Vrishti Jain of Year 9 were the winners. 

Finally, it’s wonderful to see the reading culture of Suzanne Cory celebrated in such a positive and fun way. Thanks to Sam Pruscino and Davorka Box the wonderful library staff who made the week such a success and thanks Karyn for taking all of the photos. And finally, thanks to all of the staff and students for participating. 

Paul Byrne

Debating - Swannie Awards 2022

Congratulations to the following students who have won Swannie Awards for their efforts in debating this year. 

B Grade: Sophie Parnham Year 11

C Grade: Joann Manoi Jacob Year 10 

D Grade: Namira Aziz Year 9

The Swannie Awards are named after Alan Swanwick, a long-time member of the DAV and a pioneer of debating in Victoria. “Swannies” are awarded to the speaker in each region and grade who has the highest average speaker score after completing at least three debates during the year. The average is calculated solely on speaker scores, and is not affected by the best speaker awards that are announced at the end of each debate.

State School Spectacular

Very recently on the 10th of September I had performed in a drumline at the Victorian State School Spectacular (VSSS). I met for my first drumline rehearsal with two other students from different schools in the state and my drumline teacher (Campbell Phillips) around three months ago. From then we had around one rehearsal each week at a few locations such as Camberwell Grammar School, The Performing Arts Unit as well as John Cain Arena, which is where the show was held. During the rehearsals I developed my skills in drumming and my overall musicianship. 

I saw the sheet music for the song at the beginning of the rehearsal stage and thought it would’ve been impossible to get it done, especially when everyone needed to be in sync. However, with my own dedication, the help of my teachers and the students I played with, I was able to successfully learn the new material. I didn’t know just how professional and huge this show would be and I’m glad I took the opportunity to perform in front of around twelve thousand people between two shows and work with incredible student dancers and musicians. 

The VSSS 2022 will be broadcast at 7pm on the 17th of December on channel 7 and is available on 7plus the following 30 days, be sure to check it out, there are a lot of talented students. 

I’d also like to say a thank you to my drum teacher Mr. Mulcahy for informing me of this opportunity and helping me with the preparation for the show. 

Dinda Widya Murti