Tyabb Dawn Service
The House Captains and Liturgy Leaders of Padua Tyabb woke up bright and early on 25 April for the ANZAC Day Dawn Service here in Tyabb. We were fortunate enough to get the opportunity to be involved in the Dawn Service. Matheus Pinzan and Tahlia Love took turns in reading out the lines of a poem called 'Sir'. Bonnie Enever and Adam Karnatz laid the wreath on behalf of our school. Angelique Brun, Tilly Richards and Abby Richards walked with the primary school children as they stuck crosses in the hedges. Ysabella Mendoza handed out pamphlets to everybody who came to pay their respects.
It was an amazing turnout with approximately 100 people paying their respects to the fallen ANZAC soldiers and the Scouts were kind enough to cook bacon and eggs for breakfast for everyone. Overall, it was an amazing experience for everyone there and we strongly recommend that you come down next year.
Adam Karnatz, Year 9 Geoghegan
Aspire9 Focus Weeks
The green and yellow House clusters went on a five-day camp where they could participate in bushwalking, canoeing, bike riding, and many more, while the blue and red clusters went on a three-day city camp which involved going to a TAFE and university among other things.
City Camp
On Monday 8 May Year 9 McCormack travelled to Melbourne for their city camp experience. We got to Frankston train station around 8:30am and met everyone from all the other campuses and got into our groups. We boarded the train by 9.00am and when we got to the city, we all caught Tram 57 to the Miami Hotel in West Melbourne. After we dropped our bags off, we left to explore Melbourne since we had free time. We met at the state library at 12pm and got ready for the Amazing Race. After the race finished, we went to a cafe in Carlton and had pizza for dinner. We all got ice cream afterwards and then went on the ghost tour. This lady introduced herself and took us through the alleyways of Melbourne explaining things which had happened in history. There were two metal rods and if they crossed over it meant there was a ghost within the area. The ghost tour ended around 11pm and after we got back, we just went to bed.
On the second day, we started bright and early and went to 'The Big Issue'. It was a workshop to inform us about homelessness and how they sell magazines to raise money for people who are less fortunate than us. We also went to the Shrine for an afternoon activity to learn about the war. We had free time afterwards and my group and I spent our time in Melbourne Central. For our night activity, we chose to do ice skating and we went out for dinner. On the third and final day, we had free time and we walked around Melbourne. We got on the Metro train around about 1:30 and we got back to Frankston station around about 2:30pm. Everyone went home and, overall, we had a great time and would do it again.
Jess Jones and Daisy Walles, Year 9 McCormack
On Monday 8 May the red Houses went on city camp. We met up at the train station and made our way to the Miami hotel just outside of the CBD. Later that day we met at the State Library and did an amazing race all around the CBD. This activity was to familiarise ourselves with the city and to use different ways of thinking. Group 3 and 4 had to prepare an activity and dinner for that night. My group went bowling and then went to Chinatown for dinner.
The next morning, we made our way to the Shrine of Remembrance for a tour of the World War 1 and 2 exhibits and there was so much to learn. After a lunch break, we went to the Big Issue. The Big Issue focuses on giving homeless people an opportunity to create money and have a source of stable income. It also helps reset their lives. On the last night, we went out for dinner and had pizza, then we went on a ghost tour around the city. On our last day we had a focus. This meant that we got to pick a focus and spend the morning exploring our focus. After a lot of walking, we made our way home on the train at around 1pm.
Tilly Richards, Year 9 McCormack
Canoe Camp
On Monday morning we set off to the Murray River where we spent four nights and five days. In those four nights and five days, we canoed 55km on the river and learnt how to make our own meals. Those meals included burritos on the first night, yummy stir fry on the second night, noodles on the third night and spaghetti on the fourth. We made new friendships, slept in tents and sat by the fire at night and played uno. The nights were cold, and the days were warm and sunny.
Every day we had to pack our canoes and empty them when we got to our designated spot for the night where we set up our tents. There were lots of struggles on the camp like not having a toilet, so we had to go in a hole, and not being able to shower at all. But thank God on the last day we set up at a campsite where we could use flushing toilets and hot showers. The camp was enjoyable and fun, my friends and I were glad that was the camp we chose.
Gabby Mehrmann, Year 9 Geoghegan
I went to the Murray River Camp which I can say didn't seem like fun at the start but ended up being one of the best camps of my life. It started off with a treacherous four-and-a-half-hour bus ride, getting to know some of the people who I would be spending the next five days with along the way. We headed off to our campsite from the bus and got assigned our groups with a mix of Mornington, Rosebud and Tyabb people in them with a total of three groups. We were told we were not canoeing till the next day, so the next day came around and we packed everything that we brought and put it in waterproof bags and barrels and headed off in our canoes. There would be two of us in the canoe. My group was the third last to leave on day one but we quickly caught up with the other groups because of how quickly we were travelling and passing them with immense pace. Hour by hour went by and it was finally time to stop and find a beach that we wanted, agreed on the night before. We stopped and set up camp and made dinner with our Trangia and headed off for bed. Most days would consist of paddling to the beach we agreed on the night before, getting to know each other along the way, and making new friends while not getting much sleep. It all had to come to a sad end, arriving home at the Tyabb Campus in the afternoon, Friday, all absolutely exhausted but happy.
Matheus Pinzan, Year 9 Cardijn
Howqua Camp
From 8-12 May we got to go to Howqua for one of our Year 9 camps. We met up with all of the other campus Year 9s on the camp and got split into four groups of 13-16 people. On the camp, we got to bond with other Year 9s and make new friends.
At the camp we did one day of bushwalking, going up and down many hills and walking through bushland, we did one-and-a-half days of mountain biking. The half-day we rode up to the hideout and stayed the night there and the next day we rode back to Camp Howqua and stayed there. We also got to do one-and-a-half days of horse riding where we got to brush, saddle up our horses and bond with the horses that we would be riding over the couple of days. We stayed at the hut one night sleeping in tents and another night in a lodge. It was a very exciting and fun five days of making new friends and sharing a great experience with them.
Aurora Bampton, Year 9 Geoghegan
