Round Square

MR FERGUS TREVETHAN prep round square coordinator

The Southport School has a long, distinguished history of community service. In fact, so many of our earliest graduates were called upon to serve our nation during World War I. It is from that rich history that our current Prep Round Square Committee draws its inspiration.

This year at Prep, the Round Square Committee has been committed and dedicated to building on the reputation that our school has built over the past century. We have worked hard together as a team to support different people and organisations, both here in Australia and overseas.

The activities have varied from helping neglected and abused children through our support for ACT for Kids, through our Mud Challenge in Term Four, to partnering up with the Prep Music Department to host a concert for residents of aged care homes. We had 50 or so seniors and their carers from as far away as Tamborine Mountain be entertained by all of the Prep ensembles in our new hall. It was a truly wonderful experience for all involved and a lovely way to bring the wider TSS community on to the Prep Campus. Our guests were treated to tea, coffee and a variety of sweets. Served by our Round Square students who were a shining example of how well our students care for others within our local community. The Feeding Dreams Cambodia appeal was another huge success. This fundraising event raised thousands of dollars, all of which will go towards helping children receive an education, as well as food each day.

We continued to strengthen our relationship with the Cerebral Palsy League here in Southport. We had 10 heavily disabled clients attend our Father’s Day stall. Our boys helped choose gifts and engaged in social activities to ensure our guests had a wonderful morning. Thanks must be extended to Friends of Prep for assisting in making this possible. At the start of the year, the Round Square Committee boys attended the regional Round Square Conference in Armidale, New South Wales, for a week. While there, we built on our teamwork skills, how to survive long car trips and most of all, how to look after people that need to be looked after. Such a positive outcome for all and another wonderful effort from the TSS Prep students. Their willingness to engage with the local community continues to impress and we look forward to an even bigger 2019.

MS JULIE WATTS round square coordinators

ROUND SQUARE: OPPORTUNITIES AND EXPERIENCES BEYOND OUR OWN EXISTENCE… “It is a sin of the soul to force young people into opinions… but is culpable neglect not to impel young people into experiences.” Kurt Hahn (Founder of Round Square, Duke of Edinburgh Award and Outward Bound)

Iam often asked, “What is Round Square?” I have stumbled over answers about a network of schools worldwide that focus on developing awareness in students of the world through experiences. This year, at the Round Square International Conference in Canada, I realised the simplest of answers to the question: It is the United Nations run by students.

The opening ceremony of the conference includes a flag ceremony, where each school is read out and a student representative brings their school flag in to join the array of others. It was then that I realised there is nothing else quite like this. Girls and boys, from six continents, from more than fifty countries, from varied religions and cultures come together under the incredible umbrella of Round Square. Here, they share the common goal of wanting to make a difference in the world.

This year our team of four leaders, Heaven Elishav, Tom Fuhrmann, Jordan Loechel and Dean Burton led the committee of boys who drive Round Square in the Senior School. They worked tirelessly together to ensure that the spirit of Round Square is ‘alive’ in our school. The memory of last year’s Round Square leader, Sandy Hickson, lived on as the group used the Round Square Tenacity Award money to purchase more birthing kits, and kept the assembly line going every second Wednesday morning. Three hundred more birthing kits have been sent to Birthing Kits Foundation Australia, where they will be sent to those most in need in developing countries.

The World’s Greatest Shave event was huge this year, with fifteen hairdressers and barbers giving up their time to help us raise funds for The Leukaemia Foundation. This event is held in Term Two and is more than just a fundraiser. It is a day when the TSS Senior School shares a sense of community and purpose. The atmosphere was fantastic with the TSS Drumline and student musicians adding sound to the colourful event.

Term Three is our time to join the junior campus and focus on our project in Cambodia – Feeding Dreams. This year, we were able to provide the funds to rebuild the school’s football field, after it was washed away in the floods last year. Feeding Dreams has grown, not only providing education and a meal to over 800 children from one of the poorest slums, but providing training in hospitality through the Dreams Training Centre, and now providing a football academy for ‘at risk’ youth. The money that we raise each year goes towards paying the sponsorship of two girls to attend

Khmer School. Srey Leap and Vichika both come from families in the nearby slum and have flourished since our sponsorship began. Other money goes towards paying the salary of the Curriculum Coordinator and the teacher in the TSS classroom.

In April, TSS boys, and girls from the New England Girls’ School, travelled to Cambodia for a week of service work, teaching in the classrooms at Feeding Dreams, before heading off to the regional conference in Beijing. The experience at Feeding Dreams is life changing for our students. It is so easy to forget how lucky we are until we are faced with people who have no access to clean water, toilets, a permanent home or regular food. The boys worked for a week in the classroom with the children from the slums, and then had an opportunity to see how they live. It is confronting but such an important lesson to see how the majority of the world live.

Victor Wu, who has now left TSS, demonstrated true Round Square spirit when he organised thirty recorders and music sheets, to teach a group of students from Feeding Dreams. His lessons were an enormous thrill for the students, who have had no opportunity to experience music in their life, coming from the slums where each day is focused on finding enough money to get something to eat. The conference in China, themed ‘Dare to be a Force of Nature’, encouraged students to reflect on several major environmental issues the world is facing, and further to think of ways they could work towards solving these issues. It is a unique forum to have students from China, Thailand, Japan, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand discussing how they can make a difference and the steps needed to bring change. The Round Square International Conference was held in Canada this year and focused on recognising differences and celebrating these same differences. Through incredible speakers and a huge range of activities, students from over two hundred Round Square schools around the world listened, reflected and shared. In doing so, they formed connections with people from all walks of life: A true celebration of differences.

Our exchange program also encouraged sharing of cultures as we welcomed students from India, the USA and Canada this year.

Once again, a huge thank you to all those who have given their time, money or support to help us to continue to help others. The Round Square experience is about cultures, pushing your own limits, embracing new environments and deepening leadership skills. - Daniel Hummelstad

The International Conference gave all delegates a chance to really connect with people from all over the world. The talk on acceptance, open mindset and the ability we all have to make an impact changed me. It made me realise how lucky I am and the responsibility I have in this world. - Joe Fuhrmann

One message from the conference that stayed with me is that we are all given bad cards. What we do with them is important. These conferences bring the future generation together so we can build a better tomorrow for all. - Heaven Elishav

From the conference, I gained a whole new perspective on other cultures and places I had never considered. I realised the importance of how much the world needs all the different cultures. - Finn Taylor