Year 9

Year 9 is classically known as a time of transition, where many of the experiences and activities in 2016 were designed to encourage the boys to step out of their comfort zones and to feel confident that they can face whatever comes their way in the future.

Mr Kenny Chan Head of Year 9

Christian Service is a crucial element for our students to develop their Men for Others attitude to life. As part of their faith formation and commitment to serve, each Year 9 student had the opportunity to participate either in a breakfast or reading program at one of the local primary schools. During Term 4, each Year 9 student attended the Galilee retreat which, metaphorically, celebrates the path of Jesus as he walked around the Lake of Galilee with his Disciples, by taking a journey around a large body of water somewhere in the Perth metropolitan area. The retreat was a wonderful way for the students to share some of their life experiences.

The College provides a wealth of opportunities for students to develop a strong sense of culture through co-curricular activities such as Music, Art, Dance and Drama. Many of the Year 9 students take this opportunity and it was great to see some outstanding performances this year at the Middle School Concert Night. The major social event of the Year 9 calendar was the eight weeks of ballroom dancing lessons with Mercedes College girls culminating in a 1950s themed dance. After overcoming the initial awkwardness of having to hold a girl in their very own hands, I could tell most of the boys thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to express their inner ‘Fred Astaire’. I don’t think any of them would have been invited on the TV program, Dancing with the Stars, but it was great to see that most got into the spirit of dressing up for the social night and there were no shortages of fancy tuxedos and fedora hats on the dance floor. The boys were absolute gentlemen at all times and handled themselves very maturely and confidently whilst interacting with the Mercedes girls. The feedback I received from staff was overwhelmingly positive.

This cohort was particularly strong on the sporting front for 2016. Most Year 9 teams, whether it be in summer or winter PSA competitions, were dominant in their respective fields. There was a number of outstanding performances in the Middle School Athletics team, including new PSA records set in the Year 9 400 metre and 800 metre by Alexander Rossi (9.6), ensuring a strong overall result for Trinity. Throughout the year, there were students who are congratulated and commended for making State and Australian teams in their sports. These students were Liam Pabbruwe (9.2) and Oliver Pabbruwe (9.5) – sailing; Mason Tatafu (9.5) – soccer; Reesjan Pasitoa (9.6) – rugby; Jackson Lee (9.6) – soccer; Nicholas McDonald (9.7) – soccer; Benjamin Pears (9.8) – AFL; and Jerome Iaconi (9.8) – tennis.

Academically, many students continued to strive for excellence, with numerous accolades stemming from the Australian Mathematics Competition, the da Vinci Decathlon and the Australian Geography Competition. The high number of certificates of excellence presented at the end of the year for various academic achievements shows the continued strength of the cohort on the academic front.

BECOMING MEN PROGRAM

As mentioned earlier, Year 9 is recognised as a difficult year for students as they make the necessary social and emotional adjustments for entering Senior School and manhood. It is for this specific challenge that we developed the Becoming Men Program. The program assists our Year 9 boys in making the transition from childhood to becoming resourceful adults able to make informed and good choices for their lives. Furthermore, there were opportunities to explore what it meant to act as a leader. Each term had a specific focus.

Term 1 focused on the boys looking at what influenced the decisions they made, whether good or bad, who their role models are and the difference between the ways children and adults think. In Term 2, the boys were introduced to strategies for resilience and dealing with challenging situations and ‘life potholes’ that may come up. There was also an opportunity for some boys to undertake a specialised program in personal leadership, where they looked deeply within themselves at what stressors existed in their lives and how to make good decisions.

Term 3 focused on choices around health, nutrition and fitness, also bringing awareness around recreational drug use in sport and the devastating consequences.

If you were to read Forbes Magazine’s Top 10 skills that Fortune 500 companies look for in their prospective employees, ‘working effectively in teams’ is guaranteed to be up there. In Term 4, the boys undertook a series of teambuilding activities. Every week, in small teams, the boys were given a series of physical challenges to solve, with these challenges becoming progressively more difficult. This led to a massive team-building activity that involved disarming a mock-up bomb placed on College grounds by overcoming physical and mental challenges to receive clues on how to disarm it. It was a tense but rewarding exercise which provided valuable experience in working effectively as a team in chaotic circumstances. The activity was thoroughly enjoyed by the students and amidst the real pyrotechnics and turmoil associated with disarming the bombs, the boys also learnt some valuable life skills.

This was the first year that the Becoming Men Program has been run with the Year 9 cohort and judging from the positive feedback received from parents and the students, I’m looking forward to its continuation and success in future years.

As 2016 draws to a close, I thank the Year 9 Pastoral Care Group teachers: Mr Joel Shinkfield, Ms Melissa Coleman, Mr Paul Bolton, Mr Mark Dodd, Ms Lisa Laurino, Mr Michael Slack-Smith, Miss Danielle Pieraccini and Mr Tony Webb. Their valuable guidance and mentoring of the boys has led to a very successful year. I am excited to see what great things are in store next year and I’m proud to be moving with them as their Head of Year into Senior School.

Mr Kenny Chan (’91)

Head of Year 9

YEAR 9 STUDENT COUNCIL BACK ROW: D'Arcy Culverwell, Harrison Roberts, Jakson Egan, Luke Ottobrino, Jean-Paul Starkie, Dejan Bouwhuis, Luca Rossi, Alessio Cottino, Thomas Langdon FRONT ROW: Samuel Pesce, Revonne Godfrey, Simon Homsany, Mr Kenny Chan, Cruz Cleary, Manav Patel, Alexander Santoro ABSENT: Jason Le

9.1 BACK ROW: Zachary Weller-Thomas, Ashley Degebrodt, Joseph Dawson, Mitchell Ardagh, Michael Thomas, Dejan Bouwhuis, Jakson Egan, Alexander Henwood MIDDLE ROW: Leroy Pigram, Hayden Brady, Benjamin Allen, Zach Manson, Mr Joel Shinkfield, Michael Ciancotti, Aidan Austen, Timothy Forrest, Jaxon Degebrodt FRONT ROW: Alexander Moffatt, Griffin Binning, Nicholas Campagna, Ethan Gosatti, Brett Hassett, Benjamin Adams, Jacob Mangan ABSENT: Oliver Bell, Dion Carle

9.2 BACK ROW: Ronan Mackie, Liam Pabbruwe, Simon Fernandes, James Hardy, Owen McMahon, Matthew Della Gatta MIDDLE ROW: Tadhg Glynn, Leon Rocca, Cruz Cleary, Lachlan Brennan, Cooper Fare, Fynnigan Langer, Aidan Shea FRONT ROW: Kobe Jones, Tim Kelly, Cameron Baker, Ms Melissa Coleman, Alex Biundo, Samuel Pesce, Matthew Roche ABSENT: Charlie Coates, Jack Harvey, Thomas Marissen, Rory McElwee, Michael Miocevich, Andrew Petagna

9.3 BACK ROW: Harrison Roberts, Ben Callaghan, Jack Rhodes, Joshua Candeloro, Luke Ottobrino, Harrison Scott-Rogan, Isaac Patman MIDDLE ROW: Joshua De Filippis, Joshua Ford, Andrew Nguyen, Mr Paul Bolton, Keegan D'Silva, Callum Clayton, Angus Owens FRONT ROW: Harry Emmanuel, Jayden Egitto, Alexander Pagano, Samuel Minniti, Seyha Robertson-Zurzolo, Ryan Harris, Tomas Despotovski ABSENT: Angelo Carbone, Isaac DelCasale, Tristen Di Toro, Adam Robinson, Kyle Wright

9.4 BACK ROW: Riley Boyd, Ashley Lloyd, Anton Chokolich, Dylan Hampson, Luke Cotton, Louis James, Mitchell Craig MIDDLE ROW: Tom Gartside, Marcus McRostie, Sailee Reed, Matthew Haskins, D'Arcy Culverwell, Simon Homsany, Lachlan Loveridge, Ruben Gonzalez FRONT ROW: Trey Dawson, Harrison Min Oo, Daivik Anil, Mr Mark Dodd, Thairon Jansen, Jack Hutchinson, Minh Truong ABSENT: John Blair, Max Blair, Christian Delli-Benedetti

9.5 BACK ROW: Geordie Atherton, Jacob John, John Lagan, Ayden Wedge, William Matar, Semisi Amato, Fintan Kinsella, Mason Tatafu MIDDLE ROW: Danny Do, Armando Lugod, Oliver Pabbruwe, Ciaran McCarthy-Rymer, Adam Knox, Thomas Langdon, Gaudi Robbins, Brandon Duong FRONT ROW: Will Gavin, Jake Pizzuto, Davidson Canning, Ms Lisa Laurino, Samuel Symons, James Breust, Alexander Santoro ABSENT: Sol Coster, Louis Tot, Giuseppe Vilardi

9.6 BACK ROW: Ryan Thompson, Luca Rossi, Reesjan Pasitoa, Jackson Lee, Juliano Ipsaro-Passione, Ayodhya Jayawickrema, Michael Todaro MIDDLE ROW: Brody Close, Aaron Moore, Lachlan Fitzgerald, Alexander Rossi, Aidan Darmawan, Shaun Rozario, Thomas Rundle, Henry Ladhams FRONT ROW: Declan Allen, Brayden Dillon, Revonne Godfrey, Max Watervoort, Perth Libao, Abdurahman Roach, Sean Harrison, Ethan Marrapodi ABSENT: Benjamin Hanvey, Mr Michael Slack-Smith

9.7 BACK ROW: Jack Thomson, Ethan Sinclair, Sebastian Ellison, Hugh Hogan, Lachlan Bozich, Declan Farrell, Alessio Cottino, Brandon Till MIDDLE ROW: Andre' Gorski, Kin Ting Poon, James Della Gatta, Lachlan Sibosado, Xavier Carrabba, Jacob Spitteler, Dimitri Tsagaris, Timothy McDonald FRONT ROW: Ethan Holmsen, Gabriel Thomas, Victor Le Tessier, Miss Danielle Pieraccini, Peter Hoang, William Shackles, Jacques Mafrica ABSENT: Jason Le, Nicholas McDonald, Jordan Schindler-Thomas

9.8 BACK ROW: Matthew French, Matthew Cirocco, Harry Zimmermann, Benjamin Pears, Kael Everett, Jean-Paul Starkie, Max Mistilis, Jerome Iaconi MIDDLE ROW: Honour Ta, Kobe Bagshaw, Ryan Tan, Jarrod Jeremiah, Mr Tony Webb, Lachlan Bertram, Manav Patel, Callum Reader, Brendan Murphy FRONT ROW: Dylan Blaskovic, Luke Veersma, Zak Wilkins, Jacob D'Castro, Angus Hay, Adam Ricci, Nicholas Cattalini ABSENT: Connor Seve