Through the Global Gap gender report, the world economic forum seeks to provide a measure of the relative gaps between men and women in the four areas of health, education, economic participation and politics. The report is created each year and is based on data from 144 countries across the world. The report identifies that the most challenging gap remains in the areas of health and economic participation and that based on current trends, it will take 170 years for the gap to be closed around the world.
As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we focus on ways that we can enhance the capacity and opportunity for young men and women to maximise their growth so that they can make full use of their gifts irrespective of gender or background. In our local context, we can do this by being excited about the opportunities that exist, growing respectful relationships where we listen well to each other, encourage growth in each other, grow collaborative capacity, celebrate where people strive to make best use of their talents and value the giftedness that each person brings to the community. Globally we can make a difference by our support of the Cambodian groups we assist. Freeing people from artificial limits enables them to unleash their full potential and grow others around them in the process.
Past student Jess Hughes is a young person who has made the most of opportunities presented to her. Yesterday it was exciting for students and staff to have the opportunity to hear her story since she graduated in 2011. Jess has shaped an exciting career through a combination of her learning in the area of the visual arts, drama, Japanese, information technology, science and mathematics to forge a global career as a multimedia artist. She has exhibited at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, been recognised as an International Finalist Oculus VR San Francisco, exhibited as an International Artist at the Tate Modern in London and been a finalist in a range of other competitions in Spain, New York and Australia. She has taken up the opportunity to work for Facebook on a project, accepted the invitation offered by a charity to travel to Guatemala to look at ways her skills could be used to improve the lives of its people and is currently thinking about a project that would employ virtual reality to improve educational outcomes for Australian students. One of her more recent exhibitions in Bilbao, titled ‘Innovative Ideas Merging Art, Science and Technology’, showcased her time spent in the observatory gathering data and information for her presentation. Jess has also built on the Japanese she learnt at school, taking advantage of exchange opportunities and exhibiting in Japan as well. Her quote at the top of her CV reads, “Because the people who are crazy enough in the world to think they can change the world, are the ones who do” –Apple.
The College student leadership team decided to bring house, school and action group captains together to complete a personality test that they had previously completed on the Enthuse Leadership Camp. Last week the leadership team facilitated a luncheon with a focus on setting goals and collaboration. We look forward to continued connections between our student leaders as they reflect, devise new ideas and collaborate.
On Friday 3rd March, students across the College participated in ‘Clean Up Australia Day’ activities that were led by Environmental Action Group Captain, Leah Monk, and a number of students from the Junior, Middle and Senior College. 
An important component in growing young people is inspiring them to adopt a sense of civic responsibility to the communities they live in. Volunteering their time in assisting others is a pursuit that will benefit their personal growth and lifelong experiences immensely. In Term 2, students across the Senior College will have the opportunity to and are encouraged to think about how they can help others.
On Friday 17th March, students are urged to join over 300,000 young people across Australia and adopt a two-wheeled mode of transport for National Ride2School Day. The event is Australia’s largest celebration of active travel to school, involving thousands of children each year. If driving to school in the family car is your only option, you can still be TravelSmart by parking the car a short distance away and then riding from there.
Thank you to our prize sponsors:
To support students academically, the College offers Mathematics tutorials for students in Years 7-12. These tutorials are on Monday afternoons and are in rooms L13/L14 from 3.20pm to 4.20pm. Students are welcome to come along for a quiet place to complete class work, homework or seek assistance. The expectation is that they remain within the room until 4.20pm, unless picked up earlier by a parent.
Year 12 student Ally Hickey is playing Daisy Hilton, one of the conjoined twins. “Daisy wants to be famous and is really driven to succeed,” Ally says. When asked what she loves most about the production process, Ally said “I love being able to show other students in our community what we do”. There are three themes in the musical that resonate with Ally, “Acceptance, the concept of love and Daisy’s passion to follow her dreams”.
Well done to Haylie Powell who over the weekend travelled to Sydney to compete in the Vans Park Skateboard Series, which was part of the Australian Open of Surfing event. Haylie competed in the opens women’s division even through she is only in Year 6. She skated extremely well and ranked 11th in Australia.
We Are Off!
