B R O A D E R H O R I Z O N S - St Hildas School

Author makes his
craft look easy
Maddison Branch Visiting Author: Gerard Michael Bauer, Meghna Sharma.
Left to right: Madeline Zantiotis, Phoebee Gahan, Talula Teixeira.
Visiting author Michael Gerard Bauer makes story-telling look easy.
He tells his enthralled audiences of Years 8 and 9 LEAP English
classes how he came to write the award-winning novel, Don’t call
me Ishmael!, and you can read the nods around the room, “Yes, I
could do that!”
As well as a presentation to all Year 8 students, Michael Bauer
was invited to conduct a number of workshops for Middle
School LEAP (Learning Enhancement for Academic Progress)
students who relished the opportunity to meet the talented, selfdeprecating
author. They found him entertaining and happy to
share the secrets of his success.
Michael Bauer attended the University of Queensland where he
studied Commercial/Law and Social Work before settling on an
Arts degree. With a triple major in English Literature, he enrolled
in a Diploma of Education and became a teacher.
Michael Bauer has taught English and Economics at a number of
secondary schools in the Brisbane-Ipswich area. Recently, he has
balanced part-time teaching with his love of writing.
OzCLO offers new challenge
Seven Middle School girls participated in the Australian
Computational and Linguistic Olympiad (OzCLO) in Term 1.
They were Gabriela Lee, Hanna Kang, Cara-Lee Wiese, Emma
Cooper, Isabelle Chorley, Jade Sprecak and Laura Noon.
The competition, held at Southbank campus of Griffith
University, is designed for students who have a special interest
in language, maths, computers and natural sciences. The girls
took part in a training session on 6 March with the state and
national competitions held on 1 April.
In 2003 he won the inaugural Writesmall short story competition
at the Brisbane Writers Festival. In 2004 his first novel for young
adults, The Running Man, was published.
His second novel, Don’t Call Me Ishmael!, published in 2006, is a
comedy set in an all boys’ school. The sequel, Ishmael and the
Return of the Dugongs was published in 2007.
Mr Bauer gave us some important tips which were, “You don’t
always have to put big words in a story, choose the word that
is the clearest;” and another, “Some of the most powerful
things can be said in the simplest forms.” These tips we will
remember and take with us for future story-writing.
- Aakanksha Bose and Cassie Grant
“He taught us things about writing in an entertaining way.
Stories about his childhood held us captivated and we learnt
a few things too!” - Meghna Sharma
Jade Sprecak and Laura Noon report:
We travelled to Brisbane's Griffith Graduate Centre to participate in
the OzCLO competition which involved a series of difficult linguistic
questions that are answered within your team. There are two Year
9 teams of three girls representing the School in this competition.
If successful, the teams will compete in the national competition
and if again successful, the winning team travels to Poland to
participate in the international competition.
The experience was fun and rewarding and gave the girls the
opportunity to test themselves as individuals and as a team. All six
girls are looking forward to competing against other Queensland
schools and, if they succeed, against the rest of the country.
Digging deep for fire
and flood victims
Community service plays an integral role in leadership
development in the Junior and Middle Schools. By engaging in
community service projects, students are encouraged to see other
perspectives and are given the opportunity to express their ideas.
“The bushfire situation in Victoria produced an overwhelming
response from the girls with many of them expressing a desire
to assist the people affected by this national disaster,” said
Head of Middle School, Mrs Susan Sanburg.
“The girls have banded together to raise money for the
St Hilda’s School Bushfire Appeal with the belief that they can
make a difference.”
She said a free dress day in the Middle School raised $2000
while donations totalling $2700 were received from students,
their families and staff.
In the Junior School, the generosity continued with a gold
donation and free dress day raising some $3000.
Head of Junior School Mrs Cecilia Kirby explained the
response from the Junior School staff and students saw a
sharing of funds between the bushfire appeal and the North
Queensland floods appeal.
“The appeals have had fantastic support from all sectors of
the community,” said Mrs Kirby. “In addition to the gold coins,
we received a pearl necklace, earrings and bracelet set, a
matching silver bracelet and necklace from another jeweller
plus stationery and sweets baskets which were donated for
fundraising raffles.”
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