Issue 22 December 2013 - The Academic Colleges Group

More documents

Recommendations

Info

STRATAExperiencing the Duke of EdIt won’t make you taller......but you will hold your head up higher; itwon’t make you better looking....but it will make you more attractive toemployers.The Duke of Edinburgh Hillary Award is organised in three levels - Bronze,Silver and Gold - and is offered to young people aged 14 to 24. The award isachieved by completing a personal programme of activities in four sections(five for the Gold) and this year 19 students have completed the Award atStrathallan (four at Gold level) with a further 24 on their way to completion.The Duke of Ed experience is physically and mentally challenging andoffers great opportunities to grow and develop skills that students maynot otherwise experience. The Skill and Sport sections allow students toboost their self-esteem, develop practical and social skills and learn howto rise to a challenge.However, the Servicesection of each Awardis arguably the mostrewarding as it is herethat students can reallyfeel that they are givingback to the community.Service can includevolunteering in charitywork, coaching sport,or a specialist trainingservice such as first aid orlife-saving. Year 13 student,Hsiao-Nee Loh, spent hersummer holiday volunteering at a local hospice and she also volunteeredin the after-school care programme at our Primary School. She speaks ofthe joy in being able to help others whilst gaining an understanding andawareness of the wider community.It is the Adventurous Journey that all agree is the most challenging. GoldAward recipient, Sarah Balchin, remembers coming back from her firsttramp and “bursting into tears as it was so hard; it rained and was wet, coldand extremely muddy.” However, as she persevered through the levels,it was actually the tramping that she learned to love the most. Accordingto Sarah Summerscales, the adventurous journey “makes participantspush themselves the most and gets them out of their comfort zone.” AndShirin Chen reflects: “The last stretch in every tramp would always bethe most challenging. But I realised that my exhaustion was more mentalthan physical. I become fixated on the destination, losing a sense ofthe journey that I had already travelled.” The benefits of this section ofthe award are highlighted by tramp organiser, Dr Katherine Greenley.“Students have a sense of accomplishment at the challenge they haveput themselves through. They develop team-work and leadership skillsand learn quickly from their mistakes or miscalculations.”For our four Gold recipients, theResidential Project saw each spend aminimum of five days “on a purposefulproject with new companions.” For SarahBalchin, this meant a voyage on the Spiritof Adventure, “travelling around NewZealand’s beautiful coastline with 49complete strangers” who after ten days“became the tightest group of best matesever.” Hsiao-Nee’s residential projectwas spent at Outward Bound whilstShirin Chen and Sarah Summerscalesused their World Challenge expeditionto Vietnam and Cambodia. Shirin:“By immersing myself in a completelydifferent culture and environment, I wastruly able to embrace the philosophy ofDuke of Edinburgh. The award is aboutindividual challenge and encouragespersonal growth throughout this process.”Shirin has a very clear sense about what Dukeof Ed has meant to her. “It’s special becauseit forces you to transcend your comfort zones.Moreover, it has taught me to relish themoments of the journey and the experiencesand lessons I gained from the process.”It’s all about being the best “you” that you can possibly be.“One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure”. - William Feather.Page 2
STRATAWeta Wearable Arts[B][D][C][E][A] [F] [G]Bizarre, grotesque, beautiful, weird and wonderful: this yearStrathallan’s Wearable Arts competition was once again anextravaganza of students’ imaginations gone wild. Themed ‘WetaWorkshop’, students were invited to explore the weird and wideexpanse of Peter Jackson’s cinematic creations and turn these into aspectacle of colour and costume.Strathallan’s Wearable Arts competition started eight years agoand has gone from strength to strength. Based on Wellington’sinternationally-acclaimed ‘World Of Wearable Arts’, the show is achance to showcase our students’ creative talents. WOW has beendescribed as ‘Mardi Gras meets haute couture, directed by SalvadorDali’, and this description certainly applied to Strathallan’s show,where fashion merged with art.Strathallan students consistently perform at an outstanding level in theArt and Design fields in their CIE examinations so the Wearable Artsshow gives them a chance to experiment with a range of materials andforms and to show off their talents in a less competitive environment.Twenty-three design teams entered costumes this year, and all showedoriginality, creativity and wearability, making the judges’ decisionsextremely difficult. But a winner had to be chosen and this year thesupreme prize was awarded to ‘The Lady of Our Forest’[A], modelledby Sarah Holdway-Davis and designed by Sarah, Hannah Tilsley,Katrina Lum and Drew Douglas. Senior Runner-up was ‘The WhiteWitch’ [C], modelled by Mimi Chuenpanichayakul and designed byMimi, Lin Uttraporn and Cindy Tang, while Junior Runner-up ‘A Nightat the Oscars’ [E] was designed by Aimee Bebbington and SummerO’Dwyer and modelled by Aimee.Other notable entries were: Best Model Senior - Neytiri (Brianna Butler-Gallie)[G]; Best Model Junior - A Fairy Fiction Tale (Tara McGiven)[F];Best Craftsmanship - Princess of the Enchanted Woodland (designedby Savanna Stirling, Katrina Butler-Gallie, Delaney O’Hara andmodelled by Emelia Forsyth)[D] and Best Dressed to Theme - ReelSweta (modelled and designed by Kate Healy)[B]www.strataphotos.co.nz/wwa2013“The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas”. - Dr. Linus Paulin.Page 3
Page 1: STRATAIssue 22 November 2013 The AC
Page 5 and 6: STRATAAs well as the lasting friend
Page 7 and 8: STRATATURF-TERRIFICACG Strathallan

Issue 22 December 2013 - The Academic Colleges Group

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?