SJC Virtus 2019

St Joseph’s College Geelong

VIRTUS

From 15 June - 1 September, Geelong Gallery hosted “The Moon” Exhibition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of man landing on the moon. This collaborative artwork was created by St Joseph’s College VITA students for part of the Gallery display. It was also displayed in the College Pat Bourke Gallery in Term 4.

WELCOME MESSAGE

It is a great privilege to be able to offer a few words to your community in this very special publication. On behalf of the Christian Brothers and the whole of Edmund Rice Education Australia, I congratulate you on your efforts to embody the highest ideals of Catholic education in the Edmund Rice tradition.

Our Gospel teaches that it is possible to find meaning and purpose in what can at times be a bleak and painful human existence. It diverges from the message of many of our dominant cultures by saying that the focus of this meaningful existence lies outside of our individual needs and concerns. It teaches that life is most meaningful when it is lived for others; that purpose in life is most profoundly experienced through contribution to the common good.

Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or customs. They don’t normally live in cities of their own; they do not use a particular form of speech; they do not normally follow an eccentric manner of life. Rather, we are known by the way we live; by the way that we reveal to the world the God of love enshrined in our hearts. As St Francis of Assisi once said: We preach the Gospel always; sometimes using words!

Your school uses the lens of the Gospel to remind students that a

Contents

Principal’s Report ____________________________Pages 2-3

College Leaders _____________________________Pages 4-7

GOSPEL SPIRITUALITY

Identity & Faith _______________________________Page 8

Immersions _______________________________Page 9-10

JUSTICE & SOLIDARITY

Sustainability _____________________________Pages 11-12

Service Learning _____________________________Page 13

INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY

Outreach Van & Breakfast Club Group Photos ________Page 14

Celebrating our Refugee Families _________________Page 14

Educational Student Support _____________________Page 15

ATSI ______________________________________Page 16

Victorian Young Leaders To China ______________Pages 17-18

Victorian Young Leaders To India _________________Page 18

LIBERATING EDUCATION

Religious Education ___________________________Page 19

Literacy ____________________________________Page 20

Humanities _________________________________Page 21

Aspire ____________________________________Page 22

VITA ______________________________________Page 22

VCAL _____________________________________Page 23

Careers ___________________________________Page 24

Library News________________________________Page 25

English Snapshots ____________________________Page 26

Debating & Public Speaking __________________Pages 27-28

Language Studies _____________________________Page 29

Science ____________________________________Page 30

National Youth Science Forum ___________________Page 31

Mathematics ________________________________Page 32

Product Design & Technology ___________________Page 33

Food Studies ________________________________Page 34

Health & Physical Education _____________________Page 35

Music __________________________________Pages 36-41

WATERFORD

Postcards From Waterford - Year 7 ________________Page 42

Year 7 Articles ______________________________Page 43

Postcards From Waterford - Year 8 ________________Page 44

Year 8 Articles ____________________________Pages 45-46

Waterford Awards ____________________________Page 46

Waterford Art & Design Gallery __________________Page 47

Waterford Class Photos _____________________Pages 48-59

WESTCOURT

Postcards From Westcourt ________________________ Page 60

Westcourt Articles_________________________Pages 60-62

Westcourt Awards ____________________________Page 62

Westcourt Arts & Design Gallery _________________Page 63

Westcourt Class Photos _____________________Pages 64-69

successful life can arise from humble faithfulness to one’s obligations and from doing the best one can with the gifts that we are given. You remind our students that success is about being more, rather than having more; about the quality of our hearts rather than the size of our bank accounts or egos.

You encourage students to learn that a lasting happiness is closer to contentment, peace of mind and freedom from anxiety, than to the always fleeting experience of physical pleasure. Lasting happiness is not achieved through ownership or consumption. Your school helps our young to look deeply into the world’s recipe for success, happiness and wholeness and be selective and critical as to what they accept. We offer the Gospel’s ‘counter-cultural’ vision for full humanity, as an alternative way of living.

There are so many ways in which we are proud of your school and your efforts to form happy and successful young people who will be architects of our common future.

With many congratulations and best wishes always,

Dr Wayne Tinsey - Executive Director

Edmund Rice Education Australia

MT SION

Postcards From Mt Sion _______________________Page 70 Mt Sion Articles ___________________________Pages 71-73

Trek ________________________________Page 74

Mt Sion Awards ________________________Pages 74 & 75

Mt Sion Arts & Design Gallery ________________Pages 76-77

Mt Sion - Brophy Class Photos ________________Pages 78-81

Mt Sion - Butler Class Photos _________________Pages 82-86

Principal’s Report

As a Catholic School in the Edmund Rice Tradition, social justice is an important dimension of the College. Once again in 2019 each student committed to completing a component of Community Service. Students and families generous support of Edmund Rice Day and the Edmund Rice Foundation continued. This provided education at St Joseph’s Secondary Vocational School in Kensekka, Uganda and locally supported Edmund Rice Camps, Samaritan House and other charities.

The College continues to develop excellent facilities to support teaching and learning. During 2019 the Westcourt Gymnasium was completed and irrigation installed on O’Driscol Oval. I would like to acknowledge the cooperation and support of the St Joseph’s Old Collegians Cricket Club in completing the latter project.

In June a capital appeal entitled “Every Boy Every Dream” was launched to support the funding of the Westcourt Gymnasium and the planned extension of the Performing Arts Centre at our Edmund Rice Campus. A wonderful total of over $500,000 was raised and included contributions of $150,000 each from The Anthony Costa Foundation and The St Joseph’s College Old Collegians Association and $50,000 from the St Joseph’s College Foundation. The successful result reflected the support of over 800 individual donors confirming the College’s strong connection to the community.

The community gathered many times this year and each was a brilliant celebration of our identity. Of particular note were the Mother’s Day and Father’s Day breakfasts each of which had staff cooking from 6:00am and over 800 guests enjoying each other’s company.

St Joseph’s is the largest provider of undergraduate students to Deakin University and this year we were pleased to collaborate with staff from Deakin University. This involved staff professional development and research and making first year university courses available to Year 12 students.

For many years St Joseph’s and St Ignatius College have been the only option for families seeking secondary Catholic education for boys in the Geelong region. This year we have been delighted to support the establishment of Iona College Charlemont. This should assist us in ensuring all Catholic families seeking enrolments for their son can be accommodated.

2019 has been another successful year for the arts and music. Our Pat Bourke Gallery hosted a full program of exhibitions that included the annual Alumni exhibition, junior and senior visual arts showcases, the VITA and VCAL exhibitions and the 2019 VCE Arts & Technology Exhibition. We were also able

to display many works from the collection of Old Collegians and talented artists including John Bohan who generously donated works to the College.

The annual production was Shrek. The show included students from Sacred Heart and Clonard and was coordinated by St Joseph’s staff. It was highly acclaimed and a real joy to experience. Our musicians were instrumental in the production and wowed the community again later in the year with the ‘SJC Music Live’ event celebrating music from the 80’s.

Other musical highlights included the Senior Band winning gold and the Intermediate Band silver, at the Victorian Schools Music Awards, the Vocal Ensemble winning two sections at the Geelong Eisteddfod and Year 12 Rock Band “Channel Marker 6” making 3rd in the Triple J unearthed chart.

Strong performances in debating and public speaking saw Year 7 Student Michael Ahearn represent SJC at the state preliminary finals of the Legacy Public Speaking Competition having won the Geelong regional competition in Term 2.

Four Year 11 students represented St Joseph’s at the Geelong round of the UN Youth Evatt public speaking competition. Students from Years 9 and 10 competed strongly for St Joseph’s at the ACC Public Speaking and Debating competition.

Joshua Walpole and Jaeger Fawcett won the annual Upstart Challenge with their FloppyOS idea – a simple phone operating system for older Australians. Xavier Cheel and Edward Helmer finished runners up, with their Crescendo app idea to connect music lovers with local musicians. St Joseph’s College also won the Upstart Entrepreneurial School of the Year.

Many individuals and teams excelled in a variety of internal and interschool sport throughout the year. Brophy won the House Athletics, Butler the Swimming and Jordan the Cross Country.

In the Associated Catholic Colleges Athletics Carnival we finished third in first division, the best performance since St Joseph’s joined the association in the 1990’s. Our crosscountry team were narrowly beaten by St Bede’s and we finished fifth in Division 1 at the ACC swimming carnival with Zac McInnes setting a new record for the Under 13 50m Backstroke – swimming 32.15.

Our senior soccer team finished runners up in the ACC, junior and intermediate basketball were both 6th in the state, senior basketball were state semi-finalists and our surf lifesaving team were state champions.

I would like to publicly acknowledge and thank all who have supported the College this year. This includes: The Josephines who support our most vulnerable young men through the Education support program; the Foundation and Old Collegians who provide bursaries for families in financial need and contribute to important projects; the Parents and Friends who support bursaries and special projects in the College and in Kensekka; the Men’s Association who assist with maintenance; and The Past Staff Association who contribute to the Bursary Fund. This year again we have received generous support from the Michael Carmody Foundation. In addition to these groups we have a wonderful tradition of volunteerism in areas including the canteen and the library and the staff and students are very grateful for these generous volunteers.

Again in 2019 we have been blessed with outstanding student leaders. The College Captain Charlie Roache, and Deputy Captains Finn Dripps and Nathan Fox have been exceptional. Across the board our student leaders, within a new structure aligned to the four EREA touchstones, have been strong drivers of positive culture and have set the bench mark high for the years ahead.

At the end of the year we were sad to farewell the following staff and thank them for their contribution to the College: Kathy Jenkins retires after 18 years of inspiring young men with English and History and leaves a legacy of engagement between the College and refugee groups. Carmen Ahearn and David Bourke will be commencing at Iona College next year facing the exciting challenge of developing a school from scratch. Ben Parsons is seeking new opportunities at Covenant College and Paul Coxhead returns home to a role at Auckland Grammar. On behalf of the community I thank these teachers for all they have contributed to St Joseph’s.

I also thank Anne Condon, Heather Nicol, Christine Adelwohrer, Helen Thomas, Kirsten Falzon, Shane McNee, Justin Rodda, Elley Heard, Lee Hough, Kerry Clayden and Natalie Killeen who are saying farewell at the end of this year. We hope that we may see some of you again in the not too distant future.

The hard work of the Year 12 students and staff was rewarded when the 2019 VCE results were published. The results were pleasing and reflect well on the hard work of students and dedication of teaching staff.

Our average study score was 31.4, a slight increase on 2018. There was also a significant improvement in average ATAR which increased from 66.4 in 2018 to 68.2 in 2019.

There were many results this year of which individual students should be proud because they represented the best that student was capable of. I would like to congratulate all those for whom this is the case regardless of their study scores and ATAR. I also acknowledge the successes of those students who achieved their VCE without seeking an ATAR and who are now pursuing their career goals. I would also like to acknowledge the successes of our VCAL students all of whom successfully completed their VCAL certificate and have begun full time apprenticeships and further education, or full time employment.

At the higher end of the results 11.8% of students achieved study scores of 40 or above, up from 10% in 2018 and 13.1% of our students received an ATAR of above 90 similar to the 2018 results.

Congratulations to Ethan Near who is the 2019 Dux of the College having achieved the near perfect score of ATAR of 99.90. Ethan narrowly shaded College Captain Charlie Roache who achieved an ATAR of 99.80.

Schools are dynamic and complex organisations and St Joseph’s is no exception. We are fortunate to have a gifted, hard-working and team oriented senior leadership group leading the school. I would like to thank and acknowledge the hard work and support of Deputy Principals Michelle Brodrick and Mark Kennedy, (and Rachel Roche and Brendan Reed who acted in replacement Deputy roles during the year), Terry Fowler, Business Manager, Michelle Bishop, Director of Curriculum, John Mitchell, Director of Staff and Operations, and Rachel Roche Director of Identity, (and Mary Malone who acted in replacement Director of Identity role). I would also like to acknowledge the leadership and support of our three heads of school; Simon Piasente (Waterford), Mark Deverall (Westcourt) and Cassie Gleeson (Mt Sion) along with Jess Gunning (Head of Student Services) and Mark Turner (Head of Educational Support).

Once again in 2019 the College Board have provided wonderful service and support. I would like to acknowledge the work of board chair Mrs Joanne van Slageren and Deputy Chair Mark Nicholls along with board members Barry Knight, Andrea Kelly, Maree Kelly, Barney Lee, James Crough, Mark Appleford, Chris Hickey, Shona Casey-Eland and Br Roger Cripps.

I hope that you enjoy the 2019 Virtus. Tony Paatsch, Principal

College Leaders

2019 was a year filled with change and innovation. Quite fitting we felt, given that Leadership is left quite exposed without the ability to adapt to such change. As the finale of 13 years of schooling, it was without a doubt a year to be remembered.

As the new year began, ‘new’ was certainly the word on many students’ minds. New vertical Homerooms; new House emphasis; new leadership structure; all of which brought uncertainty and anticipation.

However, as the three biology students that we – the Student Leadership Captains - were, we knew that after any large change comes a great flourish in diversity.

Our new team - comprised of eight Touchstone Prefects, eight House Captains, and the supporting leaders from younger years - meant that we were ultimately able to create an efficacious impact on the school around us. The Touchstone Prefects embraced what was a challenging task, to embody and display the values of our College Touchstones in a way that captured attention. Additionally, the House Captains began the creation of a new House-focused culture, where passion and inclusion took centre stage.

It was the initiatives that stemmed from these structural changes that were resultants of change, and so it was the change this year, that lead to insights into Leadership in our lives. We were able to witness how Leadership is not confined, not constant, and certainly not always conspicuous. Certainly, there were times during the year where we stood and spoke, acted whilst many eyes watched down on us. Yet just as often, we witnessed leadership in each other that was much less salient. Perhaps like the Abominable Snowman, whose footprints are everywhere but who is nowhere to be seen.

Our newly shaped, expansive team this year, has meant that the diverse nature of leadership has been able to flourish, just as we hoped it would.

Charlie Roache, College Captain 2019

The three College Captains of Catholic Secondary Schools were invited to be a part of the CLOGSS (Catholic Leaders of Geelong Secondary Schools) group. This group, comprised of leaders from very different backgrounds, and very different opinions, provided a great insight into how people with different styles of leadership work together to organise, to facilitate and to host events.

The most important, simplest and overlooked part of leadership is consistently doing the small things well, and doing them with purpose; setting an example for the future men of St Joseph’s, whether that be saying hello to the teachers in the yard or just wearing the uniform with pride within, or outside of the College.

Between leading by example and following the brilliant stepping stones laid down before us by previous College Captains, we have been working towards creating a greater new culture around our school Houses and continue to challenge stigma around what it is to be a leader and what it is like to be a student at an all boys’ school. We have worked on creating an atmosphere at the College where anyone that wants their voice to be heard will be empowered and be backed by the student and staff leadership teams as well as their peers.

Being a part of a leadership team in school has given us the courage to stand up and have our voice heard within our given communities, whether that be a voice among thousands at a climate strike, on our own at a whole school assembly or in front of the Board of a local committee. The skills we have learnt are invaluable and our Student Leadership program is something on which the school really prides itself.

Finn Dripps, Deputy College Captain 2019

Leadership is an adventure, and undoubtedly the best part of an adventure is the people you meet. Over the past year we have been fortunate enough to have worked alongside a myriad of inspiring and talented individuals, all of whom have played an enormous role in not only our development as leaders of the College, but also aspiring leaders of tomorrow.

Embellished in our Captaincy insignia of golden ties and pipelined blazers, it is easy to think that leadership at the College is more of a ‘three man show’ than a fifty head strong team of Year 9, 10, 11 and 12 students, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The accolades of 2019 do not lie solely in the hands of a select few. They exist in the hearts and minds of every single member of the College Leadership team. From the mildest mannered Year 10 Touchstone Prefect to the mighty College Captain, you have all had your part to play in making St Joseph’s College a fantastic place to grow, learn and develop into mature young men.

As Captains we often like to pride ourselves on our perceived originality and integrity, yet it cannot be denied that true leaders are only ever as good as their mentors, supervisors….

and most importantly speech writers. To Mrs Drever and Mr Querella, on behalf of the entire leadership team we would like to express our gratitude for the unwavering support and commitment that the two of you have shown towards us throughout 2019. Thank you for sticking by us every step of the way, challenging us to keep on track and on task, inspiring us to work to the best of our individual abilities.

To Mr Paatsch, Mr Kennedy and Mrs Brodrick: thanks for always keeping your doors open no matter how many times we bombarded you with revolutionary and sometimes unachievable ideas and suggestions. (Perhaps that’s why the two Deputy Principals took their leave throughout the year.) Special mention to Mr Paatsch’s infamous anthology of anecdotes, metaphors and readings. From chicken integrity soup, to cultured fish, your words of wisdom (although perhaps a little implicit sometimes) inspired us to adopt a different outlook on life.

Much like the Jedi Master that she is, it has been Ms Gleeson’s role in 2019 to promote the values of peace, knowledge, serenity and harmony across the Mt Sion cohort. From instructing the young Year 10 Padawans on the way of the force, to working alongside the Jedi High Council (The Senior Leadership Team), to preventing the spread of the dark side amongst the occasional disgruntled Year 12 students, Ms Gleeson in her position as Mt Sion Coordinator has truly brought balance to the galaxy.

To the House Leaders – Mr Walsh, Mr Hale, Mr Prendergast, Mr Holt & Mrs Flint: it is your commitment and dedication to your respective positions that we admire the most. It is clear through both word and action that you, much like ourselves, endeavour to bring St Joseph’s into a better space each and every day and for that we thank you.We hope that the ‘House Spirit’, a quality that each of you have played an integral role in building and promoting, continues long into the future.

To the Year 12 Cohort of 2019. First of all thank you for taking the time to read our Virtus piece instead of flicking to the back of book to check out who’s got the worst hair cut in the year level. A lot has happened since 2014. Friends have come and gone, points have been issued, laughs have been had and the odd math test was probably failed here and there.Yet despite all of that, it has been the mateship between us that has truly stood the test of time. There is no doubt that we are probably one of the greatest cohorts that has ever passed through the artery that is St Joseph’s. Mr Piasente knew this,

and I know that you know this too. You are the men amongst monsters, the stallions amongst mules, the captains of your souls, and for that we wish you all the best in the years to come.

Finally, we would like to show our appreciation to one particular group of students who don’t often receive the recognition that they truly deserve. The Year 7s. You may be the newest members of the St Joseph’s community, but that hasn’t stopped you from making an impact on life at the College. Your unrivalled thirst for knowledge, the occasional high-five or salute in the yard, the virtues of innocence and hope sketched across you face as obvious and natural as the swirls within a Van Gogh work of art: you are a part of the reason we put on our ties and blazers each morning before we head off to school. You are the ones who inspire us to greatness, without having to say a single word at all. And for that we thank you.

Nathan Fox, Deputy College Captain 2019

College Leaders

Year 7 Captains

Back Row: Daniel Gnjec, Rhys Petroff, Nicholas Preiato, Tristan Carson, Flynn Gregory, Jack Ashton, Kaine Shaw, Luke Di Lisio

Third Row: Tobey Massey, Jude Payne, Fraser Cameron, William Clayton, James Dewar, Noah Burns, Leo Howard

Second Row: Sunny Stephens, Julian Castillo, Caden Walsh, Benjamin Harris, Christopher Rose, Benjamin Parish, Benson Turner-Kerio, Xavier Hill

Front Row: George Leslie, James Harry, Isaac Flett, Will Stein, Samuel Webb, Digby Lawrence, Cameron Klein

Absent: William Casha, Matthew Hannan, Izaak Gleeson, Luke Menzies, Harry Segrave, Oliver Trewin, Cooper Patton, Marley McCombe, Conor Giurfo, Danu Lakey, Louis Peacock, Jayden Pickett, Oliver Sanders, Oskar Hayes, David Iosefo, Noah Caracella, Rhyce Nolan, Josef Paatsch

Year 8 Captains

Back Row: Ethan Borys, Mannie Andrew, Emanuel Logory, Mark Tomasovic, Benjamin Phillips, Alexander Edwards

Third Row: Bailey Rathje, Jaeger Fawcett, Rafael Stojanovski, Joshua Carmody, Joshua Ruggeri, Luca Baum, Hugo Delaney

Second Row: Gaige Gasparini, Nicholas Wrigley, Ethan Withers, Lachlan Osborne, Francesco Posterino, Ezekiel Rowe, Lachlan Lamb

Front Row: Ante Peric, Charlie Spokes, Jordan Pollard, Malachy McKenna, Henry Cook, Thomas O’Donoghue, Alex Diamond

Westcourt Leaders

Back Row: Oscar Fraatz, Oskar Walter, Hamish Maas, Thomas Neate, Lucas Renfrey

Middle Row: Jai McGough, Malachy Archdall, Seamus Ryan, Willem Sanders, Sebastian Hill

Front Row: Sascha Wheelwright, Jaylen Winiecki, Matthew Sorgiovanni, Archie Lazzaro, Samuel Condie

Staff: Mark Deverall, John Harmon (absent)

Absent: Samuel Dripps, Xavier Quinlan, Zayle Whitehead

College Leaders

Identity & Faith

Commencement Mass and the Blessing of the Peter Chanel Centre

The academic year began with our Commencement Mass where students were challenged by Bishop Mark Edwards (OMI) to live lives that ask not, Who am I? but Who am I for?

During this Mass, we opened The Peter Chanel Centre, a state-of-the-art contemporary teaching space to support project based learning, along with science teaching spaces and excellent music facilities. The Centre is a magnificent addition to the facilities of this already great College. The name Peter Chanel references Chanel College, which made an important contribution to Catholic education in the Geelong region from 1958 until 1998. We were honoured, to have Fr Kevin Bates sm OAM concelebrate the Mass. Fr Kevin is the brother of past staff member Phil Bates, dearly loved by our community. Fr Kevin and Phil both attended Chanel College. Following its closure in 1998, many Chanel students came to St Joseph’s College.

Easter Liturgy

In our Easter liturgy this year, we reflected on Christ’s journey from the perspective of the women he encountered and the ongoing effect his teachings have had on women across time and place. We remembered and recalled that Jesus treated women with dignity, and that women were a significant part of his journey. In today’s world, many women still draw strength from their faith and the belief that they can live out the gospel values to contribute to their communities in many ways. We reflected on the Stations of the Cross through the eyes of the women he encountered in the gospel readings and made connections to contemporary women and their current issues requiring great faith.

Mother’s Day Breakfast

This year we hosted our inaugural Mother’s Day Breakfast, with over 650 Mums and their sons in attendance. During the prayer, we lit three candles to remember the head, heart and hands of those we call ‘mother’. The first candle honoured the innate wisdom with which mothers guide their children. The second candle honoured their loving hearts, which never cease to believe and hope. The third candle honoured our mothers’ capable hands, which nurture and comfort. Just like Mary the mother of Jesus, being a significant person in the Catholic Church so too are the special St Joseph’s College mothers, who are incredibly important in our students’ lives. The breakfast was a lovely way to celebrate with our Mums and caregivers.

Edmund Rice Day Liturgy

This year we celebrated Edmund Rice Day with a liturgy titled, ‘Edmund’s Life, a Life of Many Colours’.The focus of this liturgy was to help us connect in to who Edmund Rice was as a person, a man of many colours. Edmund was a son, a husband, a father as well as Founder of two orders- the Presentation Brothers and Christian Brothers. During this liturgy as we reflected upon each aspect of our founder’s life, a different coloured cloth was presented, to create a rainbow. He was an extraordinary human being who lived an ordinary life. Just like all of us, Edmund experienced the whole spectrum of emotions from the joy of being in love and starting a family, to deep sadness of losing his young wife. Edmund Rice was and still is a man for our time. Mr Ben Parsons also shared his moving experience of travelling with other young Catholic educators to World Youth Day in Panama.

Renewals

As a Catholic School in the Edmund Rice tradition, we take time out of the curriculum for each year level to reflect on an aspect of the Four Touchstones in an annual Renewal Day. Part of each Renewal students take part in a prayerful reflection.

This year we have shared some engaging speakers and experiences to explore our themes across each of the year levels.

Year 7 – Compassion Innovation and Integrity

Year 8 – Courage to Care

Year 9 – Rite Journey Experience

Year 10 – ‘Listen to what the Spirit is saying.’ Who am I for?

Year 11 – Respectful Relationships Seminar, from a Christian perspective.

Year 12 – ‘Who do you say I am?’ Through our four Edmund Rice Touchstones.

Australian Catholic Youth Festival 2019

To conclude our full year we have two staff members and six students travelling to Perth for The Australian Catholic Youth Festival. During this national gathering of Catholic young people, there will be opportunities to ‘Listen to what the Spirit is saying,’ in order to deepen their relationship with Jesus and be empowered to be disciples in the world today.

Rachel Roche, Director of Identity & Mary Malone, Faith Development Coordinator

Year 7 LiturgyAgum & students

Courage to Care

Immersions

St Joseph’s College promotes a faith-based response to global solidarity and a commitment to reconciliation through providing students with an opportunity to take part in one of our Immersion programs.

“Solidarity is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all.”

- Saint John Paul II

This year a group of Years 9-11 students and teachers experienced four different immersions to Ampilatwatja, Daly River, Tiwi Islands and Timor Leste.

An essential part of each immersion were several preparation sessions with Mrs Roche. On their return, staff and teachers took part in a debrief session where they were given an opportunity to reflect on the highlights, challenges and as an immersion is an experience of deep travel at a transformative level, their deeper awareness of self and others.

Here are some student reflections and insights into their transformative immersion experiences.

Mary Malone, Faith Development Coordinator

Daly River

An Aboriginal community of Nauiyu approximately three hours south of Darwin.

This year’s Daly River trip was a memorable and unforgettable trip of a lifetime. Twelve boys including myself, Ms Zanos, Mr Harris and Mr Paatsch embarked on an eye-opening experience. Our main purpose going on this trip was to learn and engage in the community’s lifestyle.

We discovered they live a simple life, which shapes a day that it ends with communal singing and dancing in the firelight. Its principle and its ethos are variations on a single themecontinuity, constancy, balance, symmetry and regularity.

We also found that in the community there is not one fence in sight surrounding the homes of people, as this emphasises the fact that they are such a close-knit community, there is no need for protection. A quote from a book Mr Harris was reading stated that, “Fences on the ground make fences in the mind. You have to alter your thinking to imagine the fence away.”

This quote suggests that it is important we break down the barriers between indigenous and western culture because if we alter our mindset about them, we can expect a future where both cultures are united in solidarity.

Max Jones & Sebastian Dew

Tiwi Islands

The Tiwi Islands are part of the Northern Territory, 80 km north of Darwin.

At the end of last term, myself and nine other students along with Mrs Ahearn, Mr Noble and Mr Querella were given the amazing opportunity to travel to the Tiwi islands and immerse ourselves with the people for a week.

As soon as we arrived, we were welcomed into the community with open arms. We spent our time on the island wandering around the community, learning about Tiwi culture, especially different tribes, skin groups and dances as well as some Tiwi history at the local museum.

A highlight of the of the trip was meeting Tejinder Singh, 2017 Northern Territory representative in the Australian of the year acknowledgements, who spends the last Sunday of each month traveling around the city feeding the homeless and hungry, his kindness and compassion was truly inspiring, not to mention his and his wife’s food was delicious.

We are all truly grateful for the opportunity we were given, we were able to see first-hand how the Tiwi Islanders live and were welcomed graciously into their community, strengthening friendships within our group and even making new ones, as well as experiencing a new part of our beautiful country. To anyone considering signing up for one of the school’s Immersions, I implore you to take the opportunity for an unforgettable and life changing experience.

Connor O’Sullivan

GOSPEL SPIRITUALITY

Timor Leste

What an incredible experience it was to immerse ourselves as travellers into the Timorese lifestyle. Because this was an immersion experience, we had no phones so we could be present and engaged in the here and now. This was actually a relief for all of us as it meant we could get to know each other better. It could not have been a better group of boys and teachers (Mr Wright and Mr Turner) to go with.

Reflections at night were a key part of the experience as we talked about the positives and negatives and the differences in cultures as we learnt to be more open hearted to others as they were to us.

We experienced extraordinary landscapes and views when we went to Atauro Island whilst going snorkelling and hiking across the island for the day. At Atauro, we learnt how close the community was with each other and how by purchasing one tuk tuk ride or going snorkelling by boat to the reef, the whole community was being supported. The neighbourly connections and relationships the locals have built there definitely shows how important community is.

Freddie Dripps

Ampilatwatja (um-bludder-witch)

The Ampilatwatja Community lies in the heart of Alyawarr country, southeast of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory.

Thanks to Ms Westwood and Mr McDowall for preparing

Oscar Fraatz

us. The main thing I have taken out of this experience is a perspective of the things we should truly be valuing. In western societies, we value money, fame, etc. In community, the values are held with in family, community, and faith. Experiencing this first hand was overwhelming yet also gave myself and others a real sense of what genuinely matters.

We learnt they are richer than us in happiness, even though we have more possessions. When they have nothing, they are the happiest people in the world. - Seamus Ryan

Seeing the people in this community so happy with so little inspired me to be grateful about what I have and has taught me the reality of the real world - Ayden Dunell

I feel older not physically, but mentally.

- Patrick Johnstone

This experience has really changed me for the better.

- Isaac Chatham

The best life experience I have ever had.

- Lachie Van Der Klooster

- Sam Condie

It was an eye opening experience it was incredible and it changed my perspective on the world.

JUSTICE & SOLIDARITY

Sustainability

Highlights in the area of sustainability this year incorporated the installation of an 85.4 kW Solar Power system for Westcourt, the introduction of Enviroservice and the implementation of the Otways inspired garden. We celebrated Enviroweek and collectively planted over 1100 indigenous plants around Carey Oval, at Waurn Ponds and Soapy Rocks, Anglesea. The Westcourt shed was re-located to Edmund Rice Campus, providing a new facility for plastic recycling and other sustainability endeavours. Sustainability leaders facilitated recycling tours for visiting schools and conducted a recycling workshop at Nazareth Primary School. In addition, Lachlan Kelly (Year 11) and Sascha Wheelwright (Year 9) were guest presenters at the Victorian Waste Education Conference. From 9-13 September, we celebrated Enviroweek, commencing with a Die In (peaceful protest facilitated by Ms Rachel Roche) and Liberating Education Assembly with Sean Teer (former student), CEO of Envision as guest speaker. Other highlights included, guest presenter Ms Alex Marshall (Climate Activist), Pedal Power Challenge, 2040 film screening, Bread Clip Competition, Tree Planting, Mt Sion War on Waste Challenge, Enviroservice recycling tour of Clonard College and recycling workshop at Nazareth Primary School.

ENVIROSERVICE WITH THE FRIENDS OF WAURN PONDS CREEK

On 17 March, the Friends of Waurn Ponds Creek held a rubbish clean up along Waurn Ponds Creek. The target locations were makeshift shelters hidden amongst the foliage of trees planted almost 10 years ago by the Friends. Whilst I do not harbour any animosity towards those seeking shelter along the creek, it is imperative that they take care to dispose of their rubbish appropriately. In under half an hour, we had already removed around eight full 30kg bags of rubbish, one couch, five wooden chairs and a trolley. The rubbish was mostly the worst kind, plastic, and has a devastating impact on the natural wildlife of the creeks surrounds. This is a fantastic way in which students can become aware of the impact littering can have by going to see where it all ends up.

Riley Eggleton - Year 12

TERARRIUM WORKSHOP

On 6 May, a group of Sustainability Leaders and a few other students made terrarium. The Terrariums were so much fun to make. We were even allowed to choose our own plants. We had clear containers to put our plants into along with our coloured pebbles. We made these beautiful terrariums for Mother’s Day. This is a great gift for our mothers because they were beautiful plants.

Andrew Davidge - Year 8

ENVIROSERVICE

Jediah Salmon - Year 8

On 13 May, I participated in the first Enviroservice at school. We moved mulch into the Otways garden under the ramps in the Quad and then we weeded the native garden bed on Carey Oval. Mrs Bindokas (horticulturist and SJC Mum) taught us the difference between monocots and dicots and the plant species names as we were working in the garden. Overall, it was a great way to conduct Community Service.

I participated in various activities for Enviroservice, from vegetable planting to tree planting, learning how to plant trees and vegetables that I would use in everyday life. I also learnt things from a horticulturist called Janine Bindokas, like how to make a “mote” around trees (to collect water runoff) and how to poke holes in the garden beds for the veggies.

Daniel Labib - Year 8

NATIONAL SCHOOLS TREE PLANTING DAY

On 26 July, nine lucky students went to Anglesea to do some tree planting. Peter told us the rich history about our surroundings and how a man who was going for a surf one day and found an ancient whale fossil. It was a great experience for us to plant some trees and learn about the indigenous plants and history. It was also National Schools Tree Day. Peter Crowcroft, who helped us with the planting, works for the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee. He was a really helpful and inspirational person. Adam Matthews, Blake McMahon & Toby Osburn - Year 8

RECYCLING WORKSHOP

On 13 September, 15 boys participated in informing students from Nazareth Primary about the importance of recycling and putting rubbish in the right bins. We did three different activities to teach them about the bins and what rubbish goes in them. In the end, they were lightning fast when they were asked which bin a certain piece of rubbish goes in.

Lucas Powell - Year 7

“TAKE 3” FOR THE SEA COMPETITION

As always, the standard of the entries for the “Take 3” Film competition was inspiring! It is heartening to see the commitment by students to support the Take 3 initiative and convey their message by displaying our beautiful local environment. The 2019 “Take 3” winners incorporated; First Prize: Jaeger Fawcett, Second Prize: Miller Matheson and Third Prize: Luca Baum.

Kelly Jenkins, Sustainability Coordinator

Sustainability

Sustainability

Service Learning

Staff and students have answered the call to volunteer with the enthusiasm and compassion for which we are renowned in the wider community. Every year we endeavour to offer new ways of serving and new charities with which to partner. Our commitment to supporting local people experiencing homelessness in evident through the continued success of the Winter Sleep Out. This year we doubled our number of participants. 100 students from across Years 7 – 9 and ten staff members slept rough. Participants raised an amazing $4,700 that was donated to local charities and used to purchase items for distribution on the Outreach Van. Congratulations to Sullivan Johnson, Year 9 who was our top fundraiser with $365. Sully has shown his commitment to helping the homeless through his volunteering at the Outpost, serving meals on Sunday nights, accruing over 50 hours of service. The College has also started donating clothing, food and personal hygiene products to Lazarus Community Centre and making meals for Geelong Spare Meals to our list of community service initiatives this year. Students have also enjoyed making a difference within our College community. Students accrued community service hours by cooking for the College Care Group, recording audio books for the library, assisting with canteen service and supporting annual events such as the Mother and Son evening, and modelling at the fashion show. Countless Enviroservice opportunities were also undertaken by staff and students.

Year 8 students continued the partnership with St Thomas Aquinas Breakfast Club. Year 9 staff and students answered

the call to support a new Breakfast Club run at Northern Bay Secondary College. Throughout the year I have received many complimentary emails about students’ efforts in serving the community.

Students are urged to remember that the charism of Edmund Rice directs all that we do. When I speak to students about the importance of community service I focus on the following two points. I urge them to “be like Eddy”. Edmund Rice saw a need in the community and he responded. He recognised that poor boys from his neighbourhood would only break the cycle of poverty through education. He opened a free school, known as Mount Sion, in 1803. My second main point is, studies show that volunteers live longer and are happier. Helping others gives you purpose and relieves stress, anxiety and depression. Some could argue that volunteering is actually a selfish act when there are so many positive benefits for the volunteer. I look forward to serving others alongside staff, students and families in 2020.

Leah Irving, Service Learning Coordinator

I did tree planting and rubbish collection with the Friends of Waurn Ponds Creek. It felt good to make a difference to my local environment and I met some really nice people.

- Thomas Fitzpatrick, Year 11

My mum encourages me to always try to help people whenever I can. Doing volunteer placements as a family means we can share the experience with each other.

- Sullivan Johnson, Year 9

Outreach Van Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club

Back Row: Ethan Borys, Mannie Andrew, Jameson Richmond, Jake Anderson, Mark Tomasovic, Darcy Foran, Xavier McGowan, Miller McKeegan

Middle Row: Alexander Lamb, Jaeger Fawcett, Massimo Pantano, Andrew Cooke, Nicholas Giorgio, Sam Douglas, Xavier Bennett

Front Row: Connor Lee, Colby McCallum, Archie McMahon, Thomas Lee, Joseph Peart, Grady Clifford, Ted Farrell, Rafael Stojanovski

Outreach Van

L-R: Paul Coxhead (staff), Kobe Greenhalgh, Ashley Crook (staff), Thomas Newnham, Ryan Birthisel, Patrick Prendergast (staff), Belinda Milverton (staff)

Celebrating Our Refugee Families

We are very fortunate to have refugee families adding to the cultural fabric and diversity of our shared school community. These families bring a wealth of knowledge and skills and are keen to share their cultures and contribute to school life as they build their new lives. The Welcome Dinner held during Term 2 brought families together and enabled the building of connections between refugee families and the families of their sons’ friends. Year 12 VCAL students prepared and served beautiful food with the guidance of their teachers, Michelle Anderson and Jack Jenkins. Dessert, provided by the families enabled a mouth watering sharing of cultures.

“Sharing a meal brought families and cultures together and helped to build friendships.” Shoghig Arab Oghlian

Refugee Week

During Refugee Week, the College community provided strong support for refugees in our broader community. This included the raising of $4625 through a film night and the collecting of essential items for The Welcome Place Food Bank.

Katherine Jenkins, Refugee Coordinator

“A big shout out to St Joseph’s College students and staff for collecting this huge trailer load of culturally appropriate food, toiletries and cleaning items. People seeking asylum have had their only form of back up support taken away. St Joseph’s College has really helped to make their lives easier.”

The Welcome Place facebook post

Educational Student Support

“The world and everything in it is continually changing…” Edmund Rice to Mother Mary Knowd, Presentation Convent, Dublin. All Souls’ Day 1813

Nothing could be truer of our very own Education Learning Support department, as we continually evolve to meet the needs and challenges of our diverse range of learners.

We have 425 students supported through our Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD). The NCCD is an annual collection that counts the number of school students with disability. It also looks at the level of reasonable educational adjustments the individual student is provided to enable his learning and inclusion into the College. These adjustments and numbers of students with disability contributed to decisions around the amount of funding St Joseph’s receives to implement our individual education plans. With varying needs ranging from the physical, socialemotional and cognitive, our 35 Education Support staff provide support over both our Edmund Rice and Westcourt Campuses. Additionally throughout the College, many of our students who do not meet the NCCD funding criteria receive support in their learning.

Proudly imbuing our Edmund Rice philosophy of an inclusive approach, being respectful of diversity and the “profound belief in the equal dignity of persons” this translates to championing all students regardless of background, ability or difference in ability. The establishment of this supportive and respectful environment is paramount to creating a framework for all students to thrive in both their learning and social interactions.

Our physical Learning Support area fulfils a vital and multifaceted purpose. Enabling the VITA Skills for Life Program to continue to provide a relevant and practical curriculum for students, this space assists the program in providing an alternate pathway for those who now have an opportunity to nurture their own personal transformation through an enriched and differentiated education experience. The area also provides a supportive space where staff can work with students who may, at times, find it difficult to participate in the classroom setting. Take also the bespoke room for Parent Support Group (PSG) meetings, and the bright and comfortable place for students to meet before school, at recess and lunch times, and you have a dynamic and vibrant hub. Often with a soundtrack as diverse as our cohort, the day can bring anything from AC/DC to Arias, from Mr Incredible to Mr Bean

The Literacy Learning Intervention program designed for

extra literacy support for our Year 7 and 8 students has small assisted groups making a valuable contribution. These groups support students who need specific intervention in improving their literacy skills and support positive learning and confidence.

Once again, our sincere thanks go to the Josephines for their ongoing patronage. Their interest and financial support in our programs have this year in part enabled the wonderful opportunity for several young people to experience immersions that would otherwise have been out of their reach, in addition to allowing the provision of the very popular VR headset - Oculus to our resources.

We are very fortunate to have the dedication of the following teachers coordinating various year levels and overseeing the students’ wellbeing: Jackson Langhorne (Years 7 and 8), Rebecca Westwood (Year 9), and Lauren Flint (Years 10, 11 and 12); along with Child Safety Officers John Stephensen (Waterford), Luke Parsons (Westcourt) and Rachael Abraham (Mt Sion).With our ever-increasing need to support students across the College, their vast experience, care and professionalism in working with our parents and students is a living example of St Joseph’s College’s strong commitment to Pastoral Care and our EREA touchstones.

While change is everywhere, the soothing constant in many of our student’s lives is the feeling that our Education Support department provides:

“For me it’s a place to take a breath. It lets you have more space – in your mind.” M.Y.

“I sometimes feel pressure and this is relaxed and welcoming. I don’t feel the pressure” W.R.

Mark Turner, Educational Support Coordinator

7 Literacy

ATSI

Celebrating Aboriginal & Torres Strait Students & Families in the College community

The Possum Skin Cloak

A major achievement of the ATSI students this year has been the creating of the Possum Skin Cloak. This began with a workshop attended by students and families led by Vicki Couzens and Mitch Mahoney. Vicki explained the cultural significance of the cloak and Mitch assisted the boys in formulating a concept for the design. Lisa Couzens and ATSI captain Kaleb Owen were instrumental in the sewing together of the possum skins and many of the students assisted at lunchtime workshops. Mitch taught the boys how to burn their designs onto the pelt and Sue Collins, Lisa and Kaleb led the workshops to ensure that all of the boys were able to add to the legacy by completing their designs.

The cloak represents a unity of purpose and will provide a strong symbol of welcome to all ATSI families as they join the College community and represents a deep and abiding respect for the resilience and strength of indigenous culture. It will be on display and worn by ATSI Captains for all significant College events when giving the Acknowledgement of Country.

Katherine Jenkins, ATSI Coordinator

The significance of the cloak is to represent all of the ATSI boys at St Joseph’s and the design is a map of the country we are living on and significant landmarks. The boys left their mark by adding their own design. A piece of them and where they’re from will be there forever. Wearing it in front of the school makes me feel like all the other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys are up there with me.

Kaleb Owen, ATSI Captain

Explanations of designs

I grew up on Wadawurrung country so it seemed fitting to have the creator, Bunjil as my symbol.

Connor McCarthy Grigg

I grew up in Queensland so I chose the cassowary.

Morris O’Neil Wood

My design represents a pathway between Arrunda and Wadawurrung country. Tyson Neal

Helping to make the cloak is significant as it we have be made a part of College history. Jai McGough

Victorian Young Leaders to China

The Victorian Young Leaders to China Program gives students learning Chinese the opportunity to immerse themselves in the culture, language and everyday activities that China has to offer. Departing on 16 March, nine students and one teacher from St Joseph’s College had their intentions set on Chengdu, China. Once we arrived, we were greeted by our tour guide, who accompanied us to Sichuan University, where we would be studying in a high intensity learning environment. Now that may sound scary, but our experience there was anything but. Helpful and personable lecturers allowed us to excel and thrive in a foreign environment. Chengdu felt like a big regional town, considering the preposterous eight million people that live there, this was quite unexpected. We travelled all over, meeting giant pandas, travelling by boat to see the massive Leshan Giant Buddha, viewed the peculiar Sichuan Opera, ventured to the fruit markets of Sichuan University and much more. Personally, a highlight of our two weeks immersion in Chengdu was the English Corner. Members of the public came to the University Stadium carpark for the sole purpose of practicing English, and there were hundreds of them. After shaking off the nerves, peoples’ personalities really began to shine, scintillating by virtue of performances, meaningful conversations and genuine mutual benefit between everyone on the night. The experiences and conversations that night will stick with me, and many other students for the rest of our lives, not because of what was learnt from each other, but the feeling of breaking down barriers and crossing the vast cultural divide to relate with others.

After two weeks in Chengdu, the next part of our journey was upon us, and where better to spend the remaining four

weeks of the program, than Shanghai. Having been graciously welcomed by Shanghai Industry & Commerce Foreign Languages School’s students and staff, we made ourselves comfortable in their dormitories. For the following weeks, we were going to be nurturing our language abilities with patient Chinese teachers that were receptive to our current skills. We then got to meet our buddies, who we would accompany to classes throughout our time at the school.We also had the opportunity to spend a day with our buddies at their homes, which gave us insight into Shanghai life, and what we could expect if we were to live in Shanghai ourselves. Spending time with our buddies meant that we could not only improve our language skills, but also create a lasting connection to our new friends in a new city. Speaking of the city, right in the centre of Shanghai’s sprawling metropolis is The Bund, which is a testament to the multi-cultural history and diverse culture that pervades Shanghai. Cruising The Bund was my highlight of our time in Shanghai, as it allowed us to relax, converse and indulge ourselves in an environment unlike any other. Shanghai really was incredible, and perfectly displays some of the best that China can offer.

As the name of the program suggests,VYLC fosters leadership qualities, and I felt that we all grew in this capacity, to varying degrees. We may have increased our Chinese language abilities exponentially, but the experiences and relationships gained will benefit us through not only the rest of our time at St Joseph’s, but also adulthood. I could not recommend this program enough to anyone considering taking part.

Max Anderson

Victorian Young Leaders to China

Victorian Young Leaders to India

During September, nine Westcourt students took part in the Victorian Young Leaders to India program. This Victorian Government International Student Program is a pilot immersion, which led our students to busy Delhi. We relished school life at Jain International Residential School in Bengaluru, made international friends, engaged in STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics). activities and visited some of India’s most iconic places - all whilst soaking in the rich culture and colourful beauty that is India.

We started our soft landing period in Delhi with a large group of 50 students from across Victoria. While in Delhi, we visited a number of world heritage sites some in which we will be a once in a lifetime experience for some of us. We had an introduction to Indian Culture and we were also faced with some confronting scenes like begging on the streets and many homeless people.

After our time in Delhi we travelled 2,000 km south to Jain International Residential School in Bengaluru, which would be our base for the majority of the trip. We were involved in classes focusing on STEM. We were all partnered with an Indian Buddy. While at Jain we were immersed into Indian boarding school life. Early wake ups for morning sports, classes until 8.00pm and time spent sitting in the dorms

talking about our days.

Whilst in Bengaluru we made two weekend trips to different locations, Mysore and Pondicherry. In Mysore we were exposed to the rich Indian culture and architecture. But while in Pondicherry we spent our time in a small community called Auroville. There we learnt about the importance of sustainability and how STEM is used to create more sustainable ways of living in Auroville.

We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to be involved in such an incredible experience. It has opened our eyes to the wider world and has given us lifelong friends.

Jack Cambridge 9D and Samuel Dripps 9F

LIBERATING EDUCATION

Religious Education

Our Religious Education program presents the richness of the Catholic tradition, and invites and supports students to grow in religious self-understanding. Always mindful of our school values of Compassion, Innovation and Integrity, and our Edmund Rice tradition, we aim to make our students receptive to religious questions and become more discerning and aware of the many voices in society, including their own.

Year 7 students began their St Joseph’s journey through curriculum inspiring courage to live a life based in the Catholic tradition and reflecting the values of Blessed Edmund Rice. Exploration of the Edmund Rice Touchstones of Liberating Education, Gospel Spirituality, Inclusive Community, and Justice and Solidarity, inducted Year 7s into their new school. On a new look Edmund Rice Day, Year 8 students shared displays with Year 7s to assist them to understand the Touchstones and our St Joseph’s tradition. In addition to their guidance of Year 7 students, our Year 8s continued learning about acting with kindness and compassion, were encouraged to be ‘Upstanders’, and reminded to serve the marginalised.

Building on the work done in the Waterford Campus, programs at Mount Sion fostered connection to the call of Pope Francis, who reminds us that, “to understand one another, and to grow in charity and truth, we need to pause, to accept and listen to one another. In this way, we already begin to experience unity. Unity grows along the way; it never stands still. Unity happens when we walk together.” Positive engagement of our Year 10 students with members of the Jewish Christian Muslin Association, developed the need for respect and understanding of those who come from other religious traditions. RE classes challenged our senior students to act peacefully and consider their impact on the world through their physical and online presence.

Year 11 students examined goodness and deciding what is right. Through exploring challenging moral and ethical scenarios, students evaluated positions and developed their ability to make decisions and understand the decision made by others. Our senior students enhanced their ability to listen to others, be respectful of various viewpoints, and present perspectives in appropriate ways.

Our Year 12 students, concluded their St Joseph’s journey with an innovative Religion program, titled ‘Touchstones’. A series of guest speakers, including Dr Elio Capra, Tony Paatsch, the Streets Barber and Mark Monahan, inspired reflection, classroom discussion and action in the adult lives of our Class of 2019.

Carmen Ahearn, Curriculum Learning Leader – Religious Education

Student Reflections

Some places where we see Jesus in our world today is when volunteers go to poor countries, such as Africa. These volunteers put their lives at risk to help the people in need. Other people include nurses and doctors, and anyone who helps others unconditionally. In Cambodia, there is a school for the kids with scabies and those who just came from prison. These kinds of places help people just like Jesus did, no matter if people are sick, angry or abusive, people still help them. Retirement homes with nurses and carers are also places where Jesus can be seen. Cameron Elphinstone, 7L

Jesus is present in all of us, when we treat other as we want to be treated and don’t think we are better than anyone and don’t let others think they are better than us. Samuel O’Brien, 7L

Firefighters show aspects of Jesus because they risk their lives to save others and this is very unselfish. Some also help others for no reward and that is what Jesus did. I see Jesus in my Grandmother because she knits for the homeless. This is like Jesus because he gave up his time to help people who were less fortunate than himself without receiving a reward, which is just like my grandmother. Oliver Sanders, 7L

We believe that every person is created in God’s image and that all human life is sacred. We believe in the dignity of each person.

Samuel Condon, 8G

In 2017, Pope Francis, presented a speech saying that we should spend more money on education than on war. It has been said that the American military is spending 7 billion dollars on weapons when they could be spending money on sending kids to school. There are many kids out there who struggle to get an education because the government is spending money on war rather than schools which will give them a hope in their future. Spending money on war will only lead to a dark future.

Charlie Voss, 8G

St Vincent De Paul is an agency that helps out homeless people, people on low income, refugees, children with little education and those with poor mental health. They help people out by supplying a safe place to sleep, a plate of food to eat or a shoulder to lean on when needed. St Vincent’s operates all over Australia, and are always open for donations (clothes, toys, sanitary equipment, money). A Bible story that shows this work in action is Mark 5:1-20. In this story, Jesus offers to help a neglected man to get back to his feet, give him a fresh start and free him of his demons.

Nick Anglin, 7G

LIBERATING EDUCATION

Literacy

Literacy is the capacity to construct and express meaning through reading, writing and talking about texts. It is a prerequisite to the acquisition of new information and the formulation of new ideas. (Bowman & Sadowski, 2005)

Strong literacy skills are vitally important for students to succeed academically, as well as to prosper in the current world. Students must be able to read, write and think at increasingly higher levels of complexity, creativity, and sophistication to prepare for life beyond school.

This year has been successful in terms of creating an awareness around the importance of literacy in all learning environments at St Joseph’s for both students and teachers. Our recommendations for improving literacy included using data to diagnose student needs and then providing intensive interventions for struggling learners, as well as challenging our high achievers.

Our Action in Literacy has seen students supported in programs such as NIXOR and Levelled Literacy Intervention in Years 7 and 8. These programs have been designed with an explicit teaching focus on reading, comprehension, writing and speaking and listening as well as incorporating confidence building and risk taking in order to achieve success. Our NIXOR program will be extended into Year 9 in 2020.

In Term 1, we began our Literacy for Learning course for teaching staff. During six half-day training sessions held in Semesters 1 & 2, four staff members who had previously trained to become tutors shared their learned knowledge with other staff members. The outcomes for this program

included ‘developing the understanding of the need for explicit teaching practices that will build up students’ repertoires of language and visual resources so that they can be successful learners across all learning areas’ and ‘provision of a positive context for teachers to reflect critically and openly on their teaching’.

Modules included -

• Language and Literacy in Teaching and Learning

• Talking our way into Literacy

• Making sense of texts – writing texts that work.

I am delighted to report that at the end of 2019, 60 staff graduated from the course. Our goal is to have all teaching staff trained in the program within the next two years.

Literacy in Action has seen teachers share with one another their success stories with the strategies delivered in the course. The documentation of these successes has been through photos, videos and student work. Adapting new practices effectively takes time and staff have shown they are passionate and committed to the improvement of learning and engagement within all classes.

Literacy continues to be a high priority at St Joseph’s, as addressing the needs of our students is at the forefront of our educational practice.

Gemma Gray – Literacy Coordinator

‘The more that you READ, the more THINGS you will KNOW. The MORE you LEARN, the more PLACES you’ll GO!’ Dr. Seuss

Humanities

PBL Arrives at Year 7 Humanities!

2019 saw a complete overhaul of the Year 7 Humanities Curriculum to adopt Project Based Learning with students embarking on term long projects focusing on History, Geography and Commerce. Led by passionate teachers Tanner, Anderson, Reed, Langhorne, Conroy, Malone, Ryan, Di Santo, McNee and Darley, students embraced the challenge and produced diverse skills sets in the creation of Culminating Events for each of the following projects:

• ‘Indigenous Australia- who they were, who we are’

• ‘Legacies and Leftovers’ –Ancient Greece and India

• ‘Melbourne- the world’s most liveable city?’

• ‘Eco Entrepreneurs’

During the ‘Melbourne - World’s most liveable city’ project, I explored the different aspects of a liveable city. These aspects include stability, infrastructure, culture, healthcare and education. Two of the main cities I explored were Vienna and Melbourne, which according to ‘The Economist 2019’, are the most liveable cities in the world. I made two posters; one on Melbourne, which was a physical poster, and the other on Vienna, which was a digital poster.To understand city planning, we had to design our own city that displayed the five aspects of liveability. The final task was to compare both cities in a comparative report and then argue which city we would prefer to live in. Each task was an enjoyable experience and I would like to do something similar in the future!

Jack Greco, 7A

Humanities has been an intriguing subject this year. During Term 1 we studied Indigenous History where we explored in detail the Aboriginal Culture and areas of expertise they demonstrated that could be adopted in contemporary times. We learnt about the different strategies Aboriginal tribes used to hunt, farm sustainably and heal the sick and injured. I’ve enjoyed the challenge of Humanities as it always helps me to strive for my hardest and best work.

Benjamin Groves, 7B

Authentic interaction with key decision makers!

To add even more authenticity to particular projects in Years 7 and 8, Councillor Sarah Mansfield from the City of Greater Geelong visited the students in 7C to answer questions about what the Council is doing to make Geelong more liveable. Our boys asked great questions and then worked as a team to provide Cr Mansfield with a list of recommendations for what they believe would make a more liveable Geelong.

Mr Jackson Langhorne

The Ambassador returns to SJC

Students in 8D also took part in a conference with the Member for Geelong, Christine Couzens.The boys questioned Christine on issues relating to Geelong, as well as changes that they would like to see in Victoria!

Year 11 and 12 SJC and SHC Global Politics students were treated to an insightful and thought provoking Q&A session with former student and current Australian Ambassador to Mongolia Dave Vosen on Friday 13 September. Ambassador Vosen graduated from SJC in 1993 and has since served as a Career Officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) heading up aid delivery in PNG and also holding the position of Director of the North Korea section amongst various integral roles.

Students relished the opportunity to grill the ambassador on a range of issues related to their VCE courses and his experiences working in DFAT and the Diplomatic Corps.

A sample of the questions developed by our Year 11 and 12 students have been included below:

The diplomatic relationship between Australia and Mongolia was established close to 47 years ago. More recently Australia has been attempting to improve its 'people to people' links demonstrating its use of soft power through the Australian Awards Scholarship Program in Mongolia. This has obviously been effective in improving Australia's international standing, but for you, in your role, what is the end game for Australia's relationship with Mongolia and more importantly, what national interests are you attempting to achieve by building this relationship?

- Brad Edwards and Ethan Blythe

The UNHCR continues to assist the Rohingya people rendered stateless from the Myanmar and the Rakhine state. An article in the Asia Times recently reported that over 740,000 Rohingya people are displaced. The UN has done what they can to aid these people to get back on track but the problem has not been solved. Do you see the UN remaining a relevant institution of Global Governance into the future? What are the major challenges the UN must overcome?

- Jesse Pappalardo and Amelia Gregorio

Huon Bertino, Humanities Domain Leader

Aspire

This year, a group of boys aiming to achieve highly in their VCE studies participated in the program named Aspire. We had regular meetings about once a month to devise some study routines which were common and were wished to be shared amongst our peers.

Some highlights of the year included an excursion to Monash University, where former high VCE achievers and Old Collegians of the college Michael Bongiorno and Hugh McMahon took us all on an insightful tour regarding Uni life at Monash.

Later in the year, we were lucky enough to have some previous VCE high achievers from St Joey’s come and speak to us regarding study tips leading into exams, and get an overview of how we can maximise our results whilst maintaining a balanced lifestyle. They also shared some of their current

VITA

2019 marked the 4th year of the VITA Program, a life-skills based certificate course, which delivers individual support for senior students outside the general VCE and VCAL programs. The program focuses on providing real-world opportunities for learning aimed at helping students transition into life after school. Among the many highlights for the VITA crew, led by teacher Kate Wells, and ESO Ange Wilson, were the Sailability program, mentoring St Thomas Aquinas Primary School students, Running Café De Plume every Monday and the Pathways to Employment program. Congratulations to Year 12 students Blair Adamko, Joey Christianson and George Devine, who graduate from the program this year.

University experiences and offered some advice for our Uni years and beyond.

These two events were by far the most rewarding and memorable while being a member of Aspire, and highly beneficial. I couldn’t recommend Aspire any greater to anyone wishing to strive for success in their VCE studies; as you’re surrounded by like-minded people who are all pursuing similar goals to yourself.

A special thanks to all of the effort that Mr Smith put in to make Aspire possible this year; from organising catering of pizza lunches for the boys, to the planning of events such as the Monash excursion; it was much appreciated by all of the boys involved.

Patrick Sweet

VCAL

Health and Wellness Program

The Year 12 students undertook an integrated program that incorporated both Personal Development Skills and Work Related Skills during Term 2. The program focused on all aspects of Health and Wellness.The boys had the opportunity to undertake a variety of different fitness sessions, from obstacle training to boxing, to yoga. The aim was to broaden the student’s experiences with exercise and physical activity. The boys also completed tasks on risk taking, nutrition, cooking, mindfulness and gratitude. The boys gained real life skills and knowledge that they will be able to use when making decisions about their health and wellness.

Year 12 VCAL Challenge Camp

On Monday 28 October the VCAL boys set off at 8:00am to the Trees Adventure Park in Yeodene for our high ropes course. We had a briefing from the employees and headed straight for the courses. Some of the courses were quite challenging however, we were able to pick a course for our level of comfort. Once we had finished our time at the high ropes course, we went down the road to Planet Mud Outdoor Adventure and went paintballing. They set up different challenges throughout the time with my favourite one being the ‘free for all’. People diving through bushes, paintballs flying everywhere and many sore bodies lead us to saying goodbye and heading on the long drive back to Lorne to set up. Day 2 - We took the bus to Sheoak Falls for our nice long 22km hike that showed us some fantastic views of the ocean and a nice waterfall. This hike also took some of us to breaking point, walking up and down all the hills. We went back to the campsite to see that some of our tents had almost blown away in the high winds. Day 3 - With an early wake up to pack away all of our things and headed down the coast to see Go Ride A Wave who took us into the ocean for a nice surf. After our surfing session, we headed down to Anglesea for lunch and headed back to school, which finished off a great VCAL Camp.

Thomas Fitzpatrick

SCOPE

Matthew Cogger

Basil’s Farm

Angus McLeish

In 11 PDS class we had Tilly from SCOPE that was teaching us how to talk and communicate to people that have a disability. Annie came into our class one day and was telling us her personal story. Annie is diagnosed with a multiple disabilities and explained how she does not like when people talk to her like a kid and don’t respect her like an adult. Tilly also showed us how to approach people that have a disability. Tilly and Annie told us that people with a disability do not like to be called derogatory names. They also said that if you say hi or how are you going, to a random person that you do not know it might make their day a little bit better. The one thing I took out of the program was to see the person not the disability.

We started of the year at Basil’s farm just maintaining the garden they use to grow produce for the kitchen. Every week two students would go into the kitchen and the head chef would give them a recipe such as tomato soup or broccoli soup, we would then pick the produce and make meals for the soup van on a Sunday night. After a couple weeks of making the garden look pristine, we had the great experience of helping the vineyard manager harvest all the grapes for the next vintage of wine. We had a teacher from the Gordon come out to teach us about using tools and equipment and taking care of them. He also taught us about how to drive a tractor and we had to complete the tractor test. Just a few weeks ago, we were asked to help move the garden, as we have been working on it for several weeks. For the last six weeks we have been disassembling the old garden and moving it to its new location. Overall, Basil’s Farm has been a great experience and we have really enjoyed the year.

LIBERATING EDUCATION

Careers

The Careers Program in 2019 was jam packed with many opportunities offered to students, to investigate careers and build their personal career development portfolio. Students participated in careers excursions including the Avalon Airshow careers program, Internet of Things program at the Gordon, the Geelong Future Leaders of Industry program, and the Deakin Systems Engineering Experience. Students in Years 10, 11 and 12 also chose to undertake work experience (now optional) in a range of workplaces, including Essendon Football Club, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Coulter Roache Law, St John of God Hospital, Barwon Health, Hanlon Industries, Gen U, CSIRO, Lake and Land, and many more. Some of their stories can be found below.

Careers excursions are advertised to students through their school email. Students are able to do work experience from Year 10 onwards. Any students keen to take up this opportunity should see Karen Shum at Careers at the Edmund Rice Campus.

During the last two terms of 2019, Careers trialled the Morrisby Assessment with a group of willing participants in Years 10 – 11 with a very positive result. From 2020, all Year 10 students will undertake the Morrisby Assessment during Careers Week. Some of the many benefits of the Morrisby Assessment include: increased self-awareness by providing objective analysis of aptitudes, interests, motivations and preferences; assistance with subject, pathway and prospective higher education courses and careers; and increased focus, direction and motivation in students’ studies. Students interested in doing the Morrisby Assessment in Years 11 and 12 are welcome to do so. Information about Morrisby will be included in the 2020 Wellbeing Information Evening.

Work Experience – Engineering / Boiler Maker

I had work experience at Hanlon Industries and experienced all of the different equipment and machines that are involved in steel fabrication. At the start, I worked on the floating Christmas tree which Hanlon created and maintain. Later I followed a 3rd year apprentice that they have and learnt everything I need to know about the job including welding and helped him with small jobs around the place.

The experience was very enlightening and has helped me in deciding what I want to do moving forward. I would highly recommend anyone interested in moving into a job or apprenticeship to try work experience, to allow yourself the

chance to see what you could be doing and make the right choice.

Elijah Muraca

Work Experience - Surveying

Towards the end of Term 3, I was given the opportunity to have work experience undertaken as an Alpine Surveyor. The work consisted of analysing rural roads on the side of a steep plateau outside of Tangambalanga in North-East Victoria as well as identifying the gradient of a flooded sand mine and estimating the amount of material within a geographical area of importance. Whilst undertaking work as an Alpine Surveyor I was able to learn how the use of trigonometry, deviation of images and trilateration was able to help to that of a Surveyor’s work. I found the work demanding yet highly rewarding and am thankful for the opportunity I was given to be able to experience such I field that I may pursue in the future.

Noah Conroy

Airshow Experience

The 2019 Airshow saw various opportunities to discover careers paths within the Aviation industry along with incredible exhibits from multiple sectors that included aerospace, technology, space and defence. The Careers For Future Expo saw various schools unite in conference with experts in the industry ranging from Air Traffic Controllers to Drone Specialists to gain invaluable information regarding STEM educational pathways that are involved. Although presentations and expos were extremely enriching, the major highlight of the day was certainly seeing the menacing F35 blast over our heads. For anyone considering a career in the aviation industry, we would highly recommend this as an amazing day out along with acquiring expert knowledge.

Daniel Starcevic and Owen Agius-Mikin, Year 12

Library News

Did you know that an average of 720 students use the Br Rahill Resource Centre at the Edmund Rice Campus every day? Many students come with their class for learning sessions or to borrow for wider reading, but the library is also busy during break times as students come to study, read or participate in activities. It is fantastic to see so many students using the library each day.

This year there has been a 40.3% increase in student borrowing with over 10,500 resources borrowed in the first three terms. Year 7 students were the champions again, borrowing over 5000 resources.

The Waterford Learning Centre at Westcourt is also a very popular place. New shelving has been installed around the perimeter of the room and the collections have been reorganised according to genre. The resources look inviting and engaging, particularly on the display shelves around the library. Student borrowing at Westcourt has increased by 21% this year.

Lunchtime clubs run every day and students have the option of participating in the Books and Movies Club, Creative IT, Board Games and Chess, or Construction sessions. The Books and Movies Club read Storm Boy and then watched the movie, and later in the year prepared the Book Week Kahoot and staff Book Chat session. The Creative IT group has enjoyed using Arduino and Makey Makey electronic kits, programming the Spheros for battle, and creating and programming the Lego Mindstorms.

The 2019 Book Week theme was ‘Reading is my Secret Power’. Students participated enthusiastically in all of the activities, especially the lunchtime Kahoot and competitions. Visiting speakers this year were fantasy writer Michael Pryor for Year 7, Robert Newton, author of Year 8 novel Runner, and Mark Smith, author of Year 9 text Road to Winter. Students also enjoyed the opportunity to chat informally in a meet and greet session with Michael Pryor and Robert Newton in the Br Rahill Library during lunchtime. The Creative IT session during Book Week was a green screen activity and students brought out their inner secret super power with superhero costumes and fantasy backgrounds!

The Library team: Ms Joy Whiteside, Mr Luke Guy, Mrs Ros King, Mrs Heather Stapleton & Mrs Melissa Wills

Book Week Competition winners

Kahoot

1st - Billy Gibbons, Year 11

2nd - Ben Bucek, Year 10

3rd - Cooper Pretlove, Year 7

Br Rahill - Jake Pennisi, Year 10

Westcourt - Cooper Webber 9H

Writing competition

Waterford - Angus Dallow, 7J & Bailey Inglis, 8F

Westcourt - Charlie Bowman, 9K

My Secret Power

Extracts from competition winning stories:

Match the staff member to the book with secret power

You will probably think I sound crazy or I’m just joking but I really can read people’s minds. It started last year when I got struck by a cricket ball walking home. Of course I haven’t told anyone I can read their thoughts, I mean, why would I? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! Well no use trying to talk to you like this so here’s my story.

Since you get the gist of the story so far I’m going to skip ahead to when I lost my hidden power. It happened while I was doing the St Joseph’s entrance exam. I remember my pencil was scraping against the sheet of paper as I copied down other people’s answers. ………..

Angus Dallow, 7J

Hi, my name is Thorne and I’m an earth elemental; you can probably tell by the name. I live in a tree. Sorry, we live in a tree, and by we, I mean our whole village. Let me tell you a bit about myself. I’m 13 yrs old and I go to elemental school. I have a mum and a dad and a few friends. Life is pretty simple and so am I.Well, I was until we were attacked by the de-leafs, a group that destroy our homes and kill our people……..

Bailey Inglis, 8F

LIBERATING EDUCATION

English Snapshots

A Kids Poem

A serious poem coming from a kid,

About how the world could be greener and the seas could be cleaner.

But instead of fixing what ones caused your greed in your push to succeed,

Yet accuse our generation is not fit to lead.

Still you get what you want and not what we need.

Doomed is one word; and our problems are another.

Either all… this is just a kid’s poem.

Henry Beggs, 8F

Hidden

He sits around the hidden place, here he can show his true face.

He twiddles his thumbs, looks outside, thinks of the human race.

Is this really who we are, is this who we have become?

How far can we go, before karma takes the hold.

Can we evolve, can we make it past.

Save ourselves, not be the last, not become the past.

Move the bricks, rearrange.

We must stop all meaningless decisions, start making a real change.

The power is sitting, dormant within his hands.

The power to raise his voice, make sure everyone understands.

Carl Beales, 8G

Beach

The waves crashing in to the soft sandy shore

Hammering onto the hot sand cooling it as it goes

Loud and powerful, as the wind blows on shore

The water rushes through my toes

I ran and jump into the salty shore

The seagulls chirping up above

The little kids eating fish and chips

As the sun goes down the blue changes to purple

Purple changes to pink and pink changes to black

As the moon comes up after another hot day at the beach

Archer Lennon, 8I

BLACK AIR

The air turned black around me.

There is a shiver down my spine.

And all I can hear is a soft humming.

Then someone taps me on the shoulder.

I woke up from that bad dream, with a gasp of air like I was choking.

I get out of bed and I can still hear the humming.

When I get into the kitchen it was a ghost town. No one was here.

I look out the window and I can still see the black air.

I saw a figure coming from the black air, and looks like he is holding an axe.

Then I realize it was dad saying shut the doors, it’s a dust storm.

But I can still hear the humming.

Kyan Gervasoni, 7B

Why did I enjoy English Literature?

English Literature was for me, one of the most enjoyable, if difficult subjects. As someone who loves English, it allowed me to stretch my legs and sit down with like-minded students who also loved English. The opportunity to dissect classic texts such as Macbeth and Twelve Angry Men was great. In the past, I’d always felt like I’d been missing something and I’d never really been pushing myself to my limits. Yet, with English Literature I felt like I was being forced to think more, and to really delve more deeply into each text. The subject was always a high point of the day and provided many opportunities for me to learn. These opportunities were ones that I would not have had in the other English subjects available to me.

Michael Moore

Looking across at my friends

The sound of the speaker twinkled at my ears.We were walking along the worn out asphalt road, which was crumbling on the sides. I looked forward into the sun, which was a tiny streak on the horizon. It looked like an egg yolk melting into the almost dark night. I looked back at my friends and the thought of them made me smile.

I looked forward again, the night was darkening quickly. It was cold, but not too cold. Again the sound of the speaker softly throbbed at my eardrum. This is what I loved, hanging out with friends without the worry of having to be somewhere, the thought made me feel warm inside but again not too warm; there was a nervous part of me thinking about what would happen next in the years to come in our lives.

My moment of thought stopped as I tripped over a small stone, I looked back peering at it but it was too dark to see; the street light was far behind us and the light had slowly faded, almost into nothing. I looked at the trees on the side of the road, their shadows casting an almost completely black backdrop.

The town of Queenscliff wasn’t overly big I thought to myself. Maybe one and a half thousand, some of which were elderly. It was a seaside town but did not feel like it on a night like this.

The asphalt on the road had improved quite a bit, still crumbling on the sides but more stable. The light was better now that we had entered another street light radius. It began to grow lighter and lighter as we passed the light, I could hear the soft but continuous sound of the buzzing moths that hung around the flickering light. The shadows became longer again as we entered the darkness.

I turned my back towards my group of friends, I waited for them and then walked with them, joining in the conversation. We continued along, down the road and around the bend, the side of the road had turned from a rough, uneven pathway and a tree backdrop to an area of grass. The faint light sprinkled across the grass turning into nothing, just inky darkness, it flickered across the dew looking unnatural.

I looked up and saw it, the old brown house. There was a faint light on inside, which shimmered across the boxy windows. The windowsills were wood and looked quite worn out, but I couldn’t really tell, and the old brown bricks completed the house giving it an unusual look. Everyone had gone quiet, the speaker had stopped. This is what we came for.

As we approached the car, all of us dropped to our knees, the tiny rocks stung and prickled at our legs but on we went. Two kids continued forward, down the drive and onto the concrete porch, which was covered in cracks and has tiny bumps on it. The sensor light flicked on, its dull light flickered across the porch and onto the drive, casting shadows on the nearby bushes. My heart lurched forward, pounding as my friends struck out at the door sending dust everywhere, they hit the door again and then ran.

My heart leaped as I sprinted back, the rocks grinding on my sneakers, I ran as fast as I could forcing the breath out of my mouth and then sucking more in.

I didn’t like knick knocking that much, but looking back at my friends and seeing the huge grins and hearing their laughter made me want to do it. I guess that’s the price you pay to have this moment with your friends.

Leo Howard, 7K

Debating & Public Speaking

May saw the start of the senior Debater’s Association of Victoria competition at Geelong Grammar. St Joseph’s College has fielded debating teams in three divisions for the competition with the students preparing their arguments to tackle the big issues that face our society with both our A and B Grade teams successful in Round 1.

The A grade team were arguing in the negative for the topic “That, instead of being elected, members of Parliament should be randomly selected” against St Ignatius College. Year 11 and 10 students Finnegan Murray, Matthew Issell and Thomas Newnham were able to argue that such a move would not further representative democracy and would undermine the institutions that ensure equality and equity in our society.

The B grade team, consisting of Matthew Tripodi, Mark Wee and Jahred Glover argued against the topic “That we should allow pill testing at music festivals” in their debate against the Geelong College. The students were able to successfully explore a range legal and health issues of allowing such a move.

The D grade debaters narrowly went down to the Sacred Heart College team in arguing against the topic of “That we should ban horse racing”. Finn Jaques, Cooper Webber and Charlie Bowman explored the economic, social and legal ramifications of such a move in our community.

ACC Public Speaking and Debating

Towards the end of August, 11 students from Years 9 and 10 represented St Joseph’s College at the ACC Public Speaking and Debating competition. The two teams grappled with topics ranging from Performance Pay for teachers to whether gambling is bad for sport and whether trial by jury should be abolished. Despite falling foul of some terrible Melbourne traffic, Year 10 students Finnegan Murray, Matthew Tripodi, Jahred Glover, Joshua Burgess and Mark Wee with the help of Tane Berends and Charlie Bowman from Year 9 took their wits and arguments to the students of boys schools from across Melbourne.

Year 9 Students Finn Jaques, Cooper Webber, Jett Sansom and Sascha Wheelwright participated in the public speaking competition for the school. All students prepared speeches on topics of interest to them, with Sascha and Cooper participating in the Impromptu speaking competition, where they have five minutes to write a speech to an unseen topic.

I would like to congratulate all students on their representation of the College on the day and for their hard work and

Legacy Public Speaking

dedication to the public speaking and debating program at the school.

Year 7 Student Michael Ahearn represented SJC at the state preliminary finals of the Legacy Public Speaking Competition having won the Geelong regional competition in Term 2. The competition called on students aged 12-14 to write and deliver a speech on one of Legacy’s core values. Michael spoke on the role of education, care and social justice in improving the lives of the less fortunate.

The competition also had an impromptu speaking session where students had five minutes to prepare a two minute speech on a secret topic. Michael was able to craft a speech on the topic of “What summer means to me” and present without hesitation – showing his great public speaking skills in both speeches. The College congratulates Michael on his participation in this competition.

Four Year 11 students represented St Joseph’s College at the Geelong round of the UN Youth Evatt public speaking competition. The Evatt aims to mimic the United Nations Security Council as students develop their diplomacy and public speaking skills in exploring resolutions put before the council to explore global security issues.

Matthew Issell and Thomas Newnham collaborated to take the role of the United States of America while Nicholas Naumovski and Michael Leach represented the Republic of France. Both groups of students enjoyed the power to veto resolutions put to the council, however all boys actively tried to persuade other nations represented to support their positions on the issues presented for debate in order to reach outcomes which benefitted their constituencies and the global community.

The students present had to use their diplomatic skills as they explored xenophobic extremism, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and the global outbreak of measles. The St Joseph’s students were enthusiastic in pursuing their national agendas while showing their critical thinking and political knowledge in order to deal with resolutions put to the competition. I would like to congratulate the boys on their effort during the Evatt competition and commend them on their knowledge of global issues.

Peter Ryan

Debating & Public Speaking

Junior DAV Debating

Back Row: Colby McCallum, Luca Baum, Ethan Powe, Jaeger Fawcett, Keegan Spillard, Lachlan Lamb

Front Row: Jake Wojcik, Finn Murphy, Edward Sargeant, Jack Gulli, Matthew Suhandi, Michael Ahearn

Absent: Elijah Enfiesta, Michael FitzGerald

ACC Debating & Public Speaking

Back Row: Matthew Tripodi, Ethan Powe, Charlie Bowman, Finn Jaques, Joshua Burgess

Middle Row: Mark Wee, Jett Sansom, Finnegan Murray, Cooper Webber, Jahred Glover-Taylor

Senior DAV Debating

Back Row: Nicholas Naumovski, Jahred Glover-Taylor, Cooper Webber, Finnegan Murray, Finn Jaques, Mark Wee

Front Row: Matthew Tripodi, Matthew Issell, Thomas Newnham, Michael Leach, Charlie Bowman, Joshua Burgess

Front Row: Lachlan Lamb, Jaeger Fawcett, Sascha Wheelwright, Luca Baum, Colby McCallum

Plain English Speaking Award

L-R: Finnegan Murray, Michael Leach

Language Studies

LOTE Camp 2019

This year, the first day of Year 9 & 10 LOTE camp we headed with our class of boys and girls as well as the Year 9s, off on a long bus ride to Bonegilla, which is on the border of Victoria, at least the sun was out. Going on this excursion gave us an insight into what the Italian migrants experienced when they arrived there.The next day we explored the city of Melbourne involving food tours and the motor show. On the last day we headed to Club Italia where we did a range of fun activities such as cooking pizza, biscuits and crostoli, we played bocce and watched a movie. Overall, these three days with the class was a great experience and we all had a ball!

Luke Carra, Year 10

This year Italian has been an experience I haven’t been able to forget! We have had endless opportunities to not only learn the language but we also take a big step into Italian culture with several excursions, and especially LOTE camp.

For the Year 9 & 10 LOTE camp for 2019 the decision was made to do something completely different than all the previous years, instead we had three separate day trips which, in my opinion, was much better!

For the first day trip we drove out to Bonegilla, it was a very long trip, although it was all worth it, during the five hour

trip there we took the opportunity to interact with all the students to really get to know each other. Once we got there we were all very tired although we instantly forgotten as soon as we were greeted with a positive vibe from our tour guides. We then took a tour around the camp and saw how Italian migrants who went to Bonegilla lived while they were in the camps.

On the second day of LOTE camp we took a day trip up to Melbourne to experience Italian culture, at the time we were up there a European car show, the Motorclassica was on, where we got to see lots of Ferraris, that was then followed up by a food tour where we got to embrace the culture from tasting all sorts of amazing dishes, my favourites were the gelati, and the espresso which are some of Italy’s most famous dishes.

Our third and final day of LOTE camp was by far my favourite, we got to really experience Italian culture first hand at the Italian social cub. We were split into three groups and had rotations of cooking, Italian board games and bocce, by the end of it we were all full from the amount of pizza and biscotti we ate.

The LOTE camp was an amazing and I’m glad we all got to experience all the activities first hand with the help of all the Italian teachers and tour guides.

James Bove, Year 10

LIBERATING EDUCATION

Science

SCIENCE WEEK 2019

National Science Week is Australia’s biggest week celebrating science and technology. The theme in 2019 was ‘Destination Moon’ and St Joseph’s College celebrated from Monday 12 August.

The boys participated in a variety of activities. These included simulating space vehicles using sphero robots, VR headsets and Kahoot quizzes.

The Year 7 champions were Michael Ahearn and Zephyr Spillard. Well done to all students who participated.

RACI Titration Competition

Each year, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute invites students from Years 10, 11 and 12 in each state to compete in a titration competition. Students are required to apply skills specific to chemistry which involves the use of pipettes and burettes, determining the endpoint of an acid-base reaction using an indicator and calculating the concentration of an unknown solution.Those who participate do not need to have any background in chemistry.

Teams consist of three students and this year St Joseph’s entered two teams. These students gave up multiple lunch times during Term 3 practising for the competition. This preparation ended with a 90 minute session to complete the titrations and calculations involved.

Congratulations go to the students who competed: Michael Music, Nicholas Zanghi, Lachlan Kelly, Armin Biria and Thomas Poole.

Philippa Barber, Science Curriculum Area Leader

Mount Rothwell Excursion

The Environmental Science classes went to the Mount Rothwell Biodiversity Conservation and Research Reserve. The students went to help understand the Mount Rothwell Conservation Team’s work to help their efforts conserve some of Victoria’s most endangered native animals.

Students set small traps before sundown with peanut butter balls to lure the nocturnal animals in when they emerged for a feed. Students viewed a presentation that detailed the background of Mount Rothwell and the specifics of the conservation work they are doing on site.

One of the staff, Vanessa, took us for a spotlight walk around the reserve after dark and we were lucky enough to see for ourselves an abundance of potoroos, rock wallabies, ring tailed possums, rufus bettongs, eastern quolls and eastern barred bandicoots in their natural habitats. A rare sight even for staff. We then returned to check the traps and recorded data such as weight, checking for chips, sex etc. of the animals before setting them free. We were lucky enough to find two male

eastern quolls and helped to transport them to their breeding pens. This work will go a long way to helping the survival of their species.

Patrick Day and Lachlan Schoemaker

The Boat to Queenscliff

Year 9 Science of the Sea students went on an excursion to Queenscliff. The boat trip was amazing! After a 35 minute bus trip to Port Phillip Bay, the class boarded the ‘Kyena’ for a ride and dropped a trawl net. We collected specimens of some of the wildlife of the bay, the decorator crab and the Ascidians. We then went to the marine and freshwater discovery centre (that’s a very long name) to see some of their creatures; the flat head fish and the sea horses. Following that we checked out their ‘labs’ and saw some of their preserved body parts of dead creatures, like the breast plates of a turtle that doesn’t even live in the bay! All in all it was a great day.

Year 9 Science of the Sea

YEAR 8 SCIENCE EXPO

Year 8 Science students conducted an exhibition as the culminating event for their Term 3 study of Biology. Similar to real-life scientific gatherings, Year 8 students presented posters and models of a body system to an eager and inquisitive audience of Primary School children. Our Year 8 students became the experts in the room and were able to discuss the anatomy and function of various body systems, including the digestive system, the respiratory system, the circulation system, the excretory system, and the skeletal system. Year 8 students were asked to make their models out of recyclable materials, and consequently, the construction of each model required a large amount of planning, resourcefulness and imagination. These projects pushed students to build their capacity to plan and work together to meet a deadline. The bricolage component (creating and constructing a work from a diverse range of things) stimulated the need to learn Anatomy in greater detail. The conference style gathering allowed the Year 8 students to display their work to an audience that was hungry to learn more, and from a teaching viewpoint, it was great to watch our students fill the shoes of the expert and answer a multitude of questions.

Adam Morrissey, Year 8 Science Teacher

National Youth Science Forum

Over the January Summer holidays whilst everyone else I knew was busy relaxing by the beach, soaking up some well needed sunshine and putting off their holiday homework, I, along with 189 fellow like-minded Year 12 students had the pleasure of attending the 2019 National Youth Science Forum held at the Australian National Museum in Canberra.

If you’ve never heard of it before, The National Youth Science Form is the ‘Mecca’ of nerd camps, a twelve day residential activity for students interested in all facets of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) and designed to help participants gain significant insights into a variety of study and career opportunities across STEM related fields.

For the twelve days each student was placed in a specific interest group of their choosing, ranging from physics to computer science as well as everything else in between. I was a member of ‘Hill’ the biology interest group named after Dorothy Hill an Australian Palaeontologist renowned for her research into prehistoric coral. Throughout the two weeks we as a group attended several biology related STEM visits across ANU. We conducted electrophoresis experiments in actual biomedical laboratories, held some snakes and even had a look at the university’s zoological specimen collection, which made a few people queasy.

Apart from specific interest group visits we also attended complete cohort activities including several lectures from several key and emerging figures in the Australian Science industry such as Professor Anne Kelso from the National Health and Research Centre, Dr Hayley Teasdale who recently finished her PhD into Parkinson’s Disease and many more. We even got to hold a video conference with a member of CERN, a Nuclear Research Company based in Switzerland that operates the Hadron Collider, one of the biggest particle accelerators in the world. As a biology student most of what he was talking about went completely over my head, but all of the physics students were certainly frothing at the mouth.

Although it has got the word “Science” in it, the forum was

Nathan Fox, Year 12

also largely comprised of activities that would normally exist outside the scientific sphere. We had a science disco where we each had to design and create costumes for a group and later watch them fall apart due to our phenomenal dancing skills. As a biology group we all decided to go as different components of a cell. I went as a chromosome hence my X-shaped pose. One guy went as an Endoplasmic Reticulum hence why you might see him wearing a pink tutu. It’s a biology thing, you probably wouldn’t understand. We visited Parliament House, did some swing dancing, went to Questacon and even had a closing ceremony concert in which I performed a moving acoustic cover of Elton John’s ‘Daniel’. Well, I thought it was moving.

We even attended our very science dinner at the National Museum where we got to meet Australian Chief Scientist Alan Finkle. Finkle was certainly one of the major highlights of the forum, and I myself was deeply inspired by his speech about the potentials of using hydrogen gas as an energy source in Australia. I personally know very little about engineering, but even despite that I was still captivated by his question to find “passion and purpose” in everything that he does in life.

Without a doubt, the NYSF would have to have been one of the most amazing, rewarding and eye-opening experiences of my entire lifetime. It was so refreshing to be working alongside such a tightly knit community of students from all across the country who all share the same love and passion for STEM, and what made it stand out even more was the fact that you never really get the opportunity to network on a scale such as this. I’ll never forget my time at the NYSF or the great friends I made along the way, and I encourage every single science student to consider applied for this amazing experience in the near future.

LIBERATING EDUCATION

Mathematics

New in Mathematics.

2019 saw the continued roll out of OneNote in the Mathematics faculty lead by SJC “Tech Coach” Jack Jurica in both junior and senior Mathematics classes. In 2019, OneNote is changing the way teachers teach and students learn.

What is OneNote?

OneNote is an ICT tool that allows the sharing of documents, videos, key dates and various other resources between students and teachers. SJC students are able to access these resources in and out of the classroom, at school as well as at home.

How is OneNote being used?

OneNote is a teacher driven tool with applications in Mathematics classes dictated by individual staff. Teachers within the Mathematics department are tending to use the program in different ways, but in general, teachers are using it to enhance traditional teacher driven classroom instruction. Whilst OneNote has provided teachers with new methods of teaching, it has done the same for students as learners. Students can now easily and readily follow instruction during class time, and then again beyond the classroom, at home. Teaching notes, videos, power points and other resources remain accessible outside of the classroom. A student, who wishes to review the work from a particular day’s lesson, now has access to the notes, teaching instructions, videos and anything else the teacher has provided at any time. Further, if a student misses a class they can easily access resources from the class they have missed and keep up to date with their Mathematics learning. Students and parents can also access the topics, skills and concepts that will be taught in future lessons.

How does it benefit the Mathematics students at SJC?

OneNote is facilitating the growth of independent Mathematics learners at SJC and ensuring transparency of learning between teachers, students and parents. Students can easily access information that shows them what they have learnt, what they will learn and when they have the opportunity to show that the skills and understanding that they have developed.

Gregory Waller – Mathematics Faculty Leader

Why are Mathematics teachers using OneNote?

OneNote has ensured a level of communication between teachers and learners that is unprecedented. If implemented correctly teachers are able to provide students with the information that makes them aware what concepts they are learning and when this learning will be assessed.

Senior SJC Mathematics teacher

Why are Mathematics students using OneNote?

OneNote makes me less reliant on my teacher for physical resources. If I want to revise a particular concept I have found difficult in the past I am able to access to resources at any time.

Connor Fopiani, Year 12 Mathematics Student

OneNote is a great program which enables flexible use of class resources, it has really helped me to advance my learning from home.

Riley Eggleton, Year 12 Mathematics Student

OneNote has enhanced and streamlined my exam revision. Everything required for me to prepare for my end of year exam is available for several months up until the exam. I am confident that this will set me up for success.

Drew Green, Year 12 Further Mathematics Student

I am now able to take ownership of their learning as I have access to resources and key information at any time. This is enabling me to become an independent learner, as I am able to look ahead to future concepts or review harder skills previously taught.

Brannon Goli, Year 11 Mathematics student

OneNote is a really helpful tool for class work and studying. It can be used anywhere if you have the internet. Great tool.

Connor Njokos, 8I Mathematics

I personally think that OneNote is quite useful as it supports teachers and students through their learning journey and it makes it a lot easier for both. In addition, you can store work and not always have to worry about where you have put it and when a teacher might ask, get ready or go on to your laptops and follow yesterday’s exercise, you know where to go and what to do. This is why I personally think OneNote is very useful and handy to have and use.

Danu Lakey, Year 7 Mathematics

Product Design & Technology

In this year’s Virtus I have decided to let the students do the talking as it is they, who are having the experiences. Therefore, I thought it best that the information comes from the primary source. I hope you enjoy their comments and observations. I personally found them revealing, especially the aspects of autonomy, freedom and difference.

Paul Melis, PD&T Wood Coordinator

The reasons I choose Product Design & Technology are; I get a mix of study work and designing, hands on practical work and a relaxed work environment. This area of study allows me the freedom to create my own ideas for the project that I will be making.

Jack Rickerby, Year 11

In Product Design & Technology the subject allows me to get more hands on. This is how I prefer to learn and work. I love being able to design and build something. It’s really enjoyable to get out of the classroom.

Dylan Blight, Year 11

I have chosen Product Design & Technology from Year’s 811. This is because it gives me a break from everyday school work. The ability to design our own project within certain guidelines is different to the normal set curriculum.

Jacob Beekmans, Year 11

I like the “hands on” nature of the subject where you get away from subjects where your head is in either a text book or a computer.

Matthew Eid, Year 11

I enjoy Product Design & Technology as the learning environment is different to a standard sitting down type of classroom. It is also a hands on subject where you can make actual products that you can take home. I find the building really enjoyable and good fun.

Micah Haste, Year 11

Massimo Pantano, Year 8

Lachlan Lamb, Year 8

Hamish Poole, Year 8

Adam Dahm, Year 10

I chose this subject because my family likes timber and workshops. Whether this be working with wood, electronics, cars etc. For a while I have wanted to learn a thing or two about woodworking, so I took the opportunity to do this subject. I really love hands on learning and I have enjoyed the subject so far.

I really like woodwork with Mr Melis. I always look forward to coming to class due to Mr Melis’ humour and the way he teaches us. I find the work challenging. I try my best to enjoy and have fun. I think it pays off.

I did find the folio took a long time and needed a lot of detail. The model making is good and learning to use all the tools is great. The subject is like P.E as it there is a lot of physical things to do.

I chose this subject as I am interested in this type of subject. It breaks up the day from continuing to work with computers. It is creative and hands on, which is different from other subjects.

I chose this subject because I enjoyed it in Year 8 & 9. I wanted to do a subject that was not books and a computer. I wanted to make something that I would have for a long time.

Stanko Dugandzic, Year 10

I chose to do woodwork to learn how to build furniture. I wanted to learn the skills to be able to fix things in the future and when I get older.

Tanner Owen, Year10

I chose this subject because it connected with my VET course. I am a hands on type of learner.

Tarkyn Sayers, Year 10

Food Studies

Food is essential for life and cooking provides essential life skills …

This year Food Studies successfully promoted key skills for students working in the kitchen and encouraged greater independence by students performing food preparation tasks, across all year levels at St Joseph’s College.

Food students were introduced to various topics, often through new recipes and ingredients. In order to create interest and engagement through authentic learning experiences. The hands-on tasks that boys enjoy in their weekly practical activities are skill based, from the basics in our introductory classes at a junior level to more advanced skills offered in VCE classes.

The senior food students this year had the opportunity to attend excursions, including our Year 12 class who visited a working farm, to observe sustainable farming methods and environmental considerations in primary food production. The class was fortunate to experience such farming expertise locally, as they spent time with the farm staff, in order to reinforce their own knowledge of these learning areas.

Foods classes were encouraged to embrace new challenges, such as collaboration through group work. The VCE Food Studies Preparation class in 2019 welcomed a vegetarian

guest speaker, as they expertly prepared and shared a suitable vegetarian meal together.

“Some things that I discovered about being a vegetarian from our guest speaker which were interesting, was that he grew up being a vegetarian, and although he had tried meat, he didn’t like the taste and texture of meat. I also discovered numerous meat alternatives used by vegetarians for protein, such as tofu, legumes and lentils. The information our guest speaker covered was certainly both informative and personal, as he shared his own experiences about being a vegetarian, as well as basic vegetarian diets.”

Max Jones, Year 10

Thank you Max for your Vegetarian Challenge reflection.

This year we farewelled one of our Food Studies team members, in Suzanne Walsh after twelve years at SJC. We would like to thank Suzanne for her dedication to teaching Food Studies over many years and we wish her the very best for her retirement. Thanks to Leanne Rivett, Nicole Lucas, Leanne Sims, Kirsten Falzon and Katrina Sherman, for all of their valuable assistance and ongoing support in 2019.

Happy cooking!

Cassandra Coogan, Technology Curriculum Area Leader

Health & Physical Education

This year saw the continued development and improvement of our Health and Physical Education programs and the opportunities offered to students to experience a wide variety of physical learning experiences.

As well as core physical education classes, which focus on the development of skills and fitness, students, were also presented with numerous elective options during 2019. Adventure Race at Westcourt, Sport Science at Year 10 our VCE offerings of Health and Human Development, Outdoor and Environmental Studies and Physical Education and the VET Sport and Recreation courses (Outdoor Recreation and Coaching).

Our boys have once again been able to learn about and be challenged by the outdoors in the Outdoor Education subjects on offer at SJC. Through their participation in a variety of outdoor activities such as surfing, white water rafting, snowboarding, skiing, kayaking, hiking, mountain biking and sailing, students have learnt about themselves and the environments they’re in. Gaining an understanding of how to minimise impacts, participate in a sustainable manner and learn of the importance of healthy environments is key to these subjects. Hopefully these boys will continue to use these environments well after they finish their schooling,

having developed a passion for recreation and adventure that only the outdoors can offer!

Our domain also really set to work this year on improving the literacy outcomes of students by incorporating specific literacy building activities into the health curriculum, particularly at Years 7 and 8. This initiative was in response to a recognition that this is an area for academic improvement in our boys and the skills developed are transferable to other areas of their education.

A new points based fitness-testing model sees the boys score 1-5 points for each of six fitness tests at Year 7-11.The concept will allow boys to track progress as they progress through their physical development. Some Year 11 boys have scored 27 points, but we are still looking for our first 30-point athlete!

I would like to make special mention of the work completed this year by Mr Lachlan Doak in his role as logistics and programming coordinator. This is a complex and challenging role, I understand the time and effort that goes into planning our practical activities, both on site and off campus and ensuring we have the required equipment. Thanks again also to Mr Mark Rayson for his outstanding coordination within the Outdoor Education department.

Glenn Kemp, Health and Physical Education Coordinator

LIBERATING EDUCATION

Music

2019 was another busy year for the Music Department. We performed at numerous assemblies, masses our own concerts and music evenings. A highlight of this year was St Joseph’s College Tri school production of ‘Shrek, the Musical’. Many of St Joseph’s music students were involved in all aspects of the show. Congratulations to all involved either on stage, back stage and in the pit. The show received excellent reviews from all who attended.

The Intermediate Band combined with Belmont High, St Ignatius, Covenant College and Kardinia College for a Workshop afternoon hosted at Covenant College. This was a great opportunity to work on repertoire and work with students of similar abilities from the other schools. Sue Arney was the guest conductor for the day.

All of our ensembles participated in the Victorian Schools Music Festival and performed well. The Senior Band achieved a Gold Award and the Intermediate Band a Silver Award. Both bands had the opportunity to work on stage with visiting guest conductors. The Junior Band performed at Hawthorn Town Hall in the Novice concert band section and performed with growing confidence.

Prior to the Music Festival, the Intermediate Band attended a two day rehearsal camp at Anglesea. They spent a lot of time rehearsing but also had time to build friendships through games, a high ropes course and beach walk.

Junior and Senior Drumline have continued to develop with a key highlight being their participation in the Geelong ANZAC day parade.

The Vocal Ensemble has continued to grow in numbers on the back of the production earlier in the year.Tania Grant conducted the group for the first half of the year before going on maternity leave. Brad Treloar stepped in and continued the success of the group at various events including the Geelong Eisteddfod. Although there were not as many groups competing they, achieved two 1st places and two 2nd places in the sections they entered. The ensemble also participated in two choral evenings. One with Christian College earlier in the year and another with Geelong Youth Choir and Geelong College Community choir at the end of Term 3.

Our major music event for the year was ‘SJC Music Live’ featuring music of the 80’s. This was held in the gym as a cabaret style event with family and friends sitting at tables. Over 500 people attended with all groups performing pieces from the 80’s. Many of the students and staff took the opportunity to dress up in the theme. Special thanks to the Community & Development office for supporting the event and sponsoring the awards.

Our annual Solo Night competition held over two nights was a highlight of the year and was a fabulous opportunity for the Music department to come together as a whole. The external adjudicators commented on the high standard of the performances. It was also pleasing to note the high level of camaraderie and support that the students showed each other. Congratulations to all the students who participated.

We bid farewell to an excellent group of Year 12 students, all of whom have been exceptional in their musicianship and commitment to the College Music Program. Thanks to Christopher Bortoletto as Music Captain and Calum Boyce as his deputy and the other Year 12s who have been committed to the program for the past 6 years. Thomas Anderson, Patrick Bongiorno, Jackson Bourke, Nathan Fox, Harrison Kanellos, Michael Moreno, Charlie Scanlon, Oliver Sims and Eamon Wheatland. We wish them all the very best for the future.

Finally, thanks to all music staff who through their continued efforts and commitment to help provide such a great environment for music to thrive.

Michael Wilding, Director of Music

Solo Night Results

A Grade

1st Thomas Anderson - Violin

2nd Michael Moreno - Guitar & Voice

3rd Jordan Powe - Trombone

B Grade

1st Luke Dowd - Piano

2nd Jordan Powe - Guitar

3rd Luke Dowd - Alto Sax

C Grade

1st Michael Rudd - Guitar

Equal 2nd Ethan Powe - Piano

Equal 2nd James Mallinson - Voice

Equal 2nd Charlie Bowman - Clarinet

Equal 3rd Luke Carra - Voice

Equal 3rd Brandon Scaffidi - Voice

D Grade

1st Jaeger Fawcett - Flute

2nd Julius Mooney - Alto Sax

3rd Jack Pile - Drumkit

Novice Grade

1st Michael Ahearn - French Horn

2nd Joel Owens - Tenor Sax

Equal 3rd Fraser Sertic - Flute

Equal 3rd Luke Di Lisio - Clarinet

Q. What is like being part of school bands?

It's a great experience, I went from a school that didn't have anything to do with music to to St Josephs and having a great time. I met a lot of different people over the first year and made some really good friendships that are still good now.

Q. What is like playing in front of a large audience at the 80's night? It was very nerve racking and scary but after the first song it was just like playing after school in practice. I loved that everyone was scared but everyone had a real positive attitude and we tried our hardest to play the best that we could.

Mitchell Wise, Year 8

This was the first year for our SJC Music LIVE! Event. An event where all of our College bands have the opportunity to showcase their talents.

The theme for the evening was to celebrate the music of the 80’s, performers and staff got in the mood with some costumes that were big, bold and bright.

Small groups and ensembles entertained guests pre-show with hits such as ‘Total Eclipse Of The Heart’ “Billie Jean” “Chariots Of Fire” and “Eye Of The Tiger”. The main performance included hits such as “Final Countdown” “Footloose” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “Funky Town” and “Africa” to name a few. Performed brilliantly by the College Stage Band, Junior Intermediate and Senior Bands and Vocal Ensemble.

Student band “Channel Marker 6” and Finbar Cleary also took to the stage with their own performances. The staff band followed with “Walk Like An Egyptian” and then the evening concluded with the finale piece “We Are The World” which saw the stage filled with performers.

Student achievements were recognised with the presentation of the College Music Awards on the evening. Congratulations to everyone involved in bringing the LIVE event to the stage this year!

CERTIFICATES OF APPRECIATION

Murphy Walker

Thomas Esteban

Michael Juric

SJC Music LIVE - Celebrating the 80’s

William Clayton Year 7

Jaeger Fawcett Year 8

Elijah Van Galen Year 9

Jordan Powe Year 10

Hamish New Year 11

SENIOR MUSIC & DRAMA AWARDS

Christopher Bortoletto Service to Music (2015-2019)

SJC FOUNDATION MUSIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Thomas Anderson Service to Music & Drama (2015-2019)

Patrick Bongiorno Service to Music & Drama (2014-2019)

Jackson Bourke Service to Music & Drama (2016-2019)

Calum Boyce Service to Music & Drama (2016-2019)

Nathan Fox Service to Music & Drama (2014-2019)

Harrison Kanellos Service to Music (2014-2019)

Michael Moreno Service to Music & Drama (2014-2019)

Charlie Scanlon Service to Music & Drama (2014-2019)

Oliver Sims Service to Music (2014-2019)

Eamon Wheatland Service to Music & Drama (2014-2019)

SPECIAL MUSIC AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING COMMITMENT

Michael Ahearn Junior Band Academy

Jack Greco Junior Band Academy

Ari Turner Junior Band Academy

Tane Berends Intermediate Band

Alistair Frame Intermediate Band

Gabe Brdar Senior Band

Jarrod Zanardo Senior Band

Michael Moreno Vocal Ensemble

Elliot Senftleben

Calum Boyce

Ethan Powe

Vocal Ensemble

Stage Band

Stage Band

Christopher Bortoletto The Matthew Shelley Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music

Junior

Third

Music

Third

Second Row: Jake Green, Thomas Podbury, Finnegan Murray, Luke Carra, Brandon Scaffidi, Noah Conroy, Julius Mooney, William Baum

Staff:

Front Row: Kaleb Nicholls, Colby McCallum, Charles Bennett, Elliot Senftleben, Luca Baum, Jaeger Fawcett, Michael Moreno

Back Row: Sensith Samarasekara, Gabriel Brdar, Elijah van Galen, Sascha

Staff: Michael Wilding, Gerry O’Callaghan

Absent: Matthew Mooney, Tane Berends

L-R: Will Stein, James Dewar, Lachlan Appleford, Oliver Randall

Staff: John Seal

Senior

Postcards From Waterford - Year 7

What was different about St Joseph’s compared to Primary School?

Having a wide range of subjects. At Primary School we only had certain things that we would do each and every day of the year. Whereas at High School each day is different, new and exciting. My favourite subject at High School is Food Tech. I love working with my friends and making yummy food that we can eat and share with our families. High School has been a great experience for me and I am never going to forget my first year at SJC! - Michael Ahearn

I actually learn in a fun way :) - Hugh Madden

At primary school we didn't have any ties or blazers. There is a canteen in SJC but there wasn't one at my primary school. There is a lot of homework at SJC but in primary school there was no homework or just a little bit of homework. - Lachlan Kosic

The difference is homework. There is a bell to eat at primary. We didn't do any Science. You get your own laptop. There was no canteen at primary. There is no girls at SJC. There is a longer bus ride. We get to choose own subjects. Shorter lunch and recess time at SJC. We have more than one oval. - Finn Hislop

What I found really good about the school is that you don,t

What was the best thing about Year 7 camp?

My favourite thing was Mountain Biking. I loved riding through the bush and looking over vast and beautiful landscapes. My homeroom teacher, Ms Hall, fell off her bike when she saw a snake on the path. It was very funny! Lake Dewar camp also had lovely accommodation that everyone greatly appreciated when they had a long day outdoors doing fun activities! On Year 7 Camp, I met lots of really nice boys that I am still friends with today!Michael Ahearn

The best thing was we got to swim in the water and build rafts and make damper. On the Year 7 camp we got to do more activities like mountain bike riding, hiking and ride the flying fox over a canyon. - Rhyce Nolan

The best thing was the stand up paddle boarding because I have never experienced any type of paddling. - Jacob Nguyen

The best thing about Year 7 camp was being able to muck around with friends, swimming in the lake, and working as a team to push Mr Q off the stand up paddle board. - Charlie Cooper

just learn how to do casual subjects such as Maths, English etc but you also get to cook and many other tech subjects like that. The school prepares you from being a boy to a young man and that is definitely the best part of this great opportunity. - Will Stein

Now I can be in a place where I can meet people in my age group that I can actually talk to and they understand what I am saying. - McKenzie Mitchell

The big difference for me was about being more organised. You have to be more accountable for yourself and there is a lot more homework. - Louis VanIngen

The environment and more classes and no girls and its in Geelong and the bus ride is really long. - Finn Murphy

There is a bigger standard of work but it's better. - Hamish McDine

The things that are different to SJC compared to my primary school (Holy Family) are that SJC is a lot bigger, I'm not at the top of the school anymore and I have lockers and locks instead of a spot where I put my bag. - James Grcic

Having some time to not use any screen and have some time away from my family. - Bailey Wilson

What I liked about Year 7 camp was the dual flying fox. When you went on the flying fox you went zoom zoom and went very fast. What I saw on the flying fox was a big drop and if you fell off you would have died. It felt like your stomach dropped and felt pretty good with the view. - Lachlan Kosic

The flying fox and the view. Mountain biking and the gorge walk. Tunnelling was fun because you have to work together and gain trust. I liked the movie night. Biking was nice and the water was fresh when we went paddle boarding. - Finn Hislop

On Year 7 Camp I loved the flying fox. It was an incredible view. I saw the river and lots of wildlife. I really liked the gorge walk. It was unimaginable to see the view that I was looking at. When I was flying it felt like you could shut everything out. I was just in the moment. I really like being in the moment.

- Cooper Pretlove

WATERFORD

Year 7

What a wonderful first year of secondary schooling our Year 7 students have had at St Joseph’s. In a year of significant change with new teachers, subjects, uniforms and friends, we have been impressed by the enthusiasm that the Year 7 students have shown in the classroom, the yard and in extra-curricular activities. They overwhelmingly embraced our challenge to them – to become involved in the life of the College and to build a strong foundation for the future.

Our Year 7 students were the first cohort to occupy the new Peter Chanel Centre, or K block as the students more commonly refer to it. This has provided students with access to outstanding facilities and provided greater opportunities for collaborative work both within the classroom and with other classes, an important element of Project Based Learning.

While Project Based Learning has required students to be open to new challenges and receptive to new ideas, there have been many other opportunities throughout the school year for our Year 7 students to get involved in the life of the College so that they can build relationships. One very special opportunity for students to meet new people and extend themselves was the Year 7 camp. Students attended Lake Dewar situated in the stunning hills and gorges of Myrniong where they were given the opportunity to kayak, stand up paddle board, mountain bike, build rafts, cook damper and explore the surrounding gorges.

After much anticipation we enjoyed a day at the theatre, where we saw a number of our students involved in the fantastic Shrek production. House spirit was alive and well during our Swimming, Athletics and Cross-Country carnivals and it was wonderful to see our students participating with passion. Throughout the year we have had students represent the college in Athletics, Swimming, Cross Country, Football, Basketball, Badminton, Golf, Cycling, Public Speaking, Debating and Music Performances.

Our class captains attended a ‘CyberCats’ program at GMHBA stadium to empower young people to call out bullying, in particular cyberbullying and to learn how to protect themselves online. These leaders then shared their findings with their homerooms.

We are grateful to the Year 7 students for the energy they brought to everything they undertook and congratulate them on the start they have made at St Joseph’s. We wish them all the very best as they move into Year 8.

Finally, we wish to thank the staff, in particular Mr Simon Piasente, Head of Waterford, the Year 7 Homeroom teachers and Educational Support Staff for the exceptional care and dedication they give to each of their students.

Peter Malone & Meleah Zanos, Year 7 Coordinators

A Year 7 Reflection

Year 7, has been the best school year I’ve had my whole entire life.There have been many opportunities for me and my peers, like community service, sporting activities, Edmund Rice Day, Year 7 renewals and many, many more. In this cohort, there has been an activity or club or something to do for every student, and not many schools can do that. Many boys felt nervous and scared to enter high school, and maybe not having as many friends, but as this year has gone on, and the boys have progressed, we all have developed strong relationships with each other and teachers. Year 7 has been a very good year, and I think I can say that on behalf of nearly every boy that has ever gone through the experience of Year 7 at SJC.

Tobey Massey, 7K

Year 7 Renewal

On Thursday 5 September my class attended the Year 7 renewals. The day started off in the PAC where we listened to the Paralympian Sam Braham. Sam told heaps of stories many of which were funny. He told us about many people that he had met, the challenges he and others had faced and kept passing the message to always have integrity and live with what you have. We also Stephen Mushin come in and talk about innovation and environmental design, which was inspiring. This was followed by a class reflection and then at the end of the day we had a Liturgy in the Chapel. By the end of the day my class had gained and learnt many things about our school and Compassion, Innovation and Integrity.

Leo Howard, 7K

Postcards From Waterford - Year 8

Have you joined in with a group or activity this year?

Yes, St Joseph's football team - Jedd Coburn

Breakfast club I had a lot of fun in because I did it with all my friends - Ethan North

I joined a boxing club it was fun because I was doing what I enjoy - Tadgh O'Sullivan

I joined in at bandminton, it was good because I destroyed everyone. - Harvey Ryan

Yes I was in Shrek. The best thing was everything, social and finding out how a stage show is produced. - Nicholas Wrigley

'Dat Man'. - Cam Dat Hulk. - Luke Zivcic

Flash, so I could run fast. - Lachlan Elevato Iron man, so I can fly. - Jett Kitjapanon Spider man, so I can fly around the city with ease. - Mackenzie Butcher

Captain America. - Oliver Di Giandomenico Superman, because he can fly. - Jedd Coburn Hulk, because you would have super strength. - Ethan North Spiderman. - Daniel Molloy

I would be green lantern so I can make anything I want. - Tadgh O'Sullivan

I would be Sonic, so that they would make a bad movie about me and no one would watch. - Will Naylon

Year 8 Visit to Chinatown

On Friday 8 November, the Year 8s that participate in Chinese language were lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit Chinatown. In our group a tour guide showed us Chinatown and the Chinese Museum that we later got to experience. We learnt about the history of the buildings/shops of today and what they were originally, detail by detail. This then led us to the museum, where we learnt about the Gold Rush whilst walking through the depths of what Chinese people experienced. The museum also presented us with extraordinary amounts of history and cultural heritage. The best part of the day would have to have been the incredible food I devoured. Overall, this was an unforgettable experience that the Year 8s enjoyed very much.

William Stute, 8E

Yes, Making new friends was fun - Kaleb Nicholls

I join the ACC swimming team at the start of the year and it was fun because we got to go out and compete against other schools. - Archie Houghton

I joined texperts last year and have attended every meeting and loved it. - James Walker

Yes I have the Bannockburn football club. - Oscar Hibberd

If you could be a superhero for a day, who would you be and why?

Po the Red teletubby. - Harvey Ryan

Marty McFly, so I can time travel. - Clyde Escobido Superman because you could do just about everything. - Nicholas Wrigley

I would be spiderman, because you could get to be free and swing from building to building, and be the unknown person under the mask of spiderman. - Harrison Read

If I could be a superhero for a day I would for sure be spider man because spider man is insane. - Ashton Brogan Spider-Man Because he shoots webs from his wrist and he's acrobatic. - Kaleb Nicholls

I would be Iron man because I can fly from place to place in minutes. - Archie Houghton

Iron man/tony stark because he is a tech genius and billionaire.James Walker

Music

A Q& A session with Mitchell Wise

Q. Would you recommend getting involved in music?

Yes, it’s a great experience for people that haven’t and have played an instrument but if you start with a great positive attitude and keep trying and never give up you’ll achieve a lot. If you want to achieve high standards or just want some more music to play I would recommend doing music lessons as well as band it helps with notes, different types of music and it definitely helps to gain confidence.

Year 8

Year 8 Renewals

A Q& A session with Colby McCallum, Jaeger Fawcett & James Day

What did the Courage to Care incursion involve?

The Courage to Care team’s incursion involved a special guest Holocaust survivor talking about his hardships and the brave people who stood up against the Nazi’s and in turn led to the cessation of the mass genocide.We then split into groups with one of the Courage to Care teachers and looked in depth into those ‘Upstanders’ who opposed the Nazis. - Colby

How did the boys in your group react to learning about a confronting topic like the Holocaust?

For most of the boys an experience (of a topic as big as the Holocaust) was a real eye-opener and something that we will never forget. - Jaeger

What do you think was the main message of the Courage to Care incursion?

The main message that I took away from the day was to be an ‘Upstander’ by standing up for those who are being treated badly in and out of school and make the right decisions no matter how hard they are. - Jaeger

What was different about learning from this team?

They were experienced in the matter and quite a few of them had experienced the events or similar issues to the ones we were talking about. They hadn’t just read about it or learnt it from a textbook; they had first-hand experience. - James

So, what is an ‘upstander’?

An ‘Upstander’ is someone that stands up for what they believe in and stay true to their morals. It is someone who intervenes when he or she sees something unjust or wrong. - James

Is it possible to make History relevant to teenagers in 2019?

Yes, I think it is. Teenagers of this era are experiencing the effect of some major historical factors. With climate change becoming a global issue making some teenagers think about their future and realising the things people have done in the past to make a difference to their lives. - James

Any memories from renewals you would like to share?

The Holocaust Survivor that spoke was an incredible experience to be a part of and listening to the details he had of his time hiding from the Nazi’s and being in a concentration camp was a real eye opener for all of us, it was also great to be able to look at some real life stories of ‘Upstanders’ that risked their lives to hide Jewish people from the Nazi’s. - Jaeger

Surfing

A Q& A session with Patrick Hughes

What were the conditions like on the day?

It was nice and clean around 2ft swell, at Smith’s beach in Phillip Island.

How did the SJC team go on the day?

We did really well winning the first heat then going into the final. We all surfed well and won the final leaving us the champions. What were some of the highlights?

When Xavier Huxtable clutched up and dropped an 8 and 9 giving us a strong win.

How is surfing for school different to other competitions? It’s not a big team and everyone already knows each other so all the boys get along really well, so it was a fun little trip.

Would you recommend this experience to students?

Yes 100% a great day with some great kids!

Upstart Challenge

A Q& A session with Joshua Walpole & Jaeger Fawcett

What is Upstart?

Upstart is a competition that gives students the opportunity to work on their ideas with a mentor and make a product that they will pitch to an audience and try to attract businesses attention. . - Josh

Did you reject any ideas?

We originally had the idea of a completely new operating system like Windows or Linux but with help from our mentor we narrowed our ideas down to an achievable goal of the Floppy OS we have today. - Jaeger

What attributes are necessary?

I think the biggest attribute for aspiring entrepreneurs is the ability to make changes to your idea based on feedback. When starting a business you need to get other opinions and some will be negative, but you need a lot of resilience to be able to make these changes and even when it’s tough, keep going. - Josh

What was your idea?

Our idea was a launcher for your phone that makes the apps larger and more accessible for elderly people who have not grown up with technology. The app will be available on the Google Play store very soon. - Jaeger

Would you recommend Upstart?

I would recommend Upstart to anyone wanting to start a business when they are older. Despite the hard work you have to do you can really develop your idea and it gives you good entrepreneurial skills. - Josh

Year 8

Year 8 Football

A Q& A session with Sol Bowtell

Q. How many games did you play this year?

We played just the 2 games this year, one game in Warrnambool against Emmanuel College, then the second at home (Carey Oval) were we played Emmanuel College again. We ended up winning both games making it 2 out of 2 for the year.

Q. What did the pre-training involve for these matches?

Leading up to the game we had a few training sessions down on Carey Oval on the Wednesday night, they consisted of many drills including; 5 star handball, kick to kick, hashtag kicking drill, we also had a match simulation in the lead up to the first game.

Q. How is school football different to your weekend matches?

School football is different in regards to playing with mates from school, and in your club footy you usually play against these people so it was very good to play with your opponents and learn things from them as well, having fun. It was also a

Waterford Awards

PRINCIPAL’S AWARDS

Oscar Hart (Year 7) Principal’s Award, Humanities

Jaeger Fawcett (Year 8) Principal’s Award, Community Service

YEAR 7 EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Noah Caracella Physical Education

Luca Copic Health Studies

Jack Greco Food Studies

Oskar Hayes Art

Leo Howard English

Jordan Keegan Digital Technologies

George Leslie Band

Oliver Long Music

Riley Nolan Digital Technologies

Archie O’Brien Food Studies

Benjamin Parish Humanities

Nicholas Preiato Science

Luke Stacey Band

Zachary Stosic Italian

Matthew Suhandi Chinese

Luca Zanoni Art

Alexander Van Der Klooster Mathematics

James Dewar Leadership

Michael Ahearn Leadership, Debating and Public Speaking, Drama

Jack Greco RE Award

Alexander Van Der Klooster RE Award

Matthew Hannan Community Service

Daniel Gnjec Edmund Rice Award Music

Oliver Peake Brent Whitten Memorial Award, Cross Country Under 13 Age Champion, Health Studies, Physical Education

Jayden Pickett Mary Delahunty Memorial Award

privilege knowing that you were representing the school and all of us represented the school with pride.

Q. Can you describe the matches for us?

Game 1- Game one was a very tough fought game by both teams, it wasn’t a high scoring game but it was full of stoppages because of the small ground we were playing on, we ended up winning by 2 points after a goal late in the fourth quarter to seal the win off down in Warrnambool.

Game 2- Game two at home was a bit different to the first, with a free flowing and high scoring game for Joeys winning the game with ease, securing a 53 point win over Emmanuel College. Both games being played in great spirit and sportsmanship.

Q. Would you recommend this experience to boys in Year 8 2020?

Yes of course, this was a great experience to be part of. If you weren’t already in the Year 7 team make sure you have a go next year. I am also looking forward to next year where we get to play even more games against a variety of schools in the Geelong and Melbourne region.

YEAR 8 EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Brogan Archdall Studio Arts 2D

Thomas Bartlett Physical Education

Thomas Burke Visual Communication DesignEnvironmental Design

Samuel Condon Drama - Physical Theatre

Clyde Escobido Italian

Bailey Grist Mathematics

Samuel Leonard Science, Media Arts

Felix McDonald Studio Arts 2D

Xavier McGowan Studio Art 3D

James McLean Visual Communication Design - Drawing & Design

Jacob Meade Italian

Salia Nimley English, Information Technology - Thriving in an IT Age

Ethan North Drama - Physical Theatre

James O’Donoghue Systems Technology - All Systems Are Go

Ante Peric Product Design and Technology - Wood

Jack Pile Music Industry

Ethan Powe Music Performance

Patrick Reed Food Studies

Noa Skoko English, Humanities, Product Design and Technology - Wood

Jayden Spiteri Chinese

Joshua Walpole Health Studies, Visual Communication Design - Environmental Design

Zac McInnes Swimming Under 13 Age Champion, Athletics Under 13 Age Champion

Owen McCloskey Athletics Under 14 Age Champion

Michael Rudd

Swimming Under 14 Age Champion

Henry Cook Cross Country Under 14 Age Champion

Colby McCallum

Debating and Public Speaking

Sol Bowtell Leadership

George Cotter RE Award

Thomas Juric RE Award

Jack Knuckey

Edmund Rice

Nicholas Wrigley The Gabi Szentes Memorial Award

Waterford Art & Design Gallery

This year in year 7 art and design, we created our own comic book cover. I really enjoyed this because we used expressive colours and some of our favourite fictional characters.

Cooper Pretlove - 7E

In Year 7 art and design we got to cover a lot of different aspects of Art. The one I most enjoyed was creating the comic book cover using Photoshop but there were many more which were enjoyable.

We enjoyed making a western film in the media unit of 7 art and design and making comic book covers.

Oscar Hart and Chan Chan - 7H

Hand-built and glazed clay dragons in a Chinese or European style was my personal favourite creation for this year. We also used chisels, files and hammers to create Hebel sculptures with animals, patterns and more on them. Overall 3D Art was a very enjoyable, hands-on subject.

Jake Bucek - 8D

This year in art we got to do a variety of art work like comic book covers, Franz Marc portraits and foam printing. I really enjoyed doing the comic book covers.

Cohen Emmerson7D

Postcards From Westcourt

What is your favourite thing about being at Westcourt?

The feeling of unity between the students knowing that everyone you see is one of the Year 9 cohort and as someone who you can relate to. - Chase Oosterlaan

My Favourite thing is the opportunities that I am offered, like the Amplilatwatja immersion. - Isaac Chatham

The trip to Melbourne for the amazing race - Jack Cambridge

More space, more options. - Myles Beauglehall

The muffins are good. - Theodore Tran

My first wish would be to make everyone wholey equal in peoples eyes so that humans stop discriminating others based on race, sexuality and gender. My second wish would be to remove the conflicts and dificulties facing third world countries so that people who are living in them have better lives and not suffer from lack of shelter, food and finances. My final wish would be for a way to elimate climate change so ecosytsems such as Antartica are no longer destroyed by the rising temperature. - Chase Oosterlaan

To stop the droughts happening in Australia in the drought affected areas. To give all of the kids in third world countries a chance at an education and to end world hunger. - Charlie Clark Chips 'n Gravy, nets for the rings, go to milk bar at lunch. - Harry Allardyce

GET RID OF GLOBAL WARMING, help homeless people, change climate change - Jack Roberts

Stop climate change and give free egg and baccys to everyone! - Harry Van der Vlist

The Westcourt Journey

The journey undertaken at Westcourt is the journey from boys into young men. This year at Westcourt showed excellence in academics and sports across the board. The atmosphere at Westcourt proved that the close environment helps boys to develop new friendships, and strengthen existing ones, creating bonds that we will carry into senior years and beyond. The year was filled with many exciting events and moments, from the ACC teams, to the Clonard Social, to the China, India and Ampilatwatja trips, the Amazing Race, and more. Every one of the boys at Westcourt this year will cherish the memories and moments spent here. Westcourt has prepared me and every one of my peers for the senior years at Mt Sion, and will continue to do so for the Year 9 2020 cohort.

A highlight of the year for many boys was participating in ACC teams. St Joseph’s put in teams for footy, soccer and cricket, and achieved success in all three sports. The footy team saw a rotation of 50 boys, and fell agonizingly short in the Grand Final

That you get to finish 10minutes before main campus, you get to see the Clonard girls, have sport, that It is the best year for me. I like my electives. - Isaac Anderson

My favourite thing about Westcourt is that we can play computer, card and board games in the Waterford center during lunch. I also liked the opportunities available to us. - Ethan Saba

If you could grant three wishes to make the world a better place, what would they be?

World Peace. cheaper flights. better skateparks. - Jai Staggard

Solar panels, end all wars, end all poverty. - Deacon Virgona

Any issues involving the destruction of environments around the world are solved. Any issues involving the destruction of animal species are solved. Add Waluigi to Smash. - Jaylen Winiecki

Everyone in the world has a house to live in. World peace. Everyone has enough money to support their families. - Noah Bily Adventure race at least 12 periods a week. For me to be rich. Shorter school days. - Jack Cambridge

No rubbish or pollution in the ocean. Make the world a better place. Geelong cats win the premeriship. - Isaac Anderson

No Trump. No violence. More food. - Theodore Tran

Reduce the amount of violent people in the world. - Jack East Cheaper canteen. Longer lunch times. PE 2 days a week instead of 1.

- Austin Chisholm

to Parade. The cricket team took out the ACC Premiership a fabulous result. The soccer showed lots of promise and had some outstanding wins and close losses.

Another highlight of the year was the Clonard social. Boys were able to come to the Clonard gym and spend a night dancing with the girls. We even had our very own Harry Den Dryver and Ben Duka performing with their band, Atomic Tangerine. It was great to see some of the boys embracing the atmosphere and really getting into it. Funds raised from the Social, our RUOK day, and potato cake days tallied over $1500 and were donated to the Geelong Branch for Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre.

Brave and adventurous boys embarked on immersions and trips this year. Nine boys went on the Victorian Young Leaders to India trip and the feedback was that it was life changing. Nine boys went on the Victorian Young Leaders to China trip for a six week period to further their language studies. Eight boys also went on the Ampilatwatja immersion, with one of our Westcourt Captains, Seamus Ryan, being lucky enough

to participate. This group went to a remote Indigenous community in Central Australia, a four hour drive on dirt roads from Alice Springs. The experience was surreal, and it was an honor to have been invited.

In Term 3 boys were lucky enough to experience a day in Melbourne, for the Amazing Race. The day gave us almost complete freedom, encouraging us to take initiative and lead each other around the city. It was a great highlight for the year.

2019 saw another hit Joey’s production. Year 9 boys put in heaps of time and effort towards Shrek. A huge success, the production was loved by both the students and the general public. Many Year 9 students shined including Charlie Bowman, Finn Jaques, Tane Berrends, Jett Sanson and Hamish Maas.

There were also many different little events and days throughout the year, and it’s these days that give Westcourt its character. The inter-house cricket competition (Jordan was victorious), the potato cake days, staff vs students dodgeball, (where Mr Deverall learnt the hard way it’s a good idea to take his glasses off), basketball, plus many more. It seemed like every day there was something on, or something to look forward to. Here at Westcourt, there’s never a boring day.

Our time at Westcourt was focused on developing ourselves as young men whilst continuing to uphold the College values. The leadership team could not be prouder of the boys, and we’d like to offer our sincerest thanks to Mr Deverall, Mr Harmon, and the collective staff, for helping us learn, develop, and make a smooth transition into Mt Sion.

Seamus Ryan, Westcourt Campus Captain ANZAC day at Westcourt

The first day of Term 2 was like no other. We gathered in the Chapel to pay respect to those who have fought in wars to protect our country. With guest speaker Lieutenant Colonel Garrett Plunkett. The way the student leaders spoke was amazing, every student in the Westcourt cohort was quiet and attentive. Many thanks to all teachers that organized this ceremony. Lieutenant Plunkett spoke to us about his personal experiences and hardships in the defence force, how he joined the army, how it has changed his life and how he has changed the lives of others. His was also a story of learning, having completed many degrees and even learnt a few languages. The stories he told all made us think about how we can contribute to society, and how we should always be grateful for what we have and for those that protect our country. As the flag was being raised and echo of “Lest We Forget” was heard from around the campus.

Patrick Johnstone, Westcourt Touchstone Leader

ACC Sport at Westcourt

In 2019, the Year 9 students at Westcourt were given the opportunity to participate in the ACC sports program. The school entered teams in soccer, cricket, and football. Lots of students were keen to get involved, with over 130 people signing up over the three teams.

The football team, led by Mr Harrington and Mr Parsons, was the first to get underway, playing Whitefriars in the first game and recording its first win of the season. The team went on to finish the season on top of the ladder recording just one loss in its seven games. On a cold, wet and windy Tuesday, the team played Parade College for the flag on home soil with plenty of spectators. In a tough, scrappy game Parade came out on top winning by 11 points. A disappointing result for the team but they should all be proud, finishing as Minor Premiers. Ted Clohsey took out the B&F whilst captain Willem Sanders walked away with runners up. Consistent seasons from Lachie Issell and Nat Stephens made them awarded with the coaches’ awards.

The ACC Soccer team recorded two wins from its five games finishing fourth in the division. Not the result Mr Doak’s team was looking for but sometimes sport is all about enjoyment and enjoying time playing with your peers. There were a lot of strong individual performances throughout the season including great goals and spectacular saves and efforts. The B&F for 2019 was Chris Mrjlak and Taj Adams finishing as runner up.

The ACC cricket team led by Mr Harrington and Mr Harmon. Played an exciting premiership game that went down to the wire, chasing 101 runs for victory after an impressive bowling display, the boys held their nerve and won with one ball to spare.There were some excellent innings by Jai McGough, Nat Stephens and Thomas Neate, but none better than Matthew Sorgiovanni who batted with great skill and composure to place the team in a winning position. A fantastic effort by all involved and well deserved.

Overall a very enjoyable year in terms of sport for the students at Westcourt with great participation from almost half of the year level. Students involved in the ACC sports program would agree that it was one of the highlights of the year. Lots of effort has been put in by staff members to get these students on the field and is greatly appreciated. Hopefully, the year levels to come get to experience the enjoyment of playing sport for a great school, playing with pride, respect and a willingness to win.

Thomas Neate, Jordan House Captain

Clonard Social

Every year there is a social dance between the Year 9’s of St Joseph’s and Clonard College. The event is organized by the student leaders from both schools, and money raised this year was donated to the Geelong Branch for Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre.

This year, we were lucky enough to have some Ampilatwatja kids down in Geelong so they attended the social as our guests. There was a bit of preparation to do before everyone got to Clonard for the big night though. Staff and students were there early to set up Tullow Hall. A huge highlight from the night was having two Joey’s Year 9 boys Harry Den Dryver and Ben Duka performing with their band, Atomic Tangerine. The band was a smash hit, kicking off the night with some classic songs. When everyone had got into the mood and said their hellos, the DJ got on stage, the lights dimmed and the night was on from there. A crazy mosh pit, and two and a half hours later everyone was sad to see the night come to an end. The Ampilatwatja kids had a night to remember, and it was amazing being able to introduce them to our mates, who’d heard all about them. The night was great, a great opportunity to meet new people and a great opportunity to socialize with friends. For sure a highlight of the year.

Seamus Ryan, Westcourt Campus Captain Amazing Race

Every homeroom got the chance to go to Melbourne for the day during term 3. The task we were given was to find places around city in groups and answer a few questions about each location. The various places we visited included, the Shrine of Remembrance, China Town, ANZ Gothic Bank, St Paul’s Cathedral and many more.

The excursion was a great way to get to know the surroundings in Melbourne, and learn to navigate the place ourselves. But it was also a great opportunity to work together with other classmates we would not normally work with. The group I had teamed up well to navigate the city. But arguably one of the best bits about the Amazing Race was buying some food. My team bought some donuts from Krispy Kreme to share on our sight seeing.

The Amazing Race was a great and fun experience. It was great to have the freedom to go around on our own. The questions were also fun to find the answers too, and especially with other classmates I would not normally work with. But I think the biggest highlight for me was the chocolate thick shake from Maccas… I’m kidding. But it was still good.

Jaylen Winiecki

Central Australia Trip

I really enjoyed my camp experience. I thought that it might be a bit touristy but it was culturally really interesting and we learnt a lot about the stories behind some of the places we visited. Everyone got involved in everything that we did and it was an encouraging environment to be in. As a group I think we bonded together well. I have a much better relationship with people I didn’t really know at the start and would be happy to work with them again. There was no real hierarchy in the group and it was a well-balanced group of boys who were all really nice. There are some boys who have a real personality and were able to motivate the whole group and get them up and about. For me, the highlight of the trip was Uluru. It was massive and learning the stories of the rock was really interesting. A lowlight was probably the amount of time spent on the bus. I know we had to spend that time to get to the places we were going but, at the start, the long days on the bus could get very boring. As a whole I really enjoyed my experience and I think the boys really came together to form a fine group of fellas.

Sam Condie

Westcourt Awards

PRINCIPAL’S AWARD

Zakary Ekberg Principal’s Award

YEAR 9 EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Lachlan Bailey Challenge - Adventure Race

Rhys Bath Enrichment - Environmental Science : Science of the Sea

Tane Berends Challenge - Music and Industry skills

Charlie Bowman Enrichment - Performing Arts: Drama

Declan Brown Enrichment - Food studies

Fletcher Browning Enrichment - Introduction to photography

Sonny Cannon Mathematics - General

Benjamin Chappell Languages - Italian

Isaac Chatham Challenge - The Bradbury club

Samuel Condie Investigate (Science)

Arden Cunneen Mathematics - Extension, Challenge - High Performance Academy, Enrichment - Maths in the Air, EnrichmentVisual Communication & Design - Environmental

William Day Health and Physical Education

Lachlan Dowling Enrichment - Literature

Liam Forster Enrichment - Extra, Extra

Samuel Glatz Challenge - Behind the Lyrics

Ryder Kearney Challenge - Systems Technology

Kade Kent Challenge - Studio Arts 2D and 3D

Jordy McIntosh Challenge - Tell my story biography writing

Patrick Pham Challenge - Visual Communication and Design - Communication

Alessandro Pino Enrichment - Game design and development

Seamus Ryan Think, Enrichment - Psychology

Elijah van Galen Enrichment - Music performance

Jaylen Winiecki Religious Education, Challenge - The Kitchen Garden, Enrichment - Millionaire 10, Enrichment - Media

Marcus Zulumovski

Finn Jaques

Challenge - Lets Build SomethingFurniture making, Languages - Chinese

Debating

Lachlan Lamb 3D Art

Charlie Hall Athletics Under 15 Age Champion

Elias Stott

Cross Country Under 15 Age Champion

Sascha Wheelwright Leadership

Flynn Beste

Edmund Rice, Community Service

Westcourt Arts & Design Gallery

In photography we learned how to create outstanding images by using Adobe Lightroom to change the tone, colour and exposure.

Nat Stephens - 9C

In studio arts at Westcourt I really enjoyed learning techniques to become a better artist. I enjoyed portrait painting and drawing an optical illusion - I drew a Rubik's cube popping out of the page. Overall, my favourite task was the crazy animal hybrid which is where I merged two different animals to make a hybrid using Photoshop.

Jude Ryan - 9K

My favourite task in VisCom was the Indian Ink artwork. We were given the freedom to make an artwork with any kind of theme we wanted. VisCom was also a great subject to get familiar with the software program, Photoshop.

Jaylen Winiecki - 9D

Postcards From Mt Sion

What has been the best trip/excursion you have been on at school?

Year 9 camp was pretty good I enjoyed the hiking. - Ben Bucek

The best trip/excursion that I have been on at school would be my trip to Central Australia in Year 9. The trip was very enjoyable as we were immersed in the culture and had to opportunity to see many iconic Australian landmarks such as Uluru

I would choose a baby lion and call it Sam. - Nickolas Skotnica

A fish named Gaz. - Tom Scott Dog called buster. - Noah Jewell Turtle, Koopa. - Julien Gaite A Tasmanian Tiger. - Dexter Beron

I would choose a dog and I would call it bolt. - Nicholas Baric

A dog named Edmund. - Declan Jones

Blue Macaw. - Henry Stephensen

I would want Thibaut Courtois to come in as I look up to him in sports. - Nikolas Skotnica

Gary Ablett because I'd enjoy listening to him speak about his career in the AFL. - Tom Scott

Jack Henry, Ollies brother. - Noah Jewell

Eden Hazard - he is one of my favourite soccer players. - Dexter Beron

Lionel Messi because hes my favourite soccer player. - Nicholas Baric

Michael Jordan or LeBron James as they are former/current NBA players and they are also successful business people. - Caleb Law

and Kings Canyon. It was also enjoyable as we went on the trip with a number of other boys and teachers and everyone got to know each other better. This trip has provided me with many memories and I am thankful for the opportunity. - Campbell Burns

If you could pick a class pet, what would it be? And what would you call it?

Snake because I feel classrooms would be extremely engaged in having one and what they get up to. - Caleb Lauw

A Tiger named Richard Parker. It would fend off predators. - Harry Scanlon

Something like a class dog. Something that needs to be taken well care of and would be a friendly face around the school. Name, Sammy. - Will Gray

If you could pick any guest to visit SJC (living or dead) who would you have visit?

Greta Thunberg - because she could encourage and empower a lot of students to begin to take climate action and begin an environmental stance. To grow an ecological and sustainable project within the school community. - Declan Jones

Don Bradman - Nick Povey

Marlon Brando. - Henry Stephensen

Michale Oher, Former NFL player. Michale would have an interesting and very inspirational story. We have all seen the movie 'the blind side', so I think he would be good because he could tell us the parts we didn't see in the movie. - Will Gray

In your future, what career do you see yourself in?

Game design, if I'm being honest. Couldn't see myself working in anything else. - Callum Gray

Hopefully working in the sports media industry at a professional sport club (preferably cricket or football) - Will Taylor

Airline Pilot. - Daniel Starcevic

I would like to be an anesthesiologist. - Ryan Birthisel

Studying Design or Architecture and attempting to develop new, cleaner and more advanced ways or creating structures. - Oscar Mazaraki Special Effects artist. - Aidan Wong Infantry. - Will Robson

Now that you are finishing Year 12, what advice would you give your Year 7 self?

For the love of God, please keep going. It's 6 years, it's hard but just please keep going. - Callum Gray

Have a crack at every opportunity you are given, because trust me you'll love every second of it. - Will Taylor

Make sure you take every opportunity to be involved in and around the college like sport, leadership, clubs and excursions because it'll all go so quick! - Daniel Starcevic

Take any opportunities that come your way, go overseas, go on

Mt Sion

Butler House

Now is a great time to reflect on the successful year that Butler House has experienced. This year’s changes, including getting rid of the year level system in favour of a vertical structure that incorporates Year 10s, 11s and 12s into houses, presented many challenges and opportunities. The boys in Butler House embraced these challenges.

Named after one of St Joseph’s earliest headmasters and with decades of associated history, the aim this year was to start with this as a foundation and build a positive and inclusive culture around it. As House leader, I introduced our mantra, “Sweep the Sheds” and this carried us through the year. This is about taking care of the small details so that the bigger picture things take care of themselves. Also, our House Captains Ryan Birthisel and Drew Green introduced our “Butler Values” of respect, honesty, sincerity, pride

immersions and put yourself out there, enjoy the culture.

- Oscar Mazaraki

If Mr Humphries says "Boys, lets go looking for firewood." on Year 9 camp, say no. - Aidan Wong

Say yes and participate in all activities offered by the school whether that be educational or sporting related activities.

- Ryan Birthisel

Don't stress about not being a top student. - Will Robson

and obliging behaviour. These formed the cornerstone of everything that we did. This culture-building started this year and will continue in the years to come. Lastly, our mascot is “The Shark”.

As a house, we participated in many activities this year, including the Swimming Carnival (which we won), the Athletics Carnival, the Cross Country and a variety of house competitions and challenges. The Butler boys and their homeroom teachers competed enthusiastically and overall we finished third in The Adam Bryant Shield. Some highlights were Finn Dripps reading the prayer in a giant shark suit at the Athletics Carnival and Mr Hughes crashing out in Mario Kart, costing us the house competition. The spirit shown by our senior students was outstanding.

We are looking at fostering more inclusivity, breaking down barriers in homeroom, building on our “Sweep the Sheds”

Mt Sion

efforts and continuing to build a successful culture. We are also looking to improve our Adam Bryant Shield result. These things will make Butler a fun community to be a part of in the coming years.

I would like to thank House Captains Ryan Birthisel and Drew Green. These two young men have been fantastic role models for our house and have got us off to a really good start. I would also like to acknowledge the efforts of the Butler homeroom teachers this year. Lukas Capicchiano, Darryl Wedding, Rachel Ivey, Nelson Gnaccarini, Sam Hughes, Christine Rowland, Peter Adams, Bryce Morgan, Michelle Cameron, David Breheny and Kate Wells, thank you all very much.Your care and energy have contributed in a huge way to the success of this year. The students in your homerooms are very lucky.

I look forward to welcoming new staff to Butler next year. I especially look forward to welcoming the 2020 Year 10s into the mix. Rest assured you are coming into a positive environment and you will form a large part of Butler House. Congratulations and thank you to the outgoing Year 12 students and to the rest of the Butler students.

Patrick Prendergast - Butler House Leader

Jordan House

Under the new Mt Sion vertical structure, Jordan students were supported strongly by their Homeroom teachers and various classroom teachers allowing them to strive for the highest in all areas of College life. The efforts of the students were reflected in Jordan House winning the Adam Bryant Shield, for the first time since 2010. This win was a result of consistent effort and participation in each of the sporting carnivals, extracurricular activities as far ranging as the production, debating, College band and inter-house challenges just to name a few.

All Jordan students were challenged to step up and involve themselves in all that SJC has to offer. Not only were students to think of and value their own education but they were also asked to think of ways that they could brighten up somebody else’s day and make people around them feel special. It was evident that many of our students accepted the challenge delivered which went a long way to creating an environment and culture that will lay the foundations for Jordan students in years to come.

A tradition of gathering as a House began this year, with all of Mt Sion Jordan boys meeting on a Friday morning.The majority of these gatherings were run by our Jordan House Captains Lachlan Taylor and Jay Dahlhaus. Jay and Lachlan were also supported by Touchstone Leaders Brad Edwards and Connor Fopiani along with our Year 10 & 11 Touchstone Leaders having

their turn at hosting the events. These boys did a fantastic job throughout the year organising and motivating the Jordan cohort and should be congratulated on their efforts.

Each month, one outstanding Jordan student was awarded the ‘Jordan Joeys’ Boy of the Month’ award. The award was nominated by either the student’s peers or teachers and reflected the winner’s overall contribution to life at the College and in the broader community. Congratulations to the following boys on their victory; Brad Edwards, Tom O’Neill, Oliver Stephens, Harrison Marks, Noah Conroy, Lachlan Schoemaker, Isaac Dow and Darcy O’Brien.

The Jordan homeroom teachers should be commended for their efforts in overseeing the wellbeing of the students and helping to guide them to be the best version of themselves. Thanks to Mrs Margot Davies, Mr Michael Davies, Mrs Kerry Drever, Mrs Kirsten Hood, Mr Jack Jenkins, Mr David Shalders, Mr Scott Harris, Mr Brad Smith & Mr Brendan Fairfield.

Jonathan Holt & Lauren Flint

JORDAN RENEWALS

Without our spiritual leader Mr Holt marshalling the troops for our expedition to icy depths of Ballarat, the 2019 Jordan renewals was expected to be a challenge of courage and strength. We were met with the turbulent winds, pelting rain and thick fog as we departed the bus at Pax Hill Scout Camp, with a journey we will forever cherish waiting in store for us.

We participated in a myriad activities whilst we attended the camp, including bush golf, an amazing race and a journey through the mines just to name a few. However, whilst we didn’t get many ‘hole in ones’, didn’t win a medal nor find any gold, what we did find was a sense of unity and friendship amongst friends, old and new.

Not only did the renewal allow for us to enjoy a reprieve from the everyday pressures of completing Year 12, it also allowed for us to reflect on our time at the College and our lives thus far. Through sharing our own ‘special memento’ with a group of boys, we were able to reminisce and take stock of the aspects of our lives we most treasures, and thus created a sense of appreciation.

Thanks to all the teachers who attended the renewal, Craig, Lisa and the Pax Hill Scout Camp who welcomed us on our journey. But most of all to the boys, for creating an experience we will all treasure beyond our final year at the college.

Brad Edwards, Year 12

Mt Sion

Brophy House

Brophy has flourished and enjoyed one of their most successful years to date. The cohort embraced the challenge of change, and lead by our inspirational captains, Will Taylor and Ben Miller, displayed true heart and determination throughout the year. These efforts enabled Brophy to finish second in the Adam Bryant Shield which was a massive leap forward from our fourth placing in 2018.

From my perspective, what was most encouraging from the Brophy cohort was the way the students represented the house. Our focus was not on the result, but the manner in which they participated in - the boys never lost, they learned. Words such as determined, resilient, respect and humble are just a few adjectives to describe the way our boys went about things in 2019. Our mantra of ‘What you sow, so shall you reap’ resonated with the cohort, with the boys understanding that their results were a reflection of their efforts.

Brophy participated in many activities throughout the year which ranged from the traditional sporting carnivals of Swimming, Cross Country and Athletics, through to our inaugural house challenges which consisted of activities such as tug of war and a Mario Kart Challenge. The highlight of the year was being crowned the 2019 Athletics Champions. This was the first time Brophy had taken the title in over 10 years and we celebrated the win in style, with College Vice-Captain and Brophy team member, Nathan Fox, belting out an amazing rendition of ‘We Are The Champions’ to the entire College – this is one highlight we’ll all remember for a long time!

A new concept introduced in 2019 was our weekly Brophy gatherings which were held each Monday.The aim of this gathering was to create a culture of inclusivity and belonging within the cohort. Lead by our brilliant captains, Ben Miller and Will Taylor, we continually promoted the themes of positivity, accountability and responsibility, and recognised the great things our boys were doing both in and out of the College. Ben and Will did an amazing job and role modelled the behaviour we expected from our Brophy students. We have laid the foundation for Brophy to soar to even greater heights in 2020, and I am extremely excited at the prospect of a more fruitful year for the group.

The proverb ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ rings true when I reflect upon 2019. The successes Brophy have achieved throughout the year are not a result of luck, but a lot of hard work behind the scenes. So I would like to thank the following Brophy homeroom teachers for their continued support, care, encouragement and guidance throughout the year. They are; Mr Jason O’Connell, Mrs Cassandra Coogan, Mr Adam Noble, Ms Joanne Board, Dr Michelle McRae, Mrs Belinda Milverton, Mrs

Rebecca Spark, Ms Kate Gibbs, Mr Tom Cashin and Mr Huon Bertino. You have all ensured that our boys have fulfilled their potential and become positive contributors to College life. Although the students may not realise it yet, they are extremely fortunate to have you as their teachers and mentors.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the 2020 Year 10’s into the Mt Sion Brophy family. Be assured that you will all be welcomed into the cohort with open arms and we look forward to having you on our journey. Thank you to outgoing Year 12’s for your contributions and all the best for the future. And to the rest of the Brophy cohort, I look forward to working with you all in 2020.

Matt Walsh, Brophy House Leader Warburton Renewal

Organised in early May, the Warburton renewals symbolised the half time break that the Brophy Year 12s had been desperately longing for after a busy start to 2019. The three day retreat gave the boys time to reflect on the year so far, what worked and what improvements could be made to ensure success in the coming months. The renewals would also mark the last time the Brophy boys would spend together as a house, making it a great time to celebrate some rekindled house spirit following our win on Athletics Days.

The boys particularly enjoyed the laid back and balanced nature of the retreat, seamlessly transitioning each day from a state of deep reflection to camp activities such as the giant swings, ropes courses and archery. It was during these activities that the boys were reminded of the importance of teamwork and friendship, skills that they would retain long after the renewals had finished.

The heart of the renewals, in my opinion, existed within the affirmation letters that the boys compiled for the fellow students and teachers over the three days. Despite being initially hesitant about the social initiative, the joyous and reflective atmosphere on our last morning at Warburton when the affirmations were finally read proved to the boys just how worthwhile the activity was. No more than words on a small piece of paper, the affirmations held significant emotional and sentimental weight for each receiver. Throughout times of continuous work and stress, it is often easy to forget the little things in life. The tranquillity of an autumn morning in the hills, the tangy aroma of a home cooked ‘fry-up’, the haunting crackle of roaring fire, the harmonious sound of a twilight singalong, but most importantly the universal power of gratitude. The Year 12 Brophy renewals and in particular the affirmations reminded us of all such things and more, leaving us refreshed and eager for everything the future had to throw at us.

Nathan Fox

Foley House

With Aidan and myself being led by Mr Hale. Foley House were eager to start this journey with the new structure being implemented. The 2019 campaign for Foley may not have been what we hoped for in results, but both myself and Aidan could not have been more proud and were completely blown away by the support that was shown throughout the year by those who watched on and cheered or participated in every event that was put in front of them.

The year began with the house swimming, and it was our first chance to showcase the class that the Year 7, 8 and 9’s have within the ranks. With chants and encouragement being displayed all around the pool, we managed to top the table after the heats. Leading into the finals it seemed that we had it just about in the bag, but to our surprise, the mighty Falcons were overrun by both Jordan and Butler in the final stages. Not the result we had anticipated. But as the Foley boys reflected, we saw that although numbers may have been against us, we were certainly louder and enjoying the day as much as anyone, and a great experience with mates is what Foley is about.

It was now time for our main event of the year, Athletics, and boy were the Foley brotherhood pumped. We had turned up for the event with more numbers than any other house, and this was felt through the mighty Viking clap that was executed perfectly at the beginning of the day. Aidan and I were walking around admiring everyone’s efforts throughout, every Foley boy seemed to have been giving their best, which is all we asked for. I think the highlight of the day was seeing George Devine, come down the 100m straight with the entire Year 12 cohort behind clapping and cheering. Looking around I saw how proud and happy the staff and students were to see the entire school come together to share that special moment. Although the result didn’t go our way, the brotherhood had a positive day through actions both on and off the track.

Ending the school sport events was the cross country. This was the day where numbers in participation would go a long way in contributing to the days result. Having not won an event this year, Aidan and I were keen to see the Foley name be read out in first place, but it was not meant to be. Jordan came out on top and dominated through the senior year level with their depth prevailing. Although we didn’t win an event, it was positive to see so many Foley lads running around the Barwon River, trying to get the Falcons across the line. And to our surprise the year was not over just yet.

A new challenge had come about, the House Challenges.

Each House would create an event and would gather a team of students to participate. The events were Tug of War, Basketball, Mario Kart Challenge and a Kahoot. From the dedication of the entire Mt Sion group, Foley prevailed with two first places which would give us our first win of the year.

Results may have not gone our way, but the dedication and support that Aidan and I saw throughout the year ensures us that the Foley brotherhood is on the right path, and that both Callum and Matt with the support of their leadership team, will have no problem in bringing Foley back to where it is always meant to be, on top. Charlie Walter

Foley Renewals

The renewals experience was one many Foley Year 12s will remember fondly, thanks to the brilliant leadership of Mr Hale, and the outstanding support provided by both school and camp staff. We looked to reflect on our past six years of schooling, whilst simultaneously preparing ourselves for the final slog of High School, through fun team building exercises and unique activities.

The Foley boys grew far closer together over those three days, forming strong bonds that would last far into the future. We rode on Puffing Billy, played mini golf, biked through the Emerald Ranges, and did our best to hit a bullseye on the archery targets.The bond between the members of the Foley house grew stronger with each story, walk, and dinner shared in the mess hall.

We also took time to share our journeys with our group, to reflect on our individual journey of the past 18 years. We shared our mementos, items that were significant to us, and helped to shape us into the men we are today. Our discussions included praise and thanks for those who we appreciate, advice we would give to our younger selves, goals for the future, and the sharing of fond memories.

Thank you to the class of 2019, especially the Foley Year 12s, for renewals, and making our time together at Joeys truly special, and forever memorable.

Aidan Wong

Kokoda Trek

The 2019 Kokoda Trek was a once in a lifetime experience. It was a chance to immerse yourself in a different culture and learn about the amazing story that transpired during WWII. It was also an unforgettable physical challenge that pushed us to our limits, both physically and mentally.

We started the trip with a very early morning on Saturday 22 June. We drove to Tullamarine Airport and flew to Port Moresby. Upon arrival, we attended a trip briefing with Australian Kokoda Tours and then flew early the next morning to Kokoda Village. This was the beginning of an eight day trek that proved to be much more than any of us expected.

Guided by Kokoda expert Ian Smith and supported by our local porters, we hiked up and down mountains, through rivers and mud and experienced everything the track can produce, including monsoonal storms and blazing sun. These herculean physical efforts were rewarded when we popped out of the jungle into amazing little villages or summited a mountain to be greeted with an incredible view of the surrounding landscape.

Along the way, we learnt about the very significant events that occurred here. Papua New Guinea and the Kokoda Track are etched in Australia’s history. At different points, we learnt of the battles and sacrifices that took place on the very ground

we were standing seventy years ago. It was here that our ancestors repelled the Japanese advance towards mainland Australia, writing themselves into history. Their stories were both astounding, inspiring and emotional and a real highlight of the trip. I often found myself thinking that as hard as I was finding the trek, our soldiers found it infinitely harder.

Other highlights included our rest day at Kagi Village, where we were warmly welcomed. During this day, we helped with village chores and took part in a number of sporting and physical challenges. Our nightly debrief sessions were also a highlight, we reflected on the challenges and positives of each day. Of course, arriving at the finish line at Owers Corner brought with it profound relief and a sense that we had conquered something bigger than ourselves.

I want to thank Australian Kokoda Tours and our fantastic guide Ian Smith for facilitating and leading our trip. I would also like to thank our many porters who helped us at our most vulnerable moments and who made our success possible. To the students and their fathers who participated, thank you and I hope you remember this experience forever. To the staff. Mt Sion students, and parents who are attending in 2020, all the best.

Patrick Prendergast

Mt Sion Awards

Year 10 Excellence Awards

Campbell Burns English (General)

William Baum English (Language)

Alexander Con Foo English (Literature)

James Lunardelli English (Supported)

Max Jones Food Studies, Food Studies (VCE Preparation)

Michael Fordham-Collison Health Education

Bailey Meath Humanities - Civics & Citizenship

Jarrod Zanardo Humanities - Economics & Business

Matthew Tripodi Humanities - Geography

Joshua Mannings Humanities - History

Alexander Con Foo Humanities - History, Humanities - Philosophy

Jack Simsic Languages - Chinese

Emma Badrock (SHC) Languages - Italian

Sam Greco Mathematics - Foundation

Jack Condon Mathematics - General

Jarrod Zanardo Mathematics - Methods

Jordan Powe Music Performance

Jarrod Zanardo Outdoor and Environmental Studies

Lachlan Trethowan Physical Education

Xavier Turner Product Design & Technology - Materials Wood

Adam Dahm Product Design & Technology - Materials Wood

Rhys Mckinnon Religious Education

Joshua Keagan Religious Education

Brandon Scaffidi Science - Sustainable Science

Caleb Ezard Science - Life Science

William Anderson Science - Physical Science

Mark Wee Technology - Computer Aided Design

Rhys Mckinnon Technology - Computer Bits and Bytes

Joshua Mannings Technology - Computing with Business

Solomon Francis Technology - Robotics in Action

Joshua Keagan Technology - Software Development

Luke Carra Arts - Drama (Create Your Own Character)

Sebastian Dew Arts - Drama (Improvisation)

Trent Fantella Arts - Media

Thomas O’Brien Arts - Studio Arts (2D)

Dyllan Rabino Arts - Studio Arts (Introduction to Studio Arts)

Stjepan Majstorovic Arts - Studio Arts (Photography)

Ashley Wilson Arts - Visual Communication (Folio Presentation)

Levi Sebastiani Arts - Visual Communication (Merchandising & Branding)

Adam Dahm Arts - Visual Communication (Product Design)

Angus Chapman Athletics – Under 16 Age Champion

Josh Berry Cross Country – Under 16 Age Champion

Jack Simsic Swimming – Under 16 Age Champion

Macgregor Docherty Swimming - Under 15 Age Champion

William Baum ADF Long Tan Leadership Award

Cameron Jones Community Service Award

William Baum Leadership Award

Alexander Labib Edmund Rice Award

Oscar Morrison Year 10 Principal’s Award

Mt Sion Awards

Year 11 Excellence Awards

Liam Bindokas Accounting

Michael Leach Australian and Global Politics

William Anderson (Year 10) Biology - Unit 1/2

Thomas Romaniuk Business Management

Nicholas Zanghi Chemistry

Patrick Day Chinese as a Second Language

Nicholas Zanghi Computing

Patrick Anderson Economics

Thomas De Grandi English

Benjamin Clark English (Supported)

Alana Grubisic (SHC) Environmental Science

Dexter Beron Food Technology

Liam Bindokas General Mathematics

Cleo Mackay (SHC) Geography

Armin Biria Health and Human Development

Cormac Lynch History (20th Century)

Clancy Hehir History (Global Empires)

Justin Ivelja Italian

Jarryd Wood Legal Studies

Clancy Hehir Literature

Nicholas Zanghi Mathematical Methods (CAS), Mathematics (Specialist)

Cormac Lynch Media

Caitlin Murgatroyd (SHC) Music Performance

Jared Harrison (Year 10) Outdoor & Environmental Studies - Unit 1/2

Armin Biria Physical Education

Justin Ivelja Physics

Jaymon Hurta Product Design and Technology

Alexander Con Foo (Year 10) Psychology - Unit 1/2

Jarryd Wood Religion and Society

Declan Jones Studio Arts

Samuel Williamson (Year 10) Systems Engineering - Unit 1/2

Xavier Turner (Year 10) Visual Communication - Unit 1/2

Henry Van Til Athletics – Under 17 Age Champion

Tom Hockley Samon Cross Country – Under 17 Age Champion

George Wheeldon Swimming - Under 17 Age Champion

Lachlan Jenkins Swimming - Under 17 Age Champion

Patrick Anderson Community Service

Lachlan Kelly Edmund Rice Award

Conor Killury Leadership Award

Justin Ivelja Deakin University - School of Engineering Award, Year 11 Mathematic Methods/Physics

Lachlan Kelly Deakin Young Influencer Award

Frederick Dripps Year 11 Principal’s Award

Year 12 Excellence Awards

Madeleine Cunliffe (SHC) Accounting

Luke Dowd (Year 11) Biology - Unit 3/4

Hugh Menzies (Year 11) Business Management - Unit 3/4

Charlie Roache Chemistry

Thomas Anderson Computing - Software Development

Jackson Bourke Economics

William Ryan English

Charlie Roache English Language

Patrick Day (Year 11) Environmental Science - Unit 3/4

Patrick Silo Food Studies

Lachlan Baker Food Studies

Angus Wiese Furnishing (VCE Vet)

Brad Edwards Global Politics

Will McLeish Health And Human Development

Charlie Harris History: Revolutions

Luke McNamara Languages: Chinese Second Language

Minnie Dacres-Manning (SHC) Legal Studies

Ethan Near Literature

Riley Eggleton Maths: Further Mathematics

Jarrod Zanardo (Year 10) Maths: Further Mathematics - Unit 3/4

Ethan Near Maths: Mathematical Methods

Charlie Roache Maths: Mathematical Methods

Ethan Near Maths: Specialist Mathematics

Stephanie Grapsas (SHC) Media

Christopher Bortoletto Music Performance

William Binedell Music Investigation

Grace Kidd (SHC) Philosophy

Frederick Dripps (Year 11) Physical Education - Unit 3/4

Ethan Near Physics

Jackson Cone Product Design and Technology

Clancy Hehir (Year 11) Psychology - Unit 3/4

Murphy Walker Studio Arts

Dominic Strbac Systems Engineering

Edward Burn VCAL

Joshua Norman Sport & Recreation (VCE VET)

Marach Marach Athletics – Senior Age Champion

Ryan Birthisel Outdoor & Environmental Studies

Liam Bindokas (Year 11) Visual Communication Design - Unit 3/4

Oliver Loughnan Cross Country – Senior Age Champion

Drew Green Swimming – Senior Age Champion, Long Tan Youth Leadership and Teamwork

Jonathan Burns VCE High Achiever

Jackson Paatsch VCE High Achiever

Max Whiting VCE High Achiever

Nathan Fox VCE High Achiever

Oliver Loughnan VCE High Achiever

Michael Cappello VCE High Achiever

Will McLeish VCE High Achiever

Thomas Chapple VCE High Achiever

Dominic Strbac VCE High Achiever

Riley Eggleton VCE High Achiever

Joshua Norman VCE High Achiever

Jackson Bourke VCE High Achiever

Thomas Anderson VCE High Achiever

Darcy Crucitti VCE High Achiever

Brad Edwards VCE High Achiever

Matthew Harvey VCE High Achiever

Charlie Harris VCE High Achiever

Fletcher Adams VCE High Achiever

Isaac Graham VCE High Achiever

Thomas Bucki-Smith VCE High Achiever

Mitchell Wesson VCE High Achiever

Ryan Birthisel VCE High Achiever

Matthew Davie VCE High Achiever

Patrick Sweet VCE High Achiever

William Ryan VCE High Achiever

Luke McNamara VCE High Achiever

Samuel Smith VCE High Achiever

Charlie Roache VCE High Achiever

Ethan Near VCE High Achiever

Leadership, Service & Excellence Awards

Riley Eggleton Ryan Draper Memorial

Lachlan Taylor Adam Bryant Memorial House Competition Shield Winner 2019 - Jordan

Jay Dahlhaus Adam Bryant Memorial House Competition Shield Winner 2019 - Jordan

Thomas Anderson Frank Merlino Memorial Cup

Charlie Roache Michael Carmody Memorial Award

Jake Powe Brennan Houghton Joey’s Boy Memorial Award

Kaleb Owen Old Collegians Association Citizenship Award

Brad Edwards Old Collegians Association Citizenship Award

Christopher Bortoletto Parents & Friends Association Cultural Award (Performing Arts)

Ryan Birthisel Edmund Rice Award

Cooper Jessen Old Collegians Association – Leo Turner Memorial Award

William Arblaster Old Collegians Association – Leo Turner Memorial Award

Lachlan Taylor Colin Silcock-Delaney Award

Finn Dripps Zampatti All Rounder Award

Ethan Near Dux of College

Nathan Fox McNeill Cup

Mt Sion Arts & Design Gallery

Brophy A

Brophy B

Brophy E