It has been a very busy month for our Humanities students, with lots of opportunities available both specific to a subject and also for students to volunteer.

Every year, we have a number of students who dedicate their lunchtime and time after school to work as a team preparing for the annual Model United Nations Conference held at McKinnon Secondary College. We also have run a successful visit to Yakult over many years and students have found it to be hugely beneficial to their studies.

Parliament Prize

Students might also be interested in applying for the ‘Parliament Prize’. Each year, students across the state get involved by filming a 90-second speech that they would give to Parliament if they were an MP. This is a great opportunity for students to have their voices heard on an issue they are passionate about. There are cash prizes available for both schools and students in Years 7 to 9 and Years 10 to 12.

The competition is judged by Members of Parliament, Parliament staff and teachers, who are looking for entries that demonstrate:

• A clearly articulated message
• Interesting insights, ideas and/or perspectives
• A clear understanding of why this issue or idea is important.

There are a range of resources available for students who want to take part. You’ll find them at vicparl.news/parlprize, along with full competition details. 

Entries close at 5.00pm on Friday 16 June.

If you would like further information, please let me know.

2023 Model United Nations Conference

Students from our College were among the many local schools participating in a Model United Nations Conference this month. There were 10 schools represented on the day such as St Leonard’s and Brighton Grammar. These schools were representing various nations including Madagascar, Italy, China, South Korea and Ukraine.

The day was open to any students from Years 9 to 12, who wanted to attend the preparation sessions at lunch and after school for the month prior. One of our Year 12 students was a participant for the third year in a row! On the day, they debated, voted and eventually passed a resolution on the topic of Zero Hunger.

The two teams from the College represented Italy and Madagascar and spoke with great knowledge and displayed thorough preparation and enthusiasm in all of their interactions.

Below are student reflections from the day.

Team Italy

On Friday 19 May, we travelled to McKinnon Secondary College to represent Italy at the Model United Nations Conference. Through our preparations for the day, we learnt more about the global issue of zero hunger and our country’s viewpoint on it before preparing a statement on Italy’s position to share at the conference. Interaction with students representing other countries was encouraged and we had to use our public speaking skills to communicate our views in an attempt to get other teams to agree with us.

To begin, we presented our position statements and listened to everyone elses. Then, all the countries debated different topics relevant to their statements to try and come to a resolution. Finally, everyone voted on actions to aid/prevent global hunger. Although it was difficult to come up with responses on the spot, it was a good opportunity to improve our research, communication and speaking skills, and overall it was a very good experience.

Team Madagascar

On Friday 19 May, Mary T, Kyla A, Matilda D, Rhiannan M.J and Olivia C represented the Republic of Madagascar at the Model United Nations Conference held at McKinnon Secondary College. We were tasked with challenging world hunger and poverty and did our best to represent the needs of our elected nation. We attempted to pass an amendment to further aid the developing nations like us. However, it didn’t pass. On a good note, the day ended with a new draft resolution that suited the needs of all nations present. 

Every one of us thoroughly enjoyed the experience and gained an insight into how the real United Nations Conferences take place. It is something we would all like to take part in again and highly recommend that other students give it a go.    

Business Management

Thank you to Mrs Clark for organisng such a relevant and interesting opportunity for our Business Management students to learn about operations management in an authentic manner. Below is a student reflection from the day.

Yakult Excursion

Recently, the Unit 3&4 Business Management classes went on an excursion to the Yalkult Factory to provide us with a visual demonstration of operations management. Whilst we were there, we had a tour that explained the key elements of Yalkut’s operation management.

We saw processes such as the fermenting of the Yalkut and the bottle / packaging stage. Within this area of study, we have learnt about quality control, which we saw firsthand during this experience.

This excursion was a great opportunity to apply our learning as well as providing us with examples that we can apply to our learning. 

Carolyn Callaghan
Learning Leader: Humanities