Humanities ___________________________________Page

Humanities in 2014 has again offered some challenging and exciting opportunities for students to explore History, Geography and Civics and Commerce. Students and teachers have been working on a wide range of assessment that includes Fieldwork, excursion opportunities and state wide competitions to engage and encourage learning. The following comments come from various students in a range of classes and highlight the diverse subjects offered through the Humanities programmes. Enjoy!

Michelle Bishop - Humanities Domain Leader

AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHY COMPETITION

Students from Year 10 took part in the 20th annual Australian Geography Competition this year. Approximately 70,000 students from all around Australia have entered the Competition, which is organised by the Australian Geography Teachers’ Association and the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland. Competition coordinator Bernard Fitzpatrick said that the

Competition gave teachers an opportunity to highlight geography in their schools.

“Geography is a vital subject that all young people should study,” said Mr Fitzpatrick. “It helps students understand the world around them, and how people and environments are interconnected.” “With schools in many parts of Australia starting to implement the new national geography curriculum this year, it’s an exciting time to be involved in geographical education, and the Competition plays its part in this,” said Mr. Fitzpatrick 25 Year 10 students participated in the competition. The following boys did particularly well.

Intermediate Section:

Dexter Hare-Zen: Credit Isaac McMahon: Credit (Top third) Ben Mullins: Credit Jordan van Arend: Credit Lachlan Sim: Distinction (top 20% ) Joseph McMahon: High Distinction (top 3%)

Senior Section:

Spiro Alesios: Credit (top 20% ) Blake Robinson: Distinction (top 15% )

YEAR 10 TRIP TO THE HOLOCAUST MUSEUM IN MELBOURNE

On 21 May, Mrs Rowland’s Year 10 history class went to the Jewish Holocaust Centre in Melbourne. We arrived at 10:00am and we went inside the museum. When we got inside, we were greeted by a young relative of a Holocaust survivor who talked to us about how it was for her family to have gone through the Holocaust. Later, a Holocaust survivor met us and told us her story; she was a teenager when she was sent to a concentration camp and was forced onto a train to the Majdanek extermination camp, where she risked her life and escaped to live on and tell her story. Her experiences really made us feel for the Jewish people, and we truly got to recognize just how much suffering and pain these people had to go through in order to save themselves. The holocaust museum really changed the way we think as historians and was really an eye-opening experience.

Ayrton Ganino