| JUNE 2008 | NUMBER 6 |
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stylus Date
Event
Venue
Friday 22nd February
Historic Double Celebration Gala Dinner
Le Montage
Tuesday 18th March
Scholarships and Student Leadership Assembly Years 3 -12
Church of St Spyridon
Tuesday 1st April
Senior School Tours “Discover for yourself”
Senior School Campus
Sunday 20th April
Palm Sunday Lunch
Church of St Spyridon
Saturday 3rd May
Anzac Day Commemorations
Church of St Spyridon
Wednesday 7th and Friday 9th May
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese National Schools Event
Hosted by St Spyridon College
Thursday 15th and Friday 16th May
Greek Theatre Production “In this Strange Land - Exile and Refuge” Years 5-12
St Spyridon Church Hall
Tuesday 27th May
Junior School Open Morning Tours
Junior School Campus
Friday 13th June and Friday 18th July
Parish Trip to Greece and Cyprus Year 10 & Year 11 classes
Greece and Cyprus
TBA
Musical Snapshots
TBA
Thursday 21st August
25th Birthday BBQ – Opening of Time Capsule
Senior School Campus
Thursday 4th September
Appreciating Culture Lecture III Keynote Speaker: The Hon. Mr John Hatzistergos The Attorney General of New South Wales and Minister for Justice
Technology Wing Senior Campus
Thursday 4th September
Fine Arts Exhibition K-12
Technology Wing Senior Campus
Thursday 25th September
K-12 Thanksgiving Service for Year 12
Church of St Spyridon
Thursday 25th September
Junior School Open Day
Junior School Campus
Sunday 2nd November
Parents & Friends Spring Fair
Senior School Campus
Saturday 8th November
Parents and Friends Taverna Night
St Spyridon Church Hall
Thursday 20th November
Sports Presentation Evening
Senior School Technology Wing
Friday 28th November
Pantomime performance For Junior School Students and Parents
St Spyridon Church Hall
n Internal Event
n Public Event
The term Stylus is used to describe a myriad of different devices used in computing, science, medicine, art and technology. In ancient times, a stylus was the bone or ivory pen used to write on wax or clay tablets. Stylus is also the Greek word for pillar, denoting strength and grace.
Address from Head of College
‘‘
St Spyridon College is a young, dynamic school, with a strong focus on preparing young people for successful futures. It is also a school with firm foundations in a history that goes back 4,000 years and builds on two great traditions – the Classical Greek and the Orthodox Faith.
“In this Strange Land – Exile and Refuge”, as reflected in the eyes of the audience.
From the Ancient Greeks we take the love of learning and sports; the desire to solve the mysteries of the universe through a logical and innovative search for knowledge; the impulse to create “the good and the beautiful”. From the Orthodox Christians of the first millennium we learn to love all people since each of us is made in the image of God; to approach others with empathy and compassion and to take responsibility for ourselves and others. As you will see from what St Spyridon students themselves say about their College, these two traditions inspire them to do their best in all of their endeavours, staying true to the College motto ΑΙΕΝ ΑΡΙΣΤΕΥΕΙΝ. This year we celebrate the 25th birthday of our College and the 50th Anniversary of our Church. Celebrations are well under way. We had a wonderful Gala Dinner held on 22nd February at Le Montage, attended by 850 people. The major Theatre Production “In this Strange Land – Exile & Refuge”, was held on two evenings, the 15th and 16th May and was a resounding success. These events gave us the opportunity to express our thanks to the pioneers of our community and to acknowledge the specific contribution of individual educators. We invite all readers to join in the coming 25th Anniversary Events listed on the opposite page. We especially highlight the Appreciating Culture Lecture to be given by the Attorney General of NSW and Minister for Justice The Hon. John Hatzistergos and the K – 12 Arts Exhibition both to be held on the 4th September, 2008. Mrs E. Stefanou-Haag Head of College
’’ STYLUS Page 1
Address by College Captain Natasha Diasinos School Captain
I would like everyone to take a moment to consider the following questions. How privileged have we been in our upbringing? How much do we take this for granted? How fortunate are we to have a place in this community? In 1987, Sally Morgan, an Aboriginal-Australian woman, published her first novel “My Place”. This novel is one shaped by Sally Morgan’s yearning to know her heritage and her craving to belong. Through her story we came to realize the significance of having and more importantly feeling that we have our place in this society, in our community or simply in our own lives. For Sally Morgan owning her place meant knowing who she is. She lived a substantial part of her life without solid foundations, unaware of her heritage and without identification with one particular faith. As a result, Sally Morgan felt like something was missing. This is where I would like to make reference to part of our College mission. “At St Spyridon College, we aim to educate our students to take their place in a rapidly changing world with confidence and success. We endeavour to develop the whole person- strong in mind, healthy in body, endowed with love, faith and compassion, able to make a conscious and positive contribution to the well being of our Australian community.” Here at St Spyridon College, we are made to feel that we belong and so we fortunately do not experience the insecurity felt by Sally Morgan. We have the ability to pull together not only as a community but as a close knit family. A perfect example of where we demonstrated this was in our celebrations of Greek Independence Day and the Annunciation of Our Lady. Together we gathered to commemorate this double celebration and in doing so, re established what holds us together. The Student Principles are an outline of the morals and values that each and every one of us lives by. They represent the common elements that keep us united. These principles enable us to define our role as students and as members of the St Spyridon team. We have our place and this consequently provides us with security, confidence, and a knowing that if we so happen to fall, there will be people who are waiting to catch us. Student Principle No. 3 says, “We work together to achieve a school community whose distinguishing characteristics are those of friendship, compassion and decency.” Our respect for one another enables us to act as a team. In this way we bring a new dimension to the term “success”. We are successful in all that we do because we try our hardest and apply 110% effort in every task that we tackle. Even if we are not winners, in the end, we are successful because we know STYLUS Page 2
we have done our beSt This is why we are victorious in sports, this is why we are winners in Public Speaking Competitions; this is why we create outstanding theatrical productions and finally, this is how we are able to overcome the most difficult of times. Student Principle No. 9 states “We respond to the difficulties in life with patience, dignity and faith, never fearing to start again.” Here at St Spyridon, we have confidence in who we are and in what we believe. Consequently, when faced with any problem, we treat it as a challenge knowing that God sends us these challenges with a purpose. So we take comfort in knowing this and we learn from these experiences, simultaneously growing as individuals. How effective is a leader if they are not proud of who they are, or if they do not recognize their own place in a community, in a society or more importantly in the group of people that they are leading? Individuals must know themselves and be able to lead themselves before they take on the challenge of leading others. One of our school’s aims is to build leaders out of all of us. By providing opportunities where individual students can illustrate their qualities and develop their skills, our teachers are doing exactly that. Not only is this beneficial for us now, but also in the future, so that we can all be useful citizens in our Australian society or as we say in Greek, “Χρήσιμα άτομα στην κοινωία”. This is when we concluded that every single one of us here has their place. In her own way, Sally Morgan is telling us to be proud of who we are, to embrace our culture and stay true to our faith. We would like to leave you with what we believe is a truly inspiring quotation from “My Place”. Sally Morgan writes, “How deprived we would have been if we had been willing to let things stay as they were. We would have survived, but not as a whole people. We would have never known our place.”
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Where are they now? Past Students and Present Role Models Michael Magafa.
globe.” Michael manages a team of one hundred people!
St Spyridon College Graduate 1995.
“Even at school I was always interested and involved in the behind the scenes side of all our productions, so it was no real surprise that I continued in this field. My advice to students at the college is to get involved in extra-curricular activities to make your school life as rich as possible.”
Michael Magafa was a student at the Senior School from 1990 – 1995. He was a Prefect in Year 12, and has fond memories of his time at the college. He graduated from UNSW in 1999 with a BA. Michael married Heleana Evans in 2006. He is presently Venue Services Manager for Staging Connections, the largest Event Services group in Australia. He is responsible for managing their NSW Venue Operations. “Staging Connections has offices in eighteen 5 Star venues in NSW and over 85 across the
He still has great friends from school to this day. “Probably the best part of St Spyridon for me was the uniqueness of such a close knit school and culture. You formed friendships that will last a lifetime.”
Past students – present law graduates We congratulate Natalie Meintanis (Senior Prefect 2001) (Bachelor of Science and Law) and Angelo Kallipolitis (Vice Captain 2001)(Bachelor of Communication and Law) on their recent graduation at UTS. We wish them both well for their future careers.
Profile of Ms Kokinelis Curriculum Leader: Pastoral Care for Years 7 - 12
Qualifications:
• Bachelor of Arts (UNSW)
• Graduate Diploma in Education (UNSW)
• Certificate IV - Assessment and Planning (Retail Studies- VET)
As Dean of Middle School Ms Kokinelis is responsible for:• Pastoral Care Years 7-12
• Student Leadership - The SRC
• Year Advisers and the
and Prefect Body
Pastoral Care Team
• Year Adviser - Year 9
• Curriculum Years 7-9
• Teaching Stage 4 and 5 Mandatory History
Ms Kokinelis is a dedicated Educator with 19 years service in Secondary Schooling. She has served as a Year Adviser, Supervisor of Girls, Performing Arts Director, Curriculum Leader of History, Supervisor of Languages and the Creative Arts Faculties, Business Community Project Leader and Relieving
Deputy Principal. She has been an HSC Modern History Examiner (1989-2004), Modern History Standards Setting Judge (2000-2004) and worked on the Modern History Standards Package (2001-2002) which was distributed to all NSW Schools. Ms Kokinelis was the 2002 NSW State winner of the Prime Minister’s
Award for Excellence in Business Community Partnerships. She has also held the position of Performing Arts Director; the ensembles she coordinated were selected for entry into Regional and State Dance Festivals and State and National levels of the Rock Eisteddfod Competition.
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Community Action Students embrace Aboriginal Sorry Day Inspirational, motivating, moving, heartening and controversial. These are only a few of the words that can be used to describe such a memorable occasion in Australia’s history. February the 13th saw our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, apologise to the Indigenous communities of Australia. During the period between 1910-1970’s thousands of Aboriginal Children were literally ripped away from their mothers and forced to assimilate into White society. They were forced into adopting the way of life and values of the White Australians and were often seen as “uncivilised and uncultured”. They were subjected to racial vilification and humiliation. Their land was taken, their families disintegrated and an entire, proud culture was put at risk. For these reasons and the continued suffering that these people faced, Mr. Rudd said “sorry”. He said sorry for, quote, “the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities”.
We were privileged to witness this apology, live from Martin Place, where a large projector screen was set up in order for a large gathering of Sydney locals to participate in such a momentous occasion, which took place inside Parliament in Canberra. A thousand cheering people stood side by side, united, listening to the booming voice of Prime Minister Rudd. This went on uninterrupted for 30 minutes only to be broken on a few occasions by the sporadic, and passionate applause of the audience, nothing short of euphoric. As we looked on, as people of Indigenous heritage embraced each other and finally let go of their torments, it was difficult not to feel moved by the experience. As a gesture of thanks, Aboriginal representatives presented our Prime Minister with a cradle as a symbol of forgiveness on behalf of the stolen generation and their families. We can relate this to our Orthodox faith as we pray for forgiveness each day and as Christians we must remember that we are all children of God and, must respect one another. Photo: Kosta Pappas, Tina Piperides, Christopher Stasos, Eleni Stivactas, Katerina Kerameas – Year 11
Harmony Day Congratulations to the Year 6 students involved in organizing and managing Harmony Day 2008. The day was a great success. Year 6 students ensured that letters were posted and received by the intended recipient. The school looked wonderful,
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decorated with letters of love, care, kindness and friendship. St Spyridon students embraced the meaning of the day and demonstrated tolerance and understanding of others in the school community.
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25th March 1821 celebrations Thank you to all our staff and to the parents who brought their children to Church and to Martin Place for the march last Sunday. All students were immaculately dressed and beautifully behaved. Congratulations to Brittany Evat, Eleni
Mavrolefteros and Angel Young for their wonderful text rendition in Church on Sunday morning.
choirs sang the Australian and Greek National Anthems as well as two songs in Greek.
We also congratulate our choir students who proudly represented St Spyridon College with the choirs of St Euphemia and All Saints at the Opera House. The
Well done choir we were all very proud of you. Congratulations to Mrs Katsogiannis MC for the day.
Earth Hour On Friday 28th March students wore EARTH HOUR stickers and turned out all lights during Period 4 in support of what is now becoming an annual international event, EARTH HOUR. It serves as a reminder of the challenge that global warming presents to the world and the power we all have when banding together, to turn it around. At the Senior School we aim to reduce our energy consumption through the adoption of an Environmental Plan. As a starting point, this year’s electricity bills will be compared with last year’s so that we have tangible proof of our efforts. The initiative will be managed by the Year 7 -12 Student Representative Council members, who will be taking on the responsibility of ensuring that the majority of lights are turned off during
the period 4 lesson everyday. While our efforts may not match the energy saved during Sydney’s, Saturday 29th March EARTH HOUR efforts, they are symbolic of what our students are prepared to do. More than 2.2 million Sydney-siders and 2,100 businesses turned off the lights and non essential appliances for Earth Hour. This resulted in the city’s energy consumption dipping more than 10% - 25 tonne reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and the equivalent of cars being taken off the road. Everyone who contributed to this achievement should be given a big ‘Pat on the Back’! STYLUS Page 5
stylus “Σ’αυτή την Ξένη Χώρα” ΕΞΟΡΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΤΑΦΥΓΗ
As part of its 25th year celebrations St Spyridon College paid tribute to the pioneers of the community with a theatre production that honoured their integrity, humour and resilience in the early years of upheaval and disconnection from their homeland. Amidst tears and laughter, audiences relived good and difficult times and celebrated the achievements of the community with the establishment of Churches and Schools. In effect the play mirrors the history of St Spyridon College. The centre spread gives a snapshot of highlights in the life of the College over the last 25 years. STYLUS Page 6
Celebrating 25 years “In this Strange Land Exile and Refuge”
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A tribute to the pioneers
Photos by George Georgoulopoulos
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1985 – Presentation of Crown Land for High School to His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos by Premier of NSW Mr. Neville Wran
1988 – High School Pioneer students with Father Steven Scoutas, founding Headmaster Mr Kyriacos and teachers
1988 – High School Pioneer students, Board and Parish members 1983 – First day of Primary School
1982 – Mrs Hamer Interviewing first student enrolments
1983
1985
1986
1983 – Primary School students with founding Principal Mrs Hamer and staff
1987
1988
1989
Gala Dinner On behalf of Father Steven, the Parish President, Mr Economou, the Chairman of the Board of Govenors, Mrs Coucouvinis and all Parish and Staff members, I extend a sincere thanks to the 850 people who attended the Historic and Double Celebration Dinner on Friday, 22nd February, 2008. M.C. for the evening was the inimitable Dr N. Pappas. It was a wonderful event and an excellent start to our Jubilee celebrations. We thank all benefactors and sponsors for the tremendous financial support. $500,000 was raised on the night. We are grateful to the Premier of N.S.W., Mr Iemma, for contributing one million
dollars towards the Senior School building project. We were delighted that the Hon. Minister, Kristina Keneally presented the cheque. We congratulate Father Steven, Presvitera Patricia Scoutas, Mrs Christina Tsaconas, Mrs Amelia Katsogiannis and Mrs Mary Hamer, for the tributes they received at this event. I would like to thank His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos for his vision, foresight and tenacity in establishing Greek Orthodox education in Australia. E Stefanou-Haag
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Celebrating 25 years
1996 – Opening of new building at Senior School Campus by Archbishop Stylianos with His Excellency George Vassiliou, President of Cyprus
1996 Patria
Honouring past P&F’s and all their hard work in making our community stronger and raising funds for the good progress of the College
1993 - St Spyridon students in Olympia supporting Sydney’s bid for the 2000 Olympics
1993 – First Year 12 cohort presenting school with gift to Headmaster and Archbishop
1991 – Gallipoli – St Spyridon College was the first Australian school to go to Gallipoli
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
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1996 – In was to de Archdioc NSWCIS
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2001 – Official opening of Junior School Campus by His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos and the Premier of NSW The Honourable Bob Carr.
archal visit 2001 – K-12 College established – Head of College, Mrs E. Stefanou-Haag
naugural trip to Melbourne which evelop into the Greek Orthodox cese Sports Festival. Winners of and ISA Champions.
96
2000 Sydney Olympic torch relay team in Greece
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002 – Students w Excellency Kostis S President of Greec
2002
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2007 – Global connections forged – Mrs Stefanou and Mrs Tsaconas visit China
2003 – Appreciating Culture Lecture 1 – Keynote speaker Professor Gavin Brown, Vice Chancellor Sydney University
2005 Official opening of the Technology Wing Senior School Campus
welcome His Stefanopoulos. ce
2003
2007 – Visit to the College by the Greek Prime Minister. Mr. Kostas Karamanlis
2005 – Appreciating Culture Lecture 2 – Keynote Speaker Archbishop Stylianos
2004
2005
2006
2008 – Gala Dinner – History Double Celebration
2007
2008
It’s all about building young lives.
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Kindergarten first day at school
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School started with enthusiasm from our new Kindergarten children. Here are some of their thoughts about their first few days of school. Enjoy and marvel at their maturity and insight. ... out of the mouths of babes!!! “I love making new friends. My favourite friend is Frances – Lee” Rose KR “I love my teacher. She gives me great things to draw” Maya KR “I love the Maths games. The number game is my favourite game” Georgia KR “I like learning about Family Trees” Nicki KR “I like when our teacher tells us about the weather in Greek” Frances – Lee KR “I love when Miss Kollias tells us about God and how He made the world in 7 days” Sasha KJ “I liked it when I got my first Wacky Doo and saw the chart” Nicholas KJ “My favourite part is when we count to ten in Greek” Annabelle KJ “My favourite part is the Star of the Week. If you have been trying really hard you get to keep it for another couple of days” Anna KJ “My favourite part is going to computers. I like playing games and writing” Pedro KJ
The Emperor meets Hercules Year 3 and Year 5 delighted us with their wonderful concert presentations. Year 3 under the guidance of Miss Thompson and Mrs Boulas and assisted by Miss Orchan, gave a most entertaining performance of the well known tale of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’. Year 5 astounded us with their performance of ‘Hercules’ in Greek, taught by Mrs Ieroklis, Mr Amditis and Miss Bletsogiannis. Year 5 demonstrated an amazing fluency with their spoken Greek. Congratulations also to Mrs Haskas and the Year 5 Dance Group who as always were fantastic in their performance. Congratulations to Mr Amditis for an outstanding script. STYLUS Page 12
Oh dem bones! Year 3 really enjoyed the science unit on Bones and Muscles – the Body’s Support Systems. They had already completed a mini-project on a particular bone they had picked out of the “Bag of Bones” and we now know the proper name for many bones – did you know your jawbone is really called the mandible? Your fingers and toes are called phalanges, named after ancient Greek military manoeuvers! On Thursday, Miss Thompson arranged for a butcher to cut a pig up, for us to look at different bones. We got to examine the layers of bones, and saw how muscles and tendons attached to the bones. We also played with some cleaned and dried crab claws and pushed and pulled the tendons to make
the pinchers open and close! We put gloves on and got to touch the bones. We noticed that the bone is hard on the outside, and even though the middle bit looks like sponge, it is very hard also. We saw the bone marrow inside different bones too. It was interesting to see the spine and vertebrae on the pig’s back – it is really strong and tough. We also looked at the ball and socket joint in the pelvis, where the back legs would have been. It was a fun, messy but very informative lesson and we are now ready to learn more about our joints, tendons, muscles and bones. Miss M Thompson and Mrs Boulas
Global Connections
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A sporting life at St Spyridon College ISA swimming carnival On Friday, 29th February, the annual ISA Swimming Carnival was held at Homebush Sydney Aquatic Centre. Many students won places, encouraged by the enthusiastic support of everyone present. Two of our swimmers made it to the CIS carnival. Makrina Spilioti from Year 10 and Niko Fotopoulos from Year 7. The relay teams were the most successful with the Junior Boys coming 2nd in both the freestyle and the medley relay. The Intermediate Girls won both the medley relay and the freestyle
relay (with the help of Michael Horafios who made critical decisions for the team). This resulted in them coming first in their division and winning the ISA trophy for the Intermediate Girls, a truly satisfying experience. This is the school’s third time that they have won in a division. We would like to congratulate all the swimmers for participating and making the night enjoyable. Angelina Flokis and Makrina Spilioti – Year 10
Sports Training for 2008
Fotini Panselinos – Star gymnast
Students of St Spyridon College continue to enjoy competitive sport and recreational sport as part of the school’s co-curricular program. Training for the winter season started in 2007 - 2008. Students trying out for the Open Netball or Open soccer team also started a fitness training program in Term 4 2007 every Monday, Wednesday and Friday lunch time. Thank you to Mr Kaldis for initiating this fitness/training program.
Congratulations for winning three gold medals at the NSWCIS Gymnastics. Gold in Hoop, Gold in Ribbon, Gold in Rope As the privileged sportsmaster of this great college I commend Fotini and praise you for your unreserving passion, enthusiasm, and commitment. Mr A. Condous
Football star in the making Since the age of 6, when Panos Armenakas was first invited to spend 3 weeks at the youth academy of the famous football club of Barcelona, spending a few weeks at the end of each year at some of the best youth academies of Europe, has become a way of life for him. So it was again last November/ December, when Panos, then in Year 3 was invited to demonstrate
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his talents and skills with the best that Panathinaikos (Greece) and AC Milan (Italy) had to offer. Last year’s trip was particularly special for Panos because for the first time on his football journey to-date, which has taken him to England, Holland and Spain, he also visited Greece. Well done Panos. Photos by Panos Armenaka.
A Thinking School Stepping up to the HSC and belief within ourselves.
Between the 17th and the 19th October the Year 12 class of 2008 embarked on a last and final journey as a Year 11 Group to Jamberoo Valley Lodge.
The last two days were eventful and challenging and helped us work as a team effectively. Our group would like to thank our beloved Year Adviser, Mr Condous, who has always been there for us and made us who we are today. Further, we would like to thank Miss Kalithrakas, our group leader who always believed in us no matter what.
This camp focused on acquiring leadership and team building skills to get ready for a tough year ahead in the H.S.C. At camp, we were reunited with the Instructors that we had in Year 7, which brought back a lot of memories. Our group leader was Miss Kalithrakas who made us feel confident and happy in every activity.
We may not always remember the optimum but we will always remember the experience!
Day 1 consisted of the high wires which helped us conquer our fear of heights and to find confidence
Vivienne Tzavaras – Year 11
St Spyridon students build strong bridges to university Four students from the Year 12 class went to the UNSW Faculty of Engineering to learn about more about careers they may pursue in the future. There were over 350 students from various schools in New South Wales who all had the same intentions as we did to gather as much information about Engineering at UNSW as possible and perhaps to pursue tertiary studies at UNSW. The introductory speaker was Donna Bailey who is the Student Liaison Officer at the UNSW Faculty of Engineering. She spoke to us briefly about the university, and engineering in general. The next speaker was Professor Dianne Wiley, who is the Head Dean at the UNSW Faculty of Engineering. Professor Wiley went into an in-depth summary of the engineering program at UNSW which included what kind of personal attributes are required to become an engineer and
what UAI is required. She told us that to be an engineer, one must be inventive, original and imaginative. Danny and I were also introduced to a Civil Engineer, Kurt, who was a lecturer at the UNSW. After a brief introduction to the Civil Engineering course we started our first activity. We had to create a bridge out of balsa wood and string, which would support the most weight. Danny and I worked with two students from other schools. Together we decided that creating a suspension bridge would be our best option. We even used Pythagoras’ Theorem to help us determine the unknown length of our support beam (Who would have thought you’d actually use that in
the real world!). Every group was required to weigh their bridges and then they were all tested strenuously to see whose design was the beSt When the bridge collapsed, the load was measured, and a ratio of weight of bridge to weight of load was determined. We were happy that our bridge only weighed 39.7 grams, which was the lightest of them all. Nevertheless, it was our suspension bridge which held the most weight, a massive 5.5 kilograms! We ended up with the best ratio as well. Terry Epanomatis – Year 12
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Congratulations to our award winning students
Academic Scholarships
2008 Academic Scholarship Winners Elia Economou, Parish President, Mathew Kambos, Tina Piperides and Christopher Stasos
2007 Goldstein Award Winners for Leadership by Example in memory of George N. Pappas AM., MBE Constance Synesios, Mrs Pappas, Mrs Goldstein, Mr Goldstein and Despina Carpis
The Student Representative Council 2008
Fledgling legal eagles at University of Technology Samantha Spanos, Ana Sapina and I are considering studying law at university. Hence we all attended the University of Technology on the Law Outreach Program for Year 11s. After we were provided with enrolment and admissions information we were given the opportunity to take part in a Mock Trial. This was intended to reveal the practical side to Law. The group was divided into two and we were given opposing sides to an argument. Several students were chosen to speak and everyone enjoyed the subsequent debate and the entertaining trial that was performed. Two UTS law students provided their personal views on life as a law student. After this, various lecturers discussed the types of law that they teach at the university. The group was shown STYLUS Page 16
the aspects of crime and criminology, the law involved with free speech as well as an introduction to Australian Intellectual Property Law. Finally we were given a campus tour that allowed us to see the facilities and environment of UTS. For me, this program confirmed my goals for my HSC and also showed me my options are limitless when combined with hard work and sustained effort. Finally all three of us would like to thank Ms Skerman for providing us with this excellent experience. Georgia Fentoullis
College Dux 2007 IGOR PAVLOV WINS ARONEY AWARD AND UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES AAA SCHOLARSHIP
‘‘
At St Spyridon College we all feel like we are part of one big family. The school has always placed a lot of emphasis not only on academic excellence but also on instilling fundamental values, such as community involvement, essential to the development in mental and spiritual sense. I’d like to thank my teachers, not just in Year 12 but throughout the years that have been so helpful and dedicated to guiding us to achieve our highest potential. They have always maintained the highest of expectations and gave their best efforts, even beyond the classroom time. In particular, I would like to thank Mr Brindley whose knowledge and wisdom inspired me to stay focused throughout Year 12 and helped me with the choice of my current university degree. My Year Adviser, Mr Vesalas, who was not only a teacher but a friend, always available to talk to not just about work but any other personal issues. His dedication to the whole year remained consistent since Year 8, when he first became our Year Adviser. He always related to students and made the lessons interesting,
even in the early hours of Friday mornings. I will definitely miss his motivational speeches and his sense of humour. Mrs Michalski, who never gave up on anyone and continued to demand the best from us until the very last HSC exam. Her knowledge as an educator extended to subjects beyond the scope of her curriculum and she was always interested in how we were performing. I thank God for blessing me with such a supporting family, who were always there for me yet allowed me to make decisions independently, always encouraging but never forcing me to do things. My friends who shared similar goals during the HSC and provided a lot of support emotionally and academically. STYLUS Page 17
The Head of College invites you to
The Appreciating Culture Lecture 2008 “Federation and Culture – Reflections on the Australian Constitution” Speaker:
The Honourable John Hatzistergos, Attorney General of New South Wales and Minister for Justice
Q
The Arts Exhibition 2008 Combined arts exhibition featuring works from K – 12, by students of St Spyridon College and three sister Colleges – All Saints Grammar School (Sydney), St Euphemia College (Sydney) and St George College (Adelaide).
Appreciating Culture Venue:
Arts Exhibition Venue:
Conference Centre, First Floor, Technology Wing
Conference Centre, First Floor, Technology Wing
St Spyridon College.
St Spyridon College.
Senior School Campus
Senior School Campus
1130 Anzac Parade, Maroubra NSW 2035
1130 Anzac Parade, Maroubra NSW 2035
Date: Thur 4th September 2008
Date: Thur 4th and Fri 5th September 2008
Time:
Time:
Arrival: 7.00pm, Lecture: 7.30pm – 8.30pm
Thur: 4.00pm – 7.00pm
8.30. Cocktails and Canapes
Fri: 9.30am – 3.00pm
RSVP essential; please call: 02 9311 3340
1130 Anzac Parade, Maroubra NSW 2035, PO Box 462, Maroubra NSW 2035 Phone: 61 2 9311 3340 Fax: 61 2 9311 4532 Email: admin@stspyridon.nsw.edu.au Website: stspyridon.nsw.edu.au Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, St Spyridon Parish of South-East Sydney A.C.N. 000 410 891 A.B.N. 84 480 080 247 CRICOS Provider Numbers: Junior School ~ Years K-6 ~ 061558A Senior School ~ Years 7-12 ~ 02319E