Magis
After an excellent first term another excellent range of gifted and talented student events and competitions is available in second term. After an excellent Academic Breakfast seminar run by the WA Debating League in the last week of Term 1, our first Breakfast for term two has already taken place, with outstanding year 12 Magis Leaders Rory Hewson and Charlie Richards providing an excellent seminar on public speaking in preparation for the John XXIII College Public Speaking Competition, the heats for which take place next week. The grand final featuring the top three speakers from each year group will then be held at 7:00pm on Tuesday 14 May. I am delighted that three exceptional Alumni renowned for their successes in public speaking and debating – Tom Paparo, Bella Spiro-Harrison and Kinia O’Brien will be judges for the grand final. Another Magis-run event open to all secondary students which closes next week is the John XXIII Creative Writing Competition. Students are reminded that the short stories must be submitted by the end of week 2. The judging panel will then announce the winners in week 4.
World Scholar’s Cup is a key Interschool competition in Term 2, and so far we have 12 teams nominated, up from the previous record of seven teams last year. It is intended that 6-8 of these teams will then attend the Global Round in Sydney in Term 3. Already our Magis World Scholar’s Cup handbooks have been distributed, and a seminar will be held in week three featuring talks and advice from two wonderfully successful 2018 teams, the Year 11 team which performed superbly at the Tournament of Champions at Yale, USA, and the Year 10 team which placed third out of hundreds of teams in debating at the Global Round in Melbourne. As with the first term Da Vinci Decathlon, teachers will provide assistance to students in preparing for the six different areas of World Scholar’s Cup, as well as the debating section. WADL Interschool Debating at Christchurch recommences in week 4, the next round for Mock Trials is on 21, and those students involved in the 2020 Space Camp are reminded to submit passports immediately if they have not yet done so.
Eight top Magis senior students will attend the Julie Arliss Gifted and Talented conference at St Hilda’s next Friday, and several students will be entering the World Commonwealth Society’s Speaking competition in June. The preparatory Leadership Seminar at the Constitution Centre is on this week. A range of other excellent programs is available this term. Details of most are in the Magis Gifted and Talented Competitions 2019 Handbook, but details of others including the Jesuit Refugee Service Youth Multimedia Award , The AI for Good Challenge, Drone Camp, and Young Innovator of the Year can be collected from the Magis office.
Jim Miller
Gifted and Talented Coordinator
Magis & Altiora Calendar
Term Two
- May 6 - Magis Public Speaking Heats
- May 10 - Julie Arliss G/T at St Hilda’s
- May 14 - Magis Public Speaking Final (GBLT)
- May 17-18 - World Scholar’s Cup Camp
- May 23 - Mental Maths Challenge
- May 31 - J1 World Scholar’s regionals SHC
- June 12 - Magis Academic Knowledge
- June 26 - Magis Awards & Personal Project Breakfast