This term in Szenes House….

• Miriam Itzkowitz (9) has written the following articles for Kol Szenes. Thank you for your contribution to Szenes House!
• Year 12 sat their Pre-Trial HSC examinations and are awaiting their results and feedback.
• Year 11 will be sitting their Preliminary HSC examinations next week. We wish them every success.
• Students from the East Timor trip returned to school at the end of last week with tales of adventure.
• Year 9 had a memorable time at Ski Camp.
• SRC voting was recently completed. Representatives for each Year Group will be announced today.
• Year 11 Peer Support Leadership team to aid in the transition of Year 7, 2018 will be announced today.

Ski Camp

On 23 July, Year 9 embarked on a six-hour bus ride to Ski Camp. For many of us, this was our first time seeing snow, let alone skiing. I was no exception. We were divided into groups based on ability, and because of my lack of experience in the snow sport, I was placed in the beginners group. However, I proved to be even worse than the other beginners, so I was moved to a smaller group for people who couldn’t pick skiing up fast enough (story of my life). This was actually really good for me because my new coach was much more supportive than my first one. By the end of camp, my confidence on the snow had improved significantly. But that’s not to say it was easy. Every single day, I fell over and banged my head constantly, always falling backwards. I embarrassed myself severely on the 3^rd day when I wanted to put my skis away and instead of skiing to the ski rack, I skied into the ski rack. I was stuck there for a good 5 minutes. Other than those few minor incidents, I really enjoyed Ski Camp and can definitely say, thus far, it is one of my High School highlights.

East Timor

On 30 July, 2 days after Ski Camp finished, a group of us travelled to East Timor to teach English to children in a suco called Gildapil. There were 5 Szenesians who went (plus Ms Philp), including myself, Tali Blackman, Elijah Grynberg, Mia Gold and Erin Forman. The trip really gave all of us great insight into other people’s culture and a first-hand idea of what extreme poverty is. We learnt a lot about East Timor’s history and Australia’s significance as well as learning how to live in an extremely different way to our usual lives. Once we arrived in Gildapil we knew that there was something different about the attitude of the people living there. The people in Gildapil were much more content with what they had, unlike in Australia, where there’s minimal optimism. We taught at the school there, played sport with them and really bonded with them. It was so hard leaving the village after our fantastic 6 days there, knowing that we may not see them for a while or even ever again, and all of our extremely emotional goodbyes showed how great our memories there were and how greatly this amazing place would be missed. We also did a lot of sightseeing in Dili, Balibo and Maliana which gave us a deep understanding into this country’s history as well as Australia’s involvement in it. This trip was so fantastic and educational and I highly recommend people go because the pricelessness of what you learn can never be taught in a classroom and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience that should definitely not be missed out on.

Debating

On Tuesday, Moriah College came to Emanuel compete in debates with the Middles and Seniors teams. Our Senior team is completely comprised of Szenesians: Beau Glass (9) as First Speaker, Isaac Grove (9) as Second Speaker, Isabella Flax (10) as Third Speaker and Rebekah Goldsworthy (9) as Team Advisor. The topic was “that we should prohibit statements that are offensive“. Emanuel was the Affirmative Team and won (yay!). The  Middles Team’s topic was “that community service should be part of the secondary school curriculum”. While the team was not completely comprised of Szenesians, a quarter of the team was. Eden Glass (7) was the team’s First Speaker, and subsequently, Emanuel won (must run in the Glass family). We are so proud of both Emanuel teams and commend Moriah for their efforts in a such challenging and competitive debates on some pretty tricky topics.

Quotation of the week

“Travel teaches toleration.” – Benjamin Disraeli

Enjoy the weekend.

Shabbat Shalom

Szenes House