On Monday 5^th September 43 Middle School and 37 Senior School students shaved their head in support of the Leukaemia Foundation’s mission to shave the world from Blood Cancer. The idea to bring this event to the College was instigated by Year 11 Students Thomas Eade, Luke Porteous and Conor Nolan who need to be commended for their efforts and organisation. The current total money raised is $43,850 eclipsing the original goal of $20,000 set by the boys.

The event could not have happened without the generosity of the Aquinas Community in their donations as well as the commitment of a dozen Hairdressers who offered their time to shave the students head. A huge thank you goes to the following Hairdressers: Rebbeca Richardson, Jaimi Frase, Lea Hugget and Taaj Arden from Barbershop Express Booragoon, Zeleha McAdam and Tanesha Dougan from Hair at the Zoo in Leeming Forum, Samnatha Urquhart, Kelly Chinnery, Ros Borgomastro, Roby Eade, Carla Peca and Melissa Burych.

Well done to the following students who committed to the cause, without their efforts we would not have been able to run such a successful event.

During Week 4, Year 11 Human Biology students attended the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research to have a look at the current stem cell research programs. It was a very eye-opening experience, and the Perkins staff members responsible for our group were very welcoming and knowledgeable. We were led in a number of engaging activities such as a stem cell card game and were even able to utilize a PC-2 wet lab to grow our own liver organoids. All the boys had a great time, and we hope the future Human Biol students have an experience as enjoyable as ours.

The Da Vinci Decathlon is an academic competition designed to challenge and stimulate students. This term, the Year 7-10 boys competed in teams of eight across 10 disciplines: engineering, mathematics and chess, code breaking, art and poetry, science, English, ideation, creative producers, cartography and legacy.

Fantastic results:

Year 7s = 1st place Creative Producers

Year 8s = 3rd place Code Breaking

Year 9s = 2nd place Code Breaking

Year 10s = 1st place Creative Producers + Science, 3rd Place Ideation which earned them 3rd place Overall in the competition!

Four of Aquinas’ top Economics students participated in an Economic Forum run by the CCIWA. The forum consisted of an address from James Walsh who is a senior economist at the CCIWA, he discussed the current state of the Western Australian economy and some of the issues we are facing.

Buz Brady led the questions to James with a question regarding our dependence on China’s continued Growth and weather that was wise given the current geopolitical climate. James was impressed with the question as was the crowd.

Steven Kemp the author of the students Economic text book and the ATAR Chief Marker then discussed the trends of the previous year’s examination paper and what he thinks would be some good questions for this year. This is always a lively discussion as the students are all ears for any examination hints. Again the Aquinas students were the first to ask questions with Buz and Ben Warr firing off a few well directed questions.

After a quick snack the students were introduced to a recent graduate economist and a student from Curtin who was in a graduate program working part time at the CCIWA. Their advice for students doing their ATAR examinations this year was invaluable. They basically said, study thoroughly, explore all the options at University and be open to opportunities that develop you as a person.

Finally the students were involved in a team activity, where each table had a current economic challenge to solve. Buz Brady’s team won with a fantastic explanation of the relationship between the exchange rate and the Balance of Payments in Australia. Chocolates all round.

The forum was run by Nick Ognenis (pictured) who is the President of the Economic Teachers Association. Nick is an ex-Head of Hass and Deputy from Aquinas. Nick congratulated the boys on their knowledge and their detailed questioning.

Australia’s economic future and prosperity is going to be in good hands if this forum was any indication of the talented students we are producing.

Last Thursday, 11 August 2022, the Year 11 and 12 Politics & Law ATAR students got to meet with Federal WA Senator and former Attorney-General, Michaelia Cash. During this time, the boys got to ask the Senator about her role in Australia’s Parliament, and discuss what life is like as a Senator for WA. In addition to this, the Senator provided the class with important information on past legal case decisions / outcomes, and talked about passing legislation through Parliament to create Statute Law. Various syllabus points were covered during the meeting, along with general conversation. It was a very beneficial and interesting Q&A, and provided a real-life based perspective on textbook knowledge.

Aquinas College sincerely thanks Senator Cash for her time to meet with the P&L students.

Rhyan Baile
Year 12

The commencement of Week Two in Term Three heralded the start of the annual Aquinas NAIDOC celebrations. The week-long celebration is a time within the Aquinas calendar for all Aquinians to celebrate and recognise history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the Aquinas community and wider Australian community.

Monday always brings excitement and anticipation of the sporting clash that sees Indigenous students from year 10 to 12 take on the much-hyped staff team in a game of basketball. The staff team burst on to the court and began to build a lead based upon a sound game plan, however things unravelled fast when Mr Hamer limped from the court. The students seized on Mr Bell’s inability as Coach to reshuffle his team with a series of three pointers and alley-oop dunks that quickly got the crowd support. In the end the boys ran out easy winners for a third consecutive year.

The Indigenous Middle School students started the sporting dominance at recess on Monday over the staff team easily in the first Didj-ball (dodge ball) game we have enjoyed at the College. The action was ferocious with staff and students exchanging heavy body shots. At the siren to end time the boys had won two games to one to claim the first Didj-ball title. We hope this can be a regular fixture of NAIDOC week each year.

‘What does racism look like for you?’ was the topic for an open microphone panel discussion that all students in the Senior School had the privilege to attend, whilst a group of invited guests shared stories and insight around the central question. All students were affirmed and challenged by the speakers to embrace the National NAIDOC theme to ‘get-up,’ ‘stand-up’ and ‘show-up’ to address racism of all kinds in our community.

In addition to the panel all Senior School students were invited during breaks on Tuesday and Wednesday to try their hand at Indigenous craft activities. An invitation that saw many students create beautiful dot art pieces, as well as elaborate friendship bands and key-chains. Wednesday Break A also saw the Indigenous Team make available 400 servings of ‘roo-stew’ as prepared by the College catering staff, who followed a ‘secret recipe’ sourced and supplied by Mr Bell. The recipe is obviously a winner as the 400 serves were gone in under 10 minutes. Suffice to say we will have to double the recipe for next year!

The annual NAIDOC assembly has become a ‘crowd favourite’ for staff, students, parents and community members alike. This year the audience was treated to outstanding dance performances from an Indigenous girls’ dance group from Penhros, in addition to the Aquinas College Indigenous dancers. Year 12 student Xavier Cox sang two special songs in language, while Year 10 student Tremane Baxter-Edwards shared a truly inspirational speech centred on why Australia should apologise for the ‘Stolen Generation.’ Key-note speaker Mr Andrew Beck once again centred his thoughts and challenges to all in attendance around this year’s National NAIDOC theme. Following the assembly all invited guests, students and staff were invited to enjoy a beautiful morning tea that showcased Indigenous ingredients, flavours and tastes.

The week was a wonderful showcase of Indigenous culture at Aquinas College and we congratulate the Indigenous Team and all the students involved.

Mr Michael Bell

Director of Indigenous Education

On Tuesday 21st June, the Aquinas P and F sponsored four presentations from Collective Shout. The first two were during the day for Year 9 and Year 10 students and given by Daniel Principe, a 2005 graduate from Trinity College, and now a health professional, with a background in PR, marketing and media. Melinda Tankard Reist ran the presentations for teachers and parents. She is an author of six books, media commentator and advocate for young people and is world renowned for her work addressing sexualisation, objectification, harms of pornography, sexual exploitation, trafficking and violence against women.

Both Daniel and Melinda spoke to the question “How does pop culture shape your attitudes towards gender, sex & sexuality, social media, body image, ideas of manhood, mental health, violence etc?” They dissected the impacts of harmful messaging from media, advertising, pop culture and the global porn industry and discussed how cultural forces fuel distorted ideas and attitudes about bodies, relationships and sex. Daniel’s message empowered boys to navigate these cultural challenges and step outside the ‘Man Box’ resisting the harmful masculine stereotypes. He encouraged boys to be courageous and resist these harmful messages as they aspire to become good men.

WHAT DID THE BOYS THINK?

“During the presentation I thought that the speaker (Daniel) was really good and he kept me entertained in the topic. After the presentation I realised how bad pornography is and how women really feel about us men, and it also made me think that I need to make a change as well by being more respectful towards women and to not be tempted to watch pornography. I learnt from the presentation how badly women are portrayed by the media almost as if they are objects. Daniel showed us advertisements from real world shopping malls and posters, and it was very bad how women were always half naked and men were always dressed. A positive action that we can take to step outside the “Man Box” was to stop thinking of women as objects and to stop thinking of women only in a sexual way.”
Lucas Ali

“Before the presentation I was feeling a bit awkward about the whole thing and didn’t know what to expect. The presentation made me feel sad and shocked about the things that people do as jokes about women and how some people only look at women like objects. What I learnt from the presentation was that pornography is bad for your body and your mental health, it can affect the way you approach women and the relationships that you have throughout your life. I also learnt that we shouldn’t look at women as objects but for who they are as a person. What Daniel said was to be yourself and not get pressured by anyone to do stuff that you don’t want to do and to try to do the right things and make the right choices.”
Mitchell Pentony

“I honestly was not sure what to expect from the presentation, but during the presentation I was shocked to see all this info about just how women are sexualised to sell goods. After it made me feel educated and aware of what people do to women and how they feel themselves about this. I learnt how women are exploited and what girls my age feel about boys doing things like making sexual moaning sounds, or just inappropriate things in general.”
Jack Lee Steere

“From the presentation I learnt many things including: women are expected to live up to expectations that surround them every day, women are advertised as sex objects. I also learnt that many women are pressured into doing things that they don’t want to do such as sending nudes. We also got stories and quotes from young girls about how boys want to sexualise everything and that they can’t have a normal conversation. A positive action I can take, is to respect women for who they are.”
Brady Gardiner

“Before the presentation, I did not know that the world compares men and women differently. I learnt that women are usually treated poorly by men and the world is targeting underaged children towards pornography which makes them go down to the wrong path. The main thing I learnt from the presentation is to treat women with respect, as nowadays men tend to treat women as an object. Daniel said a couple of positive actions that we could take to step outside the ‘Man Box’ was to understand better what the actual problem is and be more educated about this for us to snap out of the cycle. We could also educate others on the danger of pornography and how it could affect our mental health.”
Jason Sutisna

“Before the talk I felt this is going to be so boring spending over an hour listening to some guy talking about pornography and I didn’t want to go because I thought I wouldn’t relate to it or not have any idea about what he’s talking about. When he started talking and doing his presentation it was good and related to me and wasn’t what I was expecting, he sounded like he really knew what he was talking about and did lots of research and everything in the PowerPoint was related to my kind of age. While he was doing his presentation, I was taking it in and going woah with all the facts that were stated. I realized that watching porn online can cause things like erectile dysfunction and bad relationships between you and your partner. I learnt the pornography industry is messed up and they force young women into doing porn and they don’t care about what it does to your brain they only care about how much money is going into their bank account.”
Luca Capararo

This has been a production season like no other and when recognising the hard work of this amazing cast, the students who so willingly understudied throughout the rehearsal process should be congratulated and acknowledged. Without the assurance of playing those roles in performances, students enthusiastically volunteered to cover unavoidable absences to ensure we have a production to share with you today – my sincerest thanks to a cast that kept this show going. The ‘Bugsy Malone’ rehearsal season had been about a spirit of inclusiveness and a strong team culture towards a common goal. The cast members were generous, kind, thoughtful and hard-working during a season that fluctuated with uncertainty and an ever-changing rehearsal environment.

There are many parents, colleagues and theatre professionals who assisted in putting this show together – thank you to all who supported our 2022 Aquinas College Production. I am extremely appreciative to have worked with an incredibly talented staff and student Creative Team, who’s vision and ideas were the driving strength behind every scene, moment, song, and choreographed movement within the show. Their combined student-centred approach and attention to detail is what has made this experience dynamic and worthwhile. I’d like to especially thank our Musical Director, Mr Chris McMillan, who’s expertise and outstanding musicianship have raised the calibre of this production to a standard worthy of the Heath Ledger Theatre.

‘Bugsy Malone’ is a musical that has everything – fun songs, memorable characters, and a quirky script. It is a musical that somehow connects so well with young actors. We hope you enjoyed it!

Sonja Vaswani
Director

This production marked the beginning of another chapter in the College’s long-standing history of musical theatre productions, and we welcomed Mrs Sonja Vaswani to the Arts team at Aquinas in the role of Director.

Beginning the year in the grips of a pandemic made the rehearsal process for this show a challenge. Our students rehearsed outdoors in small groups in the early stages. They covered each other’s roles when some were in isolation and learnt their parts online where necessary, displaying admirable versatility and persistence. Whilst many schools made the decision to cancel their show for this year, we are proud to have persevered and to have finally arrive at the point of production at the incredible State Theatre.

Our admiration and thanks to all students in the cast and their families for being prepared to work with us in these unusual times. My thanks also to the incredibly talented staff who so willingly gave their time and expertise.

Musically, the preparation for our show was interesting. When Alan Parker decided to direct Bugsy Malone for film in 1976 using child actors, many of the young stars cast then were younger than most of our cast members are. Consequently, many of the resulting recordings of the show feature children’s voices. Our challenge was to produce a more mature sound than the original recordings – another task which was willingly accepted by our students! We hope you enjoyed their efforts in bringing ‘Bugsy Malone’ to life.

Chris McMillan
Music Director