General News
Denise Tan
Mathematics - Cranbourne Campus
"From the College Archives"
Sr. Rosemary Graham
Prior to the beginning of St. Agatha’s Primary School, Catholic students living in Cranbourne had to travel to St. Michael’s Primary School in Berwick to attend a Catholic primary school. It was not until the mid-1970s that a Catholic primary school was built in Cranbourne.
Sr Rosemary Graham RSM (Sister of Mercy) was the first principal of St. Agatha’s Primary School. She remarks in the Jubilee History of the parish that a group of five sisters arrived in Cranbourne as a Frontier Group. The sisters were to administer the school and work in the Parish of St. Agatha’s.
St. Agatha’s Primary School opened on February 9th, 1976. Unfortunately, the school buildings had not been completed in time for the beginning of Term 1. As a result, classes were held in several locations in the Cranbourne area.
Sr. Rosemary records that there were four classes: Grades 5 and 6, Grades 3 and 4, Grades 1 and 2 and Prep. Initially they were accommodated in the public hall in High Street, Cranbourne. Unfortunately, not long into the school year, Sr. Rosemary recalls that it may have been two or three months, the floor in the hall had to be repaired. The three junior classes moved to the Presbyterian Hall in Sladen Street. Grades 5 and 6 moved to the double garage in the presbytery. Over the following months parts of the initial St. Agatha’s Primary School were completed and the school was operational as an entity by August of 1976.
As may be imagined, it was a difficult task for the sisters, lay teachers, students and parents. However, with perseverance, St. Agatha’s Primary School grew and developed to the institution that it is today.
Sr. Rosemary’s untiring work for Catholic education, not only in Cranbourne but also in places such as Burnie, Tasmania and Mildura, is remembered by St. Peter’s College by the naming of the Graham Building, Clyde North Campus.
Greg Nelson
College Archivist
ROMERO FEAST DAY
On Thursday 24th March, the students and staff of Romero House had the opportunity to celebrate and remember the life and work of their Patron Saint, Oscar Romero. This was done through a House Mass, led by Father Joseph, where he spoke about the selflessness and bold approach of Oscar Romero when trying to give voice to those that may not be able to speak for themselves. Many of our newly elected Forum Leaders were also presented with their first opportunity to speak in front of the House this year by delivering some of the Readings from the service. Later in the day, students enjoyed a pizza lunch, allowing the whole House to gather together as a small community and connect.
Sarah Hogan
Romero House Leader
ROMERO HOUSE MIXED NETBALL COMPETITION
From Monday 28th March to Tuesday 5th April, the Romero House Mixed Netball competition occurred. The Houses competed in a preliminary round as follows: Marian vs Assisi, Mackillop vs Glowrey, Romero vs Augustine, and Kolbe vs Avila. The winners moved through to the semifinals where Assisi played Mackillop and Romero competed against Kolbe. The Grand Final saw Mackillop take on Kolbe. In a jam packed Sports Hall, it was Mackillop who prevailed 8-5. The consistency from their juniors in the first half (4-0) set up a great second half for the seniors, with Kolbe winning the second half 5-4, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. A huge thank you to all of the House Leaders, Captains, umpires, scorers, timers and helpers who volunteered their time.
Sarah Hogan
Romero House Leader
Generate 22
Some students from both campuses recently attended a conference about robotics and AI at Box Hill TAFE Lilydale. Casey Tech hosted the day and students were able to talk to exhibitors about future careers in these fields.
The displays were very interactive and included model robots and other technology. The exhibitors shared a wealth of knowledge with the students. The students heard a speaker on the Multiverse who spoke about the many work opportunities this presents.
Students then participated in a coding robot workshop. They had to code the robot’s movements to complete an obstacle course. They were awarded extra points for ensuring the robot returned to the starting point and more points were awarded for creativity. One of our teams, Ruhani Kaushal, Matthew Sinclair, Michelle Nguyen and Charli Williams won the competition.
Student reports
The exhibition was an insightful experience, we learnt many things from different people. For example, we met people from the Monash Nova Rover team, who told us about a rover they were building for a competition, and if they were successful, the rover would be able to be sent off to explore Mars. The competition was exciting as well, in total there were 9 groups, 6 from St. Peter’s. We had to code the robot to zig-zag around the cones and then we decided to make it go back to the starting position for bonus points. We also made the lights on our robot flash for bonus points in creativity.
- Matt
The Generate22 exhibition was awesome! We got to meet and talk to people who run robot companies, work with them or are just university students who work with robots. It was definitely a great experience as I was able to understand what robots could do for us in the future. There was also a presentation about the Metaverse which was really insightful as it gave us an idea of all the things that could be possible with the Metaverse. It was really awe-inspiring as the speaker was talking about things that sounded impossible.
- Ruhani
The exhibition was unique, presenting things I had never seen in person before, from simple robots, to robots that are expected to be roaming on mars in the year 2025, the mars rover being my favourite. It was a great learning experience. It also showed us a unique kind of wheel called ‘multi directional wheels’, where in facing one direction, can travel towards any direction.
- Josh
The generate 22 exhibition was a lot of fun. It was really cool to see what kind of things were happening in the tech industry up close.
- Charli Williams
