AROUND THE SCHOOLS
Caitlin Spinella from Good Counsel College wins Lions Youth of the Year club final MARIA GIRGENTI THE Innisfail Lions and Lionesses hosted the Lions Youth of the Year club final at Innisfail State College Peppertree Restaurant last Wednesday where eight students from Year 10 to 12 took part. Sponsored by National Australia Bank, Caitlin Spinella from Good Counsel College was judged the Lioness overall winner and was also named the Best Public Speaker. Contestants were Caitlin Watson, Maninder Kaur and Kylie and Monica Vecchio, from Innisfail State College and Molly Stager, Caitlin Spinella, Angel Tagget and Danielle Millard from Good Counsel College. The three judges were Councillor Mark Nolan, Cassowary Coast Regional Council, Helen Marozzi, National Australia Bank Manager and Kim Agli, Events Manager - Cassowary Coast Regional Council who conducted a 35 - 40 minute personal interview earlier in the day. Contestants were allocated points for leadership, sporting/citizenship/community interests, personality - impact during the interview, general knowledge and academic achievements over the past two years. The interview consisted of 80 points while the public speaking component made up 30 points of the contest. In the evening, the eight contestants received the same two impromptu questions and were asked their opinion on different topics set by the judging
panel. A maximum of two minutes was allowed to answer the question on how community and all levels of government have responded to the devastating floods which occurred in Townsville and north west Queensland over the past few weeks. Most of the contestants felt they had responded appropriately and effectively by providing physical, emotional and financial support to flood victims although one felt the real problem of climate change needed to be addressed. The second question related to their thoughts on good and bad aspects of drone technology. The general opinion from most contestants was while they felt drone technology did have a number of positives such as: the delivery of supplies, identifying problems in a community, capturing images of environment and landscapes, they also conceded there were some disadvantages such as limiting jobs, disruptions at airports, invasion of privacy, spying and lack of confidentiality. Each contestant then gave a five minute prepared speech on topics of their own choice which ranged from institutionalised racism, what does it mean to be a good person, doping in sport should not be legalised, whether the ANZAC spirit holds different meanings for different generations, narcissism, difficulties of being mixed race, asylum seekers and jealousy. Mr Les Moule made special mentions to teachers, parents
and presentations were made to Principals of both colleges and all contestants were presented with club level participation certificates and NAB gift bags. The Lions Youth of the Year which was an initiative of the late Jamie Jamieson, a respected member of City of Brisbane Lions Club, is open to young people aged 15 to 19 and the first final was held at Lennons Hotel, Brisbane on December 17, 1964. The Quest was originally for boys and two years later the event was adopted as a National Lions project. It wasn’t until 1979 in Perth where it was decided girls could enter and the first integrated Youth of the Year Quest followed in 1980. Over the years, the Quest has grown in stature and is now considered to be the blue ribbon event on the Lions Club calendar. Lions Youth of the Year is designed to encourage, foster and develop leadership for our youth as well as improve skills such as public speaking, at the age when they are about to enter the fields of employment or higher education, and provides students with the incentive to pay greater attention to the general qualities, which is vital in developing first class citizens. Miss Spinella will progress to the next level and compete at the Zone final on March 9 at Babinda Hotel. The winners will then progress to the District final in Townsville on March 23; State final on April 5 and 6 with the National final to be held at the MD convention in Geelong in May.
Lions Youth of the Year club final and public speaking winner Caitlin Spinella from Good Counsel College with judges Helen Marozzi, Kim Agli and Councillor Mark Nolan.
Good Counsel Primary School Prep students start their learning journey
Teacher Miss Kiara Adamson, Miss Sunni Day and Mrs Bianca Borg (school officers) with Prep A class at Good Counsel Primary School. MARIA GIRGENTI OVER 300 students have started the school year in earnest at Good Counsel Primary including 43 new Preps who began their education journey. Good Counsel has seen a significant growth in enrolment numbers this year with 41 new students and 20 new families joining the school community. New students from Year 1 to 6 have enrolled from interstate, western and southern Queensland, as well as locally. New teachers Jessica Sinton and Andrea Devaney who have previously worked in other schools in the region were also welcomed. Good Counsel Primary offers students an excellent academic education in all key learning areas. Social and Emotional Learning is an important part of daily learning and Morning Routine is embedded into daily classroom learning. Students from Prep to Year 6 have specialist lessons in Health and Physical Education and
ated learning are selected using Learning Support Data Analysis. Some of these groups include students from Years 1 - 4 working in ROLEM, Rainbow Reading and MIP (Mini Lit Intervention Program) while Prep to Year 6 students are involved in ESL Immersion. Years 3 - 6 are working in Extension Groups and students in Year 5 and 6 are involved in Comprehension Intervention Group. Principal Liam Kenny said the school prides itself on having passionate and dedicated teachers and the students possess a genuine love of learning. GCP has exceptional facilities including a great library, laptops and I-pads in each classroom, as well as a spacious covered area which is ideal for all-weather play. GCP has a weekly playgroup which caters for children from birth through to the transition to Pre-Prep, Prep and then through the primary school years.
Hinchinbrook Hawaiians victorious at Innisfail State College inter-house swimming carnival
MARIA GIRGENTI
Innisfail State College swimming age champions: Back row: Darcy McKay, Mitchell Gall, Kai Darveniza, Jack Lodge and Tahlia Hayes. Front row: Madison Lyons, Lori Edgerton, Tiarna McKay, Alexia
the Arts (Term 1 Music, Term 2-Visual Art, Term 3-Dance and Term 4-Performance). A number of our students participate in weekly Instrumental Music while others have private piano tuition based at the school. Many GCPS students take advantage of skills training after school in rugby league, netball, fitness, tennis, soccer and AFL. Robotics and Coding Club can be accessed before school or specified lunch times and the library can be utilized every lunch time. During the school year students will have opportunities to showcase their extra- curricular skills at the Talent Expo with items including martial arts, dance, speech, drama, Instrumental items and vocals. The school choir performs throughout the year and Mini Vinnies students keep Social Justice issues in the forefront of our thinking. Specific Intervention Groups for students requiring differenti-
HUNDREDS of Innisfail State College students recently donned their team colours and participated in the annual inter-house swimming carnival at the Innisfail Town Pool in a full day of competition and fun events which included the house dash, bomb competition and novelty relay races. Extra points were awarded to house teams for war cries, sun safety, house spirit and cleanliness of house area. The Hinchinbrook Hawai-
ians backed up last year’s win to take out top points again this year, followed in second place by Fitzroy Fruits, Orpheus Oldies in third and Bedarra Bohemians in fourth. Eight records were broken by the McKay family with Darcy setting new records in open boys 50m freestyle, 50m breast stroke, 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly events. Maddison broke records in Under 12s 50m freestyle, 50m breast stroke and butterfly events while Tiarna broke the Under 15s 50m freestyle.
Age champions were as follows: 12 years girls: Maddison McKay (Fitzroy); boys Dean Kelleher (Orpheus); 13 years girls: Tahlia Hayes (Orpheus); boys Ryan Holly (Orpheus); 14 years girls: Alexia Guglielmi (Hinchinbrook) and boys Jack Lodge (Hinchinbrook); 15 years girls: Tiarna McKay (Fitzroy); boys Kai Darveniza (Fitzroy); 16 years girls: Lori Edgerton (Hinchinbrook); boys Mitchell Gall (Bedarra) and Open girls: Madison Lyons (Hinchinbrook) and boys Darcy McKay (Bedarra).
Cassowary Coast Independent News, Thursday, February 28, 2018 Page 17