SPECIAL SPORTS EDITION EDITION 6 - AUGUST 2022 01 OUR STARS OF FUTURETHE
GO ALYSSA, WE’RE ALL BEHIND YOU. Everyone needs to exercise to help them relax during year-12 swotvac. A jog, taking the dog around the lake, some yoga maybe, . . . stuff like that. So naturally one of our school captains, Alyssa Seckinger-Crow has decided to swim the English Channel. Of course no one is surprised. Alyssa is nothing but a mass of purposeful energy.
COVER: Year-11 student Emin Durakovic in full flight for Melbourne City. 02
And we know she’ll be using the downtime to study hard, like her classmates, for those big exams that start in late October. We all want to get behind her, and she’s given us an additional reason to do so, because she’s set up a go-fund-me page, with all proceeds going to help our endangered koalas. If you have the capacity to contribute, you can do so by clicking here ↑ School captain Alyssa Seckinger-Crow
TUESDAY 16 AUGUST Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews (No formal classes) 21-24 AUGUST Junior Snow Camp Group 1 24-27 AUGUST Junior Snow Camp Group 2 WEDNESDAY 24 AUGUST Whole School Book Club 6pm –Library,7pmDanks St campus IMPORTANT DATES FRIDAY 26 AUGUST APC Families Trivia Evening International Terminal, Station Pier 29 AUGUST – 1 SEPTEMBER Australian Dental Health Visit WEDNESDAY 31 AUGUST Year 10 Mock Interviews FRIDAY 2 SEPTEMBER Year 7 Immunisations WEDNESDAY 7 SEPTEMBER General Achievement Test (GAT) THURSDAY 8 SEPTEMBER City Edge Student Leadership Conference 9am – 11am 40 Bay St campus 12 – 16 SEPTEMBER IB and VCE Practice Exams FRIDAY 16 SEPTEMBER Last day of Term 3 MONDAY 3 OCTOBER First day of Term 4
SAY OUR
Despite our high academic achievement, we’re not an exam factory, but a school that has something to engage and bring out the best in every student, whether that’s academic, creative, sporting or about community involvement.
Ruya Akbas and Aidan Sinclair with Foundation Principal Steve Cook
PRINCIPAL'S STUDENTS REACH FOR THE STARS
Steven FoundationCookPrincipal This is proving to be a term of incredible individual student success. Three of our year-10 students – Lily Hall, Aidan Sinclair and Ruya Akbas – have won highly-sought-after academic scholarships to Monash University. Well done students. You can read more about their big win in the following pages. And four students have clocked quite incredible sporting achievements. Let me say something about them, for while there are many talented sports people at our school, our sporting success probably doesn’t get the recognition it so rightly deserves. Emin Durakovic has won a scholarship to train with the Melbourne City Soccer Club senior squad for the next two years. This means he is now eligible for selection for the A League senior side. For those who don’t follow soccer (sorry, ‘football’) closely, it’s the equivalent of playing AFL. Another student, Tana Deyell in year 11, has won a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport for sailing. Some of you may know of my own love of sailing, so I couldn’t be more excited to have a potential champion boatsman in our ranks. Gaining an AIS scholarship at such an early age puts Tana in contention for future Olympic selection. I thought those successes were amazing enough, then I heard that Bosco Misic, from year 8, is the new under-15 Australian boxing champion in the 54kg division. Wow! Just as amazingly, in mid-September one of our school captains, Alyssa SeckingerCrow is . . . wait for it . . . using part of Swot Vac to swim the English Channel. Being a well-known environmental activist, she’s using the opportunity to raise money for koala preservation, so please help her via her go-fund-me page (page 2). All I can say, Alyssa, is make sure you study hard on the plane flight there and back, because your VCE exams start five weeks after you return!
On the subject of school captains, our search is on for school captains for 2023. It will of course be followed by an election. Would you like to nominate? If so, nominations can be done here. What all this demonstrates is the wonderfully broad and invested education available here at APC.
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04 OUR SPORTS STARS EMIN HAS THE WORLD AT HIS FEET
“I train from 8am to 3.30pm and then come straight home and go online to study,” he said. Emin said training with the best players in Australia is an “amazing” experience and recently played in the senior side in a practice game against Dandenong TheThunder.ALeague season kicks off in October, but Emin said it was too early to tell if he might get a senior game. But you wouldn’t bet against him because soccer success runs in the family. His dad Mehmet was a tough Socceroos defender who played more than 60 games for Australia in the early 1990s. So does he model his game on anyone? His dad, maybe? “No,” he said with a smile. “I play my way.”
I TRAIN FROM 8AM TO 3.30PM AND THEN COME STRAIGHT HOME AND GO ONLINE TO STUDY
Year-11 student Emin Durakovic had his soccer dream come true last month when Melbourne City came calling. Emin, who has been training and playing with the A League club for the past six years, was told he had won a scholarship to train with the senior squad for next two years. It means that he can now play in the senior competition, if selected. “It was really great to hear,” Emin said.
The super fit 17-year-old, who has been playing as a midfielder in the club’s under 23 side, is now training 5-6 times a week.
05 Bosko gets the nod from judges.
BOSKO AN UNDISPUTED CHAMP APC has a champion boxer in its midst. Recently, year-8 student Bosko Misic won the under 15 Australian title in the 54kg Hisdivision.father Petar tells us Bosko is also the number 1 ranked Australian male amateur in bantamweight division all ages and number 16 ranked bantamweight amateur male boxer in the world. He has also beaten the winner in the 57kg class, which means he is literally punching above his weight. Like all sports champs, Bosko’s success is the result of sheer hard work that those of us at the school don’t get to see. Bosko trains for two hours a day, and worked out on the canvas intensively in the lead-up to the recent state and national championships, where he ruled the ring.
OLYMPIC DREAM ONE STEP CLOSER OUR SPORTS STARS
Year-11 student Tana Deyell is a step closer to achieving his Olympic dream after being offered a full scholarship at the Victorian Institute of Sport as a sailing Theathlete.scholarship is a worthy reward for Tana’s many years of commitment, and coincides with his recent move to kite foil racing, the fastest of all the sailing Kiteclasses.foiling will be at the Olympics from Paris 2024 and Tana has a goal of reaching the games in Los Angeles in 2028 or Brisbane in 2032. Only two other sailing athletes at the VIS are still at high school, as most of the athletes are in their 20s and pursuing the sport full-time, which makes Tana’s VIS offer an even more noteworthy Tanaachievement.isnostranger
to success. He has been captain of the APC sailing team and led them twice to 1st place at the state championships. TANA'S
06 OUR SPORTS STARS CROSS COUNTRY On 14 July, nine students represented APC at the state cross country finals at the Yarra Valley Racing Club. Each student ran a fantastic race and we’re delighted to report that the 12-13 girls team and the 14 girls team both took first place to be crowned state Congratulationschampions. to Bridgette Williams, Adele Roche, Hannah Angus and Millie Andrich in the 12-13 team, and Honour Tobin, Poppy Donaldson and Mathilda Jones-Bayley in the 14 girls team for their fantastic performance.
VOLLEYBALL GIRLS TAKE SILVER Recently, four Volleyball Academy teams competed in the Volleyball Victoria Four Day Schools Cup Tournament at Dandenong Stadium. The tournament was fantastic, and all our players represented the college in a positive and respectful manner. Well done!
LOTS OF WINNERS, PLENTY OF GRINNERS
OFFICIAL RESULTS Year 9-10 girls: silver Congratulations to Ella Kilipikoski, Phoenix Lachal, Lauren Stennett, Yasmin Dakis, Freeke De Jong, Aloysia Freeman, Alice Uhm and Chhavi Chaudhary. Year 9 Boys: 4th Congratulations to Alden Wong, Miguel Najera, Samay Mallya, Ryan Corbett, Ollie O’Connor, Milan Belic, Mani Bishop, Luc Basile and Jack Gonzalez.
Congratulations to Boris Stanish, Leuwin Harridge and Clancy Merrick-Harvey for winning the Victorian interschools cross country ski championships.
The year-11 students took out Division 1 and now get to represent Victoria in the national titles.
OUR SPORTS STARS
FUTSAL Recently, two teams represented APC at the Beachside Division inter-school sports carnival. Both teams played tremendously well on the day with the A team winning the competition without losing a single Agame.bigcongratulations to Nejib Abdella, Philip Markovski, Nashir Hassani, Luka Jugovic, Lucas Katsianis, Dylan Leonard and Emanuel Varinkos.
YEAR-7 FOOTY TEAM GOES DOWN IN FINAL
TRIO SKI INTO THE NATIONALS
Year 7-8 Girls: Silver Congratulations to Krila Kiselicki, Naia Barrionuevo Mozos, Matilda Morgan, Stella Kotakozidis, Claire Shao, Naoise Lavin, Ana Mrden, Coline Frecon, Asha Arkell Bega, Amber Dakis and Alexandra Dyall.
Year 7-8 Boys: 6th Congratulations to Callum Lam, Adrian Evans, Charlie Skinner, Noah Esse, Matthew Lau, Dane Greig, Miles Wu, Samuel Rutledge, Isaac Goss and Tommy Herbert.
The Year-7 mixed soccer team has progressed to the State Championships after taking out first place at the Southern Metropolitan Regional finals. Great work, team!
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Our year-7 football team came second in the Southern Metropolitan Regional Finals. The team battled all day against harsh conditions and even tougher opposition, going down in the final to a powerful Frankston team. The game of the day was a nail-biting battle with McKinnon Secondary College where we held off a late surge and battled into the wind to secure our spot in the final.
YEAR-7 SOCCER MIXES IT WITH THE BEST
08 OUR SPORTS STARS It was a beautiful day at Lakeside Stadium as APC hosted its annual House Athletics CongratulationsCarnival.to Freeman House, who edged out Flannery House by 11 points to win overall with 601 points. Competition between the three houses was fierce, yet the day was thoroughly enjoyed by all. FREEMAN TAKES OUT BRAGGING RIGHTS AT LAKESIDE
09 OUR SPORTS STARS
Each breakfast, lunch and dinner, we were met with delicious food that
AFTER TWO YEARS OF LOCKDOWN AND NO CAMPS RUNNING AT APC, IT WAS WONDERFUL TO HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO BOND WITH CLASSMATES
THE CLASS WHERE LESSONS GO DOWNHILL replenished the energy we spent "sending it" down the slopes. After dinner, there was never a dull moment in the lodge, and the games room never failed to disappoint (unless you lost a game of air hockey or pool). There were many moments of fun as well as critical learning opportunities both socially and physically. Ultimately this camp felt liberating. After two years of lockdown and no camps running at APC, it was wonderful to have had the opportunity to bond with classmates and teachers in a sublime Weenvironment.allenjoyed the opportunity to ski or snowboard as a group, and the experience was very memorable for us all. And lastly, a huge thank you to the teachers that accompanied us all to the snow! Molly Dalzielln, Year 11
10 CAMPS This year, 111 students, teachers and parents were fortunate enough to be part of APC’s senior snow camp for The2022.trip was five days long at Mt Hotham, where students were engaged in either skiing or snowboarding. The 5:30am departure from school was challenging for us all, but it completely paid off once we were geared up and ready to hit the slopes. Each day of the camp, we all participated in a 90-minute lesson that helped us develop our skills as either skiers or Thesesnowboarders.lessonswere tailored to our abilities and enabled us to develop a sense of both independent and interdependent responsibility during the hours of the days we free-skied.
TRIPLE TREAT AS MONASH SCHOLARS NAMED
YOUR CHANCE TO BE A LEADER
The student leadership team is seeking applications for the College Captains, Portfolio leaders and Student Ambassador for 2023! At Albert Park College we offer ample opportunities for you to demonstrate Youleadership.arethe most important part of this school and we want to increase student voice so you have a say in what your APC experience looks like. By becoming an APC leader you will get to work with staff and other students to organise and run fun events, and attend exciting excursions. It is an awesome way to make new friends and really get to know who is who at the school. What does it take to be a leader? If you think you’d like to work on any of these skills, joining the leadership team will give you the best opportunity to do Applicationthis. forms for leadership positions have been posted to Compass. If you have any questions regarding applications or the work involved, please vic.edu.auvic.edu.auTobincaptains,Ifjohnpobjoy@albertparkcollege.vic.edu.auJohnaukatemerakis@albertparkcollege.vic.edu.Katefionawright@albertparkcollege.vic.edu.auFionacontact:Wright:Merakis:Pobjoy:youwanttohearmorefromourpleasefeelfreetoemailElla(ellatobin@albertparkcollege.)orAlyssaSeckinger-Crow(alyssaseckingercrow@albertparkcollege.)
• Organisation • Communication • Confidence • Ideas
We are extremely proud to announce that not one but three year-10 students have been appointed as Monash Scholars this Congratulationsyear. to Aidan Sinclair and Ruya Akbas (above) and Lily Hall. The Monash Scholars program is a prestigious program for high-achieving secondary school students. Through seminars and academic mentoring, students have the opportunity to “build networks, enhance learning, define personal aspirations and explore career ambitions”. If you are currently in Year 9 and might like to consider applying for the program, you will find more information Ifhere.you would like further information, contact the Careers team Jessica Archer, Alice Watson and Tasha Brown.
11 STAFF AND STUDENTS
DA VINCI EXHIBITION SOARS AGAIN
12 STAFF AND STUDENTS
To the delight of Year 9 students and their families, the Year 9 Da Vinci exhibition went ahead for the first time in two years in the last week of Term 2. As part of their Environmental Inquiry subject, students were asked to convey the results of their research using artistic devices to tell a story, evoke an emotional response, or promote Theactivism.artworks that students produced for their Creative Endeavour subject varied greatly, ranging from sculpture to photography, painting, film and song. Seeing all the works on display really brought the Environmental Campus at Bay Street to life. Parents commented how overwhelmed and excited they were to be able to celebrate their child’s achievements. The exhibition was an excellent example of the students’ dedication and hard work with too many standout artworks to mention. In total 35 students receive an award for artistic excellence. WELL DONE TO EVERY STUDENT WHO CREATED AND DISPLAYED THEIR ARTWORK.
KAITLIN SPELLING
What do you teach? Media (Year 8/11), Drama (Year 8/10/11) and English and Literacy (Year 8). What did you do before coming to APC?
I was bitten by the “teacher bug” 10 years ago when I worked as an English teacher in Tokyo for two years. Since then, I’ve worked in a variety of roles as an educator, including as an EAL course facilitator at Monash University, an integration aide at McKinnon Secondary College, and most recently as a learning facilitator at the Melbourne Museum.
What are you most looking forward to about teaching at APC? Getting to know the students and staff, and learning unique and innovative ways of teaching/learning.
MATT KULESZA What do you teach? Year 9 English, Humanities, and Pos Ed. What did you do before coming to APC?
13 STAFF AND STUDENTS WE WELCOME NEW TEACHERS TO APC
I worked as a primary and secondary teacher in schools across London and the Greater Surrey area as a Media/English teacher and a Supply teacher. Before that I was traveling America and worked for Disneyworld in a shop just behind Cinderella’s castle. What is a fun or quirky fact about yourself? I play the ukulele very badly and am a huge nerd (particularly video games and films). What are you most looking forward to about teaching at APC? Connecting with my students through my subjects and sharing my passions with them. Also looking forward to getting to know the staff and making new friends in Melbourne after my extended absence overseas.
HANNAH BUSH What do you teach? Math, Science, POSed What did you do before coming to APC? For the past four years I have been working in Business Development while studying a Masters degree and raising my four-year-old son Mateo. Prior to that I taught at Emmanuel College in Altona North and McKinnon Secondary in McKinnon! What is a fun or quirky fact about yourself? I love to snowboard in winter and surf in summer. If I had endless time and money, I would split my time traveling the world snowboarding, skiing and surfing, and spending time at beaches!
What is a fun or quirky fact about yourself? I’ve got a passion for all things East Asian geopolitics and worked as a tour guide in North Korea for three years. Throughout this time I ran more than 70 tours, visited seven of the eight provinces multiple times over and, yes, saw Kim Jong Un in the flesh once. What are you most looking forward to about teaching at APC? Reconnecting with the incredible students and staff I got to know during my first teaching rounds in 2021, and continuing to develop into a proficient and supportive teacher in this wonderful school community.
Instagramwork: : @ears2ground Facebook: Jeanné Browne – Ears2ground.
WILD PLACES BECKON IN JEANNE’S NEW EXHIBIT
The exhibit reflects her love of wild places, and includes earlier works inspired by her links to the everchanging Victorian coastline to her journeys over the past 30 years among the Goolarabooloo aboriginal community north of Broome in Western Australia. “My work tends to focus on our tuning to the poetry and dynamics of places, wild and subtle, in the hope of raising an awareness of the habitats we live within,” Jeanne said. Jeanne, who is based most days at Studio 120, is happy to share her experiences and her work. “I am very open to talking to anyone who is interested in any aspect of my work, and would love to assist in any way I can with your student folio preparation or experiments, so please, just sing out,” Jeanne said. “That’s what I’m here for.”
Jeanne Browne, our artist in residence, has created a new exhibit at the Pickles St campus called Country Over Time.
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MICHELLE FINDS HER HAPPY PLACE
Congratulations to APC’s Michelle Luckman on the opening of her art exhibition, ‘Place’ at the Carringbush Hotel in Abottsford. Michelle is our Creative Endeavour coordinator and an art and design teacher here at APC. Her exhibition presents a series of vibrant abstract paintings (left) inspired by the natural landscape. The gradual laying of paint and gestural strokes, which are central to Michelle’s style, conveys an energy and life force embodied by changing environment. ‘Place’ is on show for another two weeks for those keen to check it out.
If you’d like to see more of Jeanne’s
It’s all about developing confidence and leadership skills that will be useful not only in sport but in life. It also aims to encourage more women into sailing, which is an equal opportunity sport that men and women can participate in equally.
If you’re keen, the club would love to hear from you. The yacht club is accepting expressions of interest now for courses starting at the beginning of the 2023 school year. Please contact the club commodore, Peter Naismiuth by email here.
15 APC COMMUNITY
CALLING ALL FEMALE SAILORS
If you’re a girl and want to learn to sail, APC’s partner organization, the Albert Park Yacht Club, has a new program for Theyou. club has received funding for a course of 15 basic sailing lessons for girls to undertake with their mothers – or maybe their aunt, grandmother or other older trusted female. By the end of the program, participants should be able to rig and sail a yacht with basic knowledge of racing. The course will be run by all-female Theinstructors.clubisare looking for eight daughter and mother/other pairs to participate. and is encouraging APC girls to apply.
