Humanities

It has been heartening to return to a semblance of normality after two years of scholastic life less ordinary. Along with the return of field trips in Geography and History, notable Humanities highlights from the last twelve months include:

• Another year of superb VCE performances by our students, with all three of our VCE subjects (History Revolutions,

Global Politics and Geography) ranking in the top twelve schools in Victoria for the number of students placed in the top 9% of their cohort. Indeed, Mazenod was the only school in the state to feature in the top dozen for all three Humanities subjects

• Cameron McEwan being recognised for his outstanding

VCE Geography result by winning the College’s only

Premier’s Award

• Mazenod College mentioned in Federal Parliament (and ergo, Hansard) by the now Minister for Home Affairs, Clare O’Neil, Federal Member for Hotham, congratulating one of our outgoing Year 12 students, Rion Morgan, for winning the Hotham Writing Prize. Our VCE Politics class also got to enjoy a 45 minute Q&A session with the MP

• Nathanial Louey in Year 12 winning the Monash University Social Sciences Essay Competition for his Politics essay entitled: “Australia - A Middle Power with Great Responsibility

On a bittersweet note, the faculty bids a fond farewell to Mr Rob Mann. Rob has been an exceptional teacher of History, with his VCE Revolutions students attaining continually outstanding results. He will be sorely missed, and we wish him every success in his new leadership role at Melbourne Grammar School. Nick Young

VCE Global Politics Student Reflection No other subject provides a better insight into the real world than Global Politics. Having studied the subject since Year 9, the content in each year level has been contemporary and fascinating to study, ranging from corruption in sport and Australia’s political system, to terrorism, climate change and global conflicts. Politics is such a dynamic and enjoyable subject that has an abundance of real world benefits. Despite its nickname as ‘the Specialist Maths of the Humanities’, studying Global Politics is genuinely one of the favourite things about my entire time at Mazenod; I cannot wait to take all the knowledge I have gained from it into my life beyond school. Ben Harris

Year 12 VCE Geography: Fieldtrip Report In March this year, the Year 12 Geography class travelled to Knox to research Lake Knox. With a proposal to fill in the lake with dirt as part of a new residential development, we undertook an investigation to determine how the community felt about this and the various impacts. The day involved exploring the nearby streets to investigate the surrounding environment. We counted cars, measured trees, and were particularly on the lookout for the famous blue-billed duck. Overall, it was a great day, with the whole class getting to apply their knowledge of real life contexts. Jack Baptist

Year 8 History Enhancement Student Reflection Richard the Lionheart, King of England, leader of the Third Crusade: a holy warrior of God or an evil satanic tyrant? That was the question that we sought to answer in Enhancement History. Our class, led