Quality Teacher Induction programs Vew the winning video!
Boys Ed Kids Conquor Kokoda!
The 2009 Kokoda Challenge was held over the weekend of July 18 & 19. I’m sure you’re thinking why would anyone want to test themselves in an ultra-marathon bush walking event through the day and night? I’ll try to cover them all, however as the boys will attest, there are more reasons than hill climbs and that’s a lot!
This year’s Kokoda Challenge saw the inclusion of the Jim Stillman Cup - a gruelling 48km event specifically for high school teams. A total of 9 teams had entered the inaugural event and the UCSC Boys Ed Program had two year 9 teams in the mix. We were a bit worried when we realised that we had the youngest teams in the competition, but then the lads were always up for a challenge and we were going to be stronger working as one team.
Mr John Daniel and his partner Kasia arrived early at the Numinbah Valley Hall start point and it wasn’t long before our teams were organised and raring to go. As Mr Daniel took the troops (pardon the pun) over for registration, the dads gave me a hand to move water and supplies into our main support car. The mums were busy discussing support plans with chief supporter, Kasia. It was a sign of the amazing and tireless parental support to come. Before the race we quickly gathered for a few ‘media’ shots. The fellas did a good job of posing, boy band style and thinking this may be the last photo of them smiling for a while, we snapped off a few.
Before the start we were introduced to Mr Jimmy Stillman, the man this event was named after. We held a minutes silence to honour the men and women who have served our country and then we were ready to start. Jimmy sent us all off smiling by saying “Go you little rippers!” and we left the start line with plenty of inspiration in the tanks. Our morale and spirits were high and we quickly settled into second place behind a team of year 12 students from St Michaels College. Mr Daniel, Kyle, Matt and Brendan set a determined yet controlled pace as we knew these first few hills were the tip of the iceberg. Kody and Mitchell H were making the rest of us laugh with some cunning plans to slow the other teams down. Don’t stress, we did the right thing and didn’t weld the gate shut. Jordan, Joseph and Mitchell B were cruising along at the back and to be honest, I was a little worried that they wouldn’t go the distance. I soon found out that they were pacing themselves and when Brendan started finding it tough at the end of the stage, they were excellent team motivators. We charged into check point 8 after a few hours walk, scanned our race cards and ate a few treats the Gold Coast Bushwalkers support people had provided for racers. Our first stage was done and we were sore already, but our spirit was high.
Mitch B’s dad seemed like he was everywhere and always had some words of encouragement and his trusty video camera. Mr Bruce would just pop up in the middle of nowhere and we always walked faster with a camera on us. Kyle and Mr Daniel were blitzing on the next stage and up the front Mitch H had taken over as team motivator, a title he would hold for the rest of the event. He based his jokes around the pain in his calves and the supposedly pathetic size of mine. They’re not skinny….I’m just athletic! Kody had us chuckling with his repertoire of Chuck Norris jokes and comments about how good he was, at well …everything. Matt, Joe and Jordan focussed on the task at hand and just kept strolling. Occasionally
Jordan would get us to laugh by slipping over on the insanely steep hills. I think by the end of it we had about 10 stacks across the team and
Jordan notched up most of them. At the back, Brendan and I kept trudging towards checkpoint 10 - Syd Duncan Park. Our team angel Kasia, had our lunches set up for us and picnic blankets down to take in the amazing views. Perhaps it was too good as Brendan decided to pull out at this stage. We thought it was a great effort, considering there aren’t many 14 year old kids who spend 8 hours on a Saturday walking up and down hills.
As you could imagine I could write a book about the rest of the race and maybe one day I will, but for now here is a brief rundown. We kept on going into the afternoon and night, finishing the 48 kms at around 10:30pm. Our team of fantastic family supporters never failed to feed and fire us up at every checkpoint and congratulate us at the finish line. Without Kasia and the families support we would have struggled to even finish. They were awesome! So what were the lows and the highs you ask? Low; the trail took us up and down about a million hills, nay, mountains. If there was a hill we climbed it! High; the trail itself followed fire trails and single tracks through the Gold Coast Hinterland and took us to some amazing locations with equally amazing views. Low; it nearly killed us. High; it made us feel so alive to just finish. Low; it really hurt our bodies. High; we now know our bodies can cope with 15 plus hours of physical pain. Low; at times we thought we wouldn’t make it. High; we dealt with the mental strain and doubts and won. Low; Joseph deciding that he simply couldn’t go on at stage 13. The highest high; Joseph deciding that he could push on for 10 more kms, as his teachers and mates wanted him to finish with them.
So there you have it. The way 10 blokes spent 10hrs and 23mins of their weekend. I never thought the Kokoda Challenge would have been so rewarding. Some might think “It’s only walking, it would be easy” and we could forgive them, as that is the challenge. When looking back over the training walks, the selling pancakes to raise sponsorship money, the preparation, organisation, support, mateship and event as a whole, the Kokoda Challenge is so much more. It would mean different things to each individual. For me, it was an absolute honour to be a part of something so incredible and I will not forget the experience. And by the way we came third….not that we’re competitive!
Thanks to all,
Luke Higgins
Acting HOD – Middle School lhigg21@eq.edu.au
Caught in the Crowd
Students from both middle and senior school worked together to create a music video for the well known Australian singer / songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke. The song was called ‘Caught in the Crowd’ and deals with issues about bullying and being a bystander to bullying. The student’s clip reflected this and focused on a grade 7 girl who wanted to stop the teasing of a boy she knew, but was to afraid to do so. Students came up with the ideas themselves, and spent many hours shooting and editing the clip in class as well as in their own time. The finished clip was entered into a national competition and won the major prize of a Sony video pack and a free performance by Kate Miller-Heidke at the school on Tuesday May 5th Lunch Time.
2008 Next Step Report
The 2008 Next Step report on the destinations of Year 12 completers from 2007 in
Queensland is available for download.
Next Steps is a report on the destinations of Year 12 completers from 2007 in
Queensland.
The purpose of this report is to inform the school principal
and school community of the destinations of students from this school who completed Year 12 in 2007. It is only one indicator of the outcomes of schooling.
I have just returned home from a fantastic afternoon out with four dedicated UCSC students. Kirsty Norris, Ricquel Kvikstad, Bronte Pelham and Emily Peake proudly put on their UCSC uniforms on a Saturday, to represent the college at the Coomera Festival of Light, held at the Coomera-Oxenford Youth Centre. These four girls presented a 15 minute TheatreSports demonstration and participated in other activities around the event including bubble blowing, Torres Strait Islander dancing and sharing their thoughts, hopes, dreams and aspirations for both themselves as individuals and for their community.
Please, if you see these girls around the college, congratulate them for their efforts, and for helping to show the community the positive things that our students can achieve. They are excellent representatives of the college, and have really done us proud.
Titration (Chemistry) Competition at Griffith University
Narelle Crowley, Senior School Science Teacher, took 9 students to the titration (chemistry) competition held Saturday 9th May at Griffith University. There were approximately 19 teams participating on the day, of which Upper Coomera State College was the only public school. All of the students showed great skill and maturity representing the school. The Year 11 team did extremely well, placing 5th overall. The top four were only from two schools, therefore, Upper Coomera as a school placed third. This is a fantastic result. But even better news was that Natalie Lange of year 11, received a certificate of merit for excellence. Natalie was the only student at the competition to gain this merit. She was 0.25% off perfect! Meaning her result was 99.75% awesome!!!!
Please, if you see any of the students around the school, congratulate them, they all deserved it.
