TAS News

SHOUT-OUTS

• Good luck to our Chess teams in Brisbane this weekend. Friday: Queensland Interschool Chess Girls State Finals at Salisbury State School Brisbane. Saturday and Sunday: Queensland Interschool Chess State Finals at Churchie. Good luck and we look forward to hearing of your adventures down south!
• Good luck to all our students at Songfest over Thursday and Friday at the Conference Centre. The TAS students involved have been at rehearsals – (last week Thursday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday) each day from 4.30-6.30pm, and Friday they will be at the Conference Centre from 4.00 – 9.15pm! It has been a huge commitment, but with the 300+ Choir sounding incredible and the world-renowned Conductors, the students love being part of it. We look forward to hearing the final result.

Environmental Warriors

At the end of last term, Year 5 students Thomas Ezard, Lexie Reid, Georgie Clague and Ryan Mann attended the Future Leaders Eco Challenge where they were involved in various activities, all with a STEM focus. They analysed data collected from TAS WRJ families about plastic bag usage and saw that there is definitely room for improvement with regard to re-using plastic or eliminating it altogether from households. They built prototypes of inventions that might reduce or prevent coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. Students made bags from old T-shirts so these can be used over and over instead of resorting to plastic. They tested four types of watering systems in our gardens and found that the common garden sprinkler is by far the most wasteful and fine-mist sprinklers or hand-held hoses are the preferred options. Students used a new app to discover which plants require less water than others and should be the ones we plant in our gardens. Lastly, different types of living things, or once-living things, from a beach environment were examined and discussions took place about their biodiversity.

Joseph Hunter – Year 11

Year 11 student Joseph Hunter has been very busy over the last 18 months. Joseph has a great commitment to exploring and celebrating indigenous culture and has been involved in a number of youth leadership programs. I have listed some of these with links to short videos of the events where he has been a peer and/or leader:

• Murama Gathering at Sydney Olympic Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PTJ35_C6Ck
• Murama Teachmeet (Indigenous Education) at Sydney Olympic Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaPat5bCtvY&t=46s
• Gathering of Native Americans at Murama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9ytYF0UfTY&t=13s
• Murama Gathering Indigenous Youth Forum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvKWI45FWuM

He also hopes to attend the Murama Youth Summit in November (depending on assessment schedules!)

It is great to see a terrific young man with passion, commitment and maturity working to make a difference for youth in the indigenous space in Australia. Well done Joseph.

Round Square International Conference

My thanks to Ms Kerry Moyer and students Gabrielle D’Hotman De Villiers and Luke Robinson for a successful conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Gabrielle and Luke were wonderful ambassadors for TAS and threw themselves with enthusiasm into the activities and workshops. Students from many countries made connections and worked together on problems and challenges that they will be facing as they grow into tomorrow’s leaders. The calibre of these young people from Round Square schools around the world makes me optimistic about our future.

Ms Moyer did a wonderful job organising and leading our delegation. She has made a number of connections with staff from schools around the globe so I encourage any student interested in an exchange or attending a Round Square conference or service program to have a discussion with Ms Moyer.

Obstathon at KBJ.

What more can you say – way too much fun was had by all. Thanks to the wonderful parents who set up the Obstathon at KBJ this week.