Avila Newsletter 22 March 2019

News
22 March | 2019 Inspiring today for tomorrow

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FROM THE Dr Michelle Cotter
PRINCIPAL
Principal

Exec. MBA, M.Ed. Leadership, M.Ed. RE, Post Grad.
Dip. IT, Post Grad. Dip. Adult Ed., Grad. Dip. RE, B.Ed

Chiara Smith Every week in school life springs forth new opportunities to
be “Presentation People” with our shared values of Faith,
Co Captain Vision, Community, Action, Daring, Justice and Compassion.
How and when our students and staff show these to each
Alexandra Michael other never ceases to amaze me and make me proud. I have
seen “Presentation People” proud of their achievements,
Co Captain optimistic about challenges they encounter and committed to
be continuously learning how to be their best selves - we are
35 Charles Street, certainly “better together”!
Mount Waverley,
Victoria 3149
T 03 9831 9600
avila@avilacollege.
vic.edu.au
avila.vic.edu.au

Congratulations to our students and staff these experiences as part of their learning
who broke from our usual routines last week journeys. Their commitment is admirable and
on the Year 7 Marysville Camp, the Year 9 greatly valued.
Lake Eildon Camp and the Year 10 Service
and Justice Week. These experiences of Faith, hope and love and the greatest of
discovery are opportunities to learn these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13) we hear
differently about our capacities, our areas for from the New Testament. Events over this last
growth and development and the gifts we two weeks have shaken some of the foundations
can share with others. Thanks to Avila College upon which we rely to guide our lives. As a
staff who also generously took up the local and global community of people who
challenge of being away from their homes are committed to mutual respectful
and families to enable our students to have relationships we pray for all those who are
facing heartache and despair at this time.

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Discover Avila Twilight and Sunrise Tours and Open Day were very well attended Photo by Madison Kelly, Amelia Matthews
this week. Applications for Year 7, 2021 are now open and we continue to manage and Charlotte Brewer Year 7
a strong waiting list for 2020. Current families are reminded that to avoid
disappointment they too need to ensure younger siblings have applications for Prayer
enrolment submitted by the due date.
O almighty and merciful God, Lord of
Happy Learning! Dr Cotter the universe and of history.

All that You have created is good
and your compassion for the sins of
humankind knows no limits.

We come to You during this Lenten
journey to ask You to restore peace
to the world and its people, to keep
far away from it the hatred and
despair which give rise to terror.

O Giver of life, we pray to You for
our Muslim brothers and sisters
who have died as victims of brutal
attacks in Christchurch. Wipe away
their pain and tears before your
throne of glory.

O Jesus, Prince of Peace, we pray
to You for the ones who have been
wounded in these acts of inhuman
violence. Heal their bodies and
hearts; console them with Your
strength.

Holy Spirit, visit the families of the
victims. Wrap them in the mantle of
Your divine mercy.

O God, Eternal Father, in Your mercy
hear our prayer which we raise up to
You. We turn to You with great hope,
full of trust in Your infinite Mercy.
Grant us your peace. Through Christ
our Lord.

Amen

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FAITH Ms Carmela Marino
& MISSION
Director of Faith and Mission

[email protected]

Mietta Busscher Religion &
Interfaith
Faith & Mission Excursion
Captain
As part of Catholic Education
Monique Mason Week our Year 11 students
visited a number of religious
Faith & Mission institutions as well as
Vice Captain Melbourne’s War Memorial and
Fairshare’s community kitchen.
Clare McMorrow
Students visited a Russian Orthodox Church,
Reconciliation Captain a Sikh Temple, a Buddhist Temple and a
Mosque as part of their studies of other
Tiara Chandraratne religious traditions.

Reconciliation Vice Captain Whilst visiting the Mosque students made
a presentation of a bouquet of flowers to
4 Miriam Hussein to show Avila’s support of
the Muslim community after the tragic events
in Christchurch.

Faith and
Mission
Important
Dates

Sunday's Gospel
Reading

Sunday 31 March
Luke 15: 1–3, 11–32
Your brother here
was dead and has
come to life.
Sunday 7 April
John 8: 1–11 Let the
person without sin
be the first to throw
a stone
Monday 25 March
Solemnity of
the Annunciation
of the Lord

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Catholic Avila College was proud to attend the St Patrick’s All School
Education Mass, together with students and teachers from Catholic
Week primary and secondary schools from across Melbourne.
Thank you to Maya and Chiara who carried the Avila banner
into St Patrick’s Cathedral for the procession.

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Year 10
Service &
Justice

Year 10 students were engaged in the
Service and Justice program which
gave them the opportunity to learn,
experience and contribute to our
wider community through a range of
excursions, presentations and activities.

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Caritas
Monopoly

Students were exposed to a whole new form of
Monopoly last week with Caritas building social
profiles into the game. If your profile was that of
an Immigrant or Stateless Women the cards were
stacked against you. These profiles created more
than a little heartache and discussion on power
and prejudice.

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War Memorial
Visit & Fairshare

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LEARNING & Ms Leah Eekelschot
TEACHING
Deputy Principal Learning & Teaching

[email protected]

Ms Klara Baka

Director of Learning & Teaching

[email protected]

Prakashika Ravi

Learning Captain

Stephanie Skafidas

Learning Vice Captain

Reminder Collaboration & Learning

Parent This year the College theme is “better together” and what a
Student great way to focus on the power of collaboration. Authentic
Teacher collaboration means we are all working together to improve
Interviews learning. One opportunity to collaborate about learning to is the
Student/Parent/Teacher Meetings at the end of term.
Thursday 28 March
3:30pm - 8:30pm These meeting provide an opportunity to support of their parents and teachers, as we
Monday 1 April focus on learning with all three members believe that students are more likely to grow
3:30pm - 8:30pm of the learning partnership, the student, if they take responsibility for their learning.
parents and teacher working together.
12 Students can reflect on their learning, With so much learning taking place, there will
seek input from parents and teachers, and be lots to discuss.
set goals for their learning. Students are
encouraged to lead the discussion, with the Ms Leah Eekelschot

Deputy Principal Learning and Teaching

Wikipedia ensuring that this award was correctly noted on
Edit-a-Thon each recipient’s Wikipedia page. Following this, students
commenced their own research, adding significant
details to the pages of notable women such as Peggy van
Praagh (dancer and early director of the Australian Ballet
Company), Clara Stone (doctor and founder of the Queen
Victoria Hospital, the first hospital in Australia founded
by women, for women), Hong Vo (social worker and
democracy activist) and Jocelynne Scutt (lawyer, writer
and one of Australia’s leading human rights barristers).

The afternoon was great fun for all, with much achieved
in our very first Avila College Women in Wikipedia
Edit-a-Thon. We watched a new generation of young
women editors confidently embrace this opportunity to
participate in the ever changing world of history research,
writing and documentation, and we have great hopes that
their contribution will be noticed too!

Would you like to extend your skills Final Results for the Day: 29 articles edited
in editing, research and writing? 79 edits | 3.46K words added
How about doing that while giving
recognition to the unsung heroines of Olivia Di Petta
our time!
Year 12
This was the question we posed to some of our writers
and researchers from Years 10 and 12.   The Wiki Edit-a-Thon was an amazing opportunity to
Their response was a resounding YES! see what goes on behind the scenes and how all the
Wikipedia pages are created: the time that is put into the
Established only in 2001 and initially dismissed by editing and research for each of the pages, the cross-
scholars, Wikipedia is now the fifth most used website on checking of references and the importance of avoiding
the internet, with information added and checked by plagiarism. It was also a useful experience for future
volunteer editors numbering well over 200,000 world wide.  editing and hopefully further work on Wikipedia pages.
Although it was initially a bit complicated to figure out
However, there is a significant gender gap in the way how to edit things, Helen and Mary assisted us with their
much of this information is presented.  Wikipedia has knowledge and experience, and by the end of the day, we
1.5 million biographies in English, but only 17 per cent of made many edits, even creating new pages for notable
these are about women. women in Victoria who did not yet have a page; a really
important celebration of their achievements and a big
Thus in their first foray into this very exciting world of step towards a balance for better representation for all
Wikipedia editing, our fledgling historians, researchers women.
and writers, sought to give proper recognition to the
achievements of women. 

Our guest presenters from the University of Melbourne,
Dr Mary Tomsic, (historian in the School of Historical and
Philosophical Studies) and Helen Morgan (Deputy Director
and Senior Research Fellow eScholarship Research Centre
and co-editor of the Australian Women’s Register), led
the session, illustrating the the ways in which students
could participate in the process of creating, editing and
publishing Wikipedia pages.

The project commenced with a list of recipients on the
Victorian Honour Role of Women, with the students

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Year 10 Photography

Year 10 students set up a still life photography set with impressive results!

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Year 8 Food Studies Bus Stop

Year 8’s learnt about the nutritional value of different foods by testing at each stop.

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STUDENT Ms Janine Bauman
WELLBEING
Deputy Principal Students

[email protected]

Mrs Anne Stephens

Director of Student Wellbeing Yr 7-9

[email protected]

Anna Marvelli

Director of Student Wellbeing Yr 10-12

[email protected]

Claudia Chmielewski Generation Next Webinar

Wellbeing Captain Students from a range of year levels participated in the
Generation Next Webinar. Streamed live from Sydney, the
Anna Zhang seminar covered a variety of topics related to mental health and
wellbeing for young people.
Wellbeing Vice Captain

Michaela
Jansens Ter Laeck

Student Representive
Council Captain

Madelyn Janky

Student Representive
Council Vice Captain

Presented by Sarah Alderton, Founder of
The Selfie Project, the “You are more than
your Selfie” session explored the difference
between real life and the curated and filtered
images published on social media sites such
as Instagram.

Sarah also discussed cyber safety and The
Selfie Project. More information can be found
on the website, and we have included the
notes from Sarah’s session here.

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You are more than your Selfie

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to use social
media platforms to celebrate and document
your life. It allows you to keep a visual diary of
important and exciting moments so you are
reminded of the fun you had and the important
people you shared your life experiences with.

But what if the life you’re sharing is not actually
your real life and it is an exaggerated and filtered
highlight reel that portrays the myth that life is
fabulous, perfect and technicolour 100% of the time?

It says that every experience must be consuming and then remember that For it is these moments that are worth
incredible, that we must be beautiful you are not a product or brand. documenting.
and aesthetically pleasing to everyone
at all times and that anything less is What makes you incredible is the fact You are more than your selfie.
not good enough. you are a living, breathing human. You
have a personality. You have hobbies You are a person with a personality,
We create FOMO for our own life and passions and interests. You are not a brand. You are human and you
and experience a constant struggle messy. You make mistakes. need to honour your humanity and
between our imperfect lives and the celebrate your perfect imperfections.
perfect fairytale we want our social It is this raw, real and fabulous version You exceed the sum of your likes,
media accounts to tell. of you that we want to see. you are more than hateful comments
and you are so much more than the
We can not model our social media Use your social media feed to curated, limited, boring highlight reel
use on those of influencers or brands celebrate your passions by posting a part of your life that you share online.
whose job it is to post on digital photo of you covered in mud on the
sharing platforms. Look at their soccer field, of your great amazing Remind yourself every day that I am
feeds and posts as products you are chess victory, or a photo of your family #morethanmyselfie.
making dinner.

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COMMUNITY Mr Justin Cash

Community Engagement Manager

[email protected]

Kathryn (Above) Student leaders attended the Grip Leadership Conference and (below) former
Limeira-Beaton students of Holy Saviour Primary School enjoyed lunch with Principal Mr Steven Evans.

Sustainability Captain

Dana Tomljanovic

Sustainability Vice Captain

Georgia Miller

Stage Crew Captain

Lauren Karipidis

Stage Crew Vice Captain

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Premier of Victoria Avila Calendar
Visit to Avila
Thursday 27 March
Avila College Public Speaking and Debating House Swimming Carnival
students will be hosting a visit from the
Premier on Friday 29 March. Thursday 28 March
Victorian Premier, the Hon Daniel Andrews Parent-Student-Teacher Interviews
MP will be speaking to Year 9-12 students
on Civics and Citizenship. Also joining the Friday 29 March
audience will be a small cohort of students Year 7 Immunisations
from both Mazenod and Salesian College.
Monday 1 April
Done! The latest puzzle in the library, featuring Parent-Student-Teacher Interviews
imagery from the Animalia book, has been
completed! Great team effort! Wednesday 3 April
SCSA Swimming and Diving

Thursday 4 April
Term 1 concludes

SECONDHAND UNIFORM SHOP

Wednesday 27 March 1-4pm

Wednesday 3 April, 1-4pm

AVILA COLLEGE
GENERAL OFFICE HOURS
8am - 4.30pm
PLEASE CALL THE ABSENTEE
LINE BEFORE 10am
on 9831 9696

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PUBLIC
SPEAKING &

DEBATING

Prabhloyan Gill Avila Debating Starts

Public Speaking Avila Debaters are back competing at Wesley at the end of the first night, 10 of them were
& Debating Captain College this year as the dates fit more easily going through to the second round on full
into our program. The first night is always points. The winners of the “Best Speaker
Rachel Iwuagwu an exciting one for students who haven’t Awards’ for this round were: Angelina Li,
debated before - especially our novice Year Beatrice Van Rest, Ariana Thenabadu, Talissa
Public Speaking 9’s. This year Avila has 14 senior teams and Lodge and Colette D’Costa. Well done!
& Debating Captain
Each year The Melbourne
20 Comedy Festival includes
an opportunity for talented
secondary students to
perform - this event is called,
“Class Clowns”.

Avila has a talented budding comedian,
Amelia Pawsey, who has performed at the
Avila Comedy Festival each year. This year
she bravely applied for Class Clowns and was
accepted to audition for a panel of judges
last week. She had the opportunity to work
with a professional comedian and, on the
day, presented a polished, creative and
entertaining performance that was very well
received . She is waiting to hear if she will
be offered a place in the Class Clowns at the
festival. We wish you well, Amelia.

Music Ministry

The Avila Music Ministry and Holy
Family choir (led by Genevieve
Bryant) participated in the Mass for
the Induction of Religious Education
Leaders in Religious Leadership. The
mass was celebrated by Archbishop
Peter A Comensoli.

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Harmony Day

With the beginning of Cultural Diversity Week Avila
students celebrated Harmony Day with a shared
morning tea followed by lunchtime activities, music,
face painting and dancing.

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Anti-Bullying Day

Avila students again stood together to support the National
Day Against Bullying and Violence this year through
discussion, videos, cards, stickers and activities.

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SPORT

SCSA Indoor Cricket Teams

Congratulations to both Indoor Cricket Squads who last week competed in the SCSA Finals.
Results were outstanding with our Junior Team coming runners up in the Grand Final and
our Senior Team winning the Grand Final! Well done to everyone involved.

Tricia Cowan

Sport Captain

Sophie Gregson

Sport Vice Captain

Bridgette Roza

Chisholm Captain

Sarah Ang

Flynn Captain

Daniella Fischer

MacKillop Captain

Zoe Gifford

Nagle Captain

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Aleesha In the Green
Mohammad Ali and Gold!

Year 8 Year 10 student Natalie Khoo
has been selected to represent
On Wednesday 13 March, 17 students headed to Box Hill Indoor Australia in the Commonwealth
Sports Centre for the SCSA Indoor Cricket Competition. Dance Championship in Sun
City, South Africa in July.
It was amazing to see so many students actively involved. As Natalie and her team of 12
part of the Junior team we started off very well winning all of will be competing in the 2019
the matches, entering into the grand finals against Sacred Heart ShowDance Squad section of
Girls College. Overall Avila Junior team were Runners Up. the Australian IDO 2019 Team.
This competition is considered
Congratulations to both the Avila Senior Team for winning the the Olympics of dance.
overall match, and to the Junior team for being so supportive All the best Natalie!
and hard working.
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Year 7 Swim Day

The sun came out for the Year 7 Swim Day and what a great day in the pool it was!

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Register, get active and WIN
with the Premier’s Active April

Calling all students and Avila families – it’s time to get on board with Premier’s Active
April, an exciting and fun way to get active, stay healthy, and enjoy time with family
and friends. Not to mention to WIN some awesome prizes for yourself and the school.

Premier’s Active April encourages Anyone can participate in Active April – Avila College Team ID codes
all Victorians to commit to doing 30 friends, students, families, workmates (all lowercase):
minutes of physical activity a day or individuals, and it’s FREE. Register
during April. It’s free, it’s fun and it’s today via the Active April website chisholm
part of the Victorian Government’s www.activeapril.vic.gov.au or Active flynn
commitment to get more people active April app. You can join one of the four mackillop
and healthy. Avila College teams and compare the nagle
progress of team members for some
friendly competition!

Make sure you nominate your school when you register as a parent or student and you’ll increase our chance of winning
one of the many fantastic prizes! There are inclusive sports sessions, sports clinics with high-profile athletes, a bike activity
workshop and the school that has the largest percentage of their students registered will win either a $350, $500 or $750
sports voucher. Register today at www.activeapril.vic.gov.au

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YEAR 7 CAMP
MARYSVILLE

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Awesome...unforgettable...
challenging...sooo much fun
new friendships...laugh out
loud moments...best concert
ever...beautiful landscapes

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YEAR 9 CAMP
EILDON

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PATHWAYS Ms Jenny Dunn
& CAREERS
Pathways Co-ordinator

[email protected]

Mrs Madeleine Franken

Careers

[email protected]

Thinking of studying Tickets are usually $10, but you can • The key elements of the SAT
in the US or UK? register for free (or with a $5 VIP ticket)
through the links below. • The importance of the SAT for US
Overseas study is a fantastic South Yarra on Mar 27, 5:30-7PM College applications
opportunity to explore the world, Malvern on Mar 28, 5:30-7PM
challenge yourself and to launch your Glen Waverley on Mar 30, 3:30-5PM • The ultimate 4-week study plan to
future career. improve your scores!
SAT Webinar
You can attend an Information Crimson Education • The common mistakes students
seminar on the US and UK and learn make
about the academic benchmarks, For students who are serious about
application timelines, expected costs applying to US colleges and have • The best resources to optimise
and the application process to study already registered for the upcoming your time
overseas. SAT on May 4.
At 1:30pm on Saturday April 6, join • What else do admission officers
A recent admit to NYU Abu Dhabi will Crimson Education experts for a look for
also be sharing her experiences with 45-minute webinar on:
the process at the Malvern and Glen Free resources provided and questions
Waverley events. about US College admissions will be
answered live.
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Recording available to watch later.

Register for free at this link: https://
pages.crimsoneducation.org/

Indepth Information sessions
at Victoria University

http://study.vu.edu.au/information-sessions

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Link HC & Monash Council present

Free 8-week program

Ages 16-25 | All abilities welcome

Sound Off!

Peter
Vadiveloo

Drumming

Drumming Joe Motley

Mondays Rap
6 May - 24 June
4.30pm - 6.30pm Rap

Thursdays
2 May - 20 June
4.30pm - 6.30pm

2 Euneva Avenue, Glen Waverley 3150

For more information or to register
Call or text 0400 967 797
[email protected]

www.linkhc.org.au/soundoff

Places are limited, register now!

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