Highlights of September Week 4

ENGLISH OLYMPIAD WINNERS

Congratulations to Cassandra Posthumus who was placed in the Top 100 and received a gold certificate for the English Olympiad this year.

Silver certificates went to:  Jenna Alexander, Stephanie Forsman, Linda Sumbu, Gabriella Fedetto, Yi Li, Jamie-lee McDonic, Tanyika Padayachy, Toni Panzera, Michaela Davids, Alexia Georgiou, Kirsten McCulloch, Cameron Smith, Rochelle Weimer
Bronze certificates went to: Kaitlin Groves, Sabrina Potter, Grace Zhao, Caitlin Noyle, Chante du Preez, Chantelle Guise-Brown
Merit certificates went to: Faye Galanakis, Kathleen Freeman, Janai Mintah, Denise Orege, Mpho Scheppers.

---

COMPUTER OLYMPIAD WINNER

Congratulations to Gabriella Fedetto who obtained 100% in the first round of the Computer Olympiad.

---

PRESIDENT'S AWARD ACHIEVERS

Silver:    Camryn Fenthum 

Bronze:  Josie Richter

---

DRAMA PRACTICALS

A record number of thirty-five girls performed in the final drama practical examinations on Monday 26th September. The girls were thoroughly prepared and the examiner broke with protocol to address the girls at the end of the day to compliment them on their outstanding work. 

Our 35 Grade 12 Drama students spent the entire day in the GLT performing in their final examinations. Each girl had to present a monologue, a scene and an own choice piece which could have been movement-based, musical theatre, poetry, mime or a contrasting style. We are incredibly grateful to all the parents and girls who came to watch these performances; having a responsive audience made it all worthwhile. One parent who stayed for the entire nine hours commented: “It has been a privilege to witness the girls’ growth… astonishing.”

---

DEBATING

St Stithians Girls' College participated for the first time this year in the Johannesburg round of the World Scholars' Cup and the team excelled. The World Scholars' Cup is a global team academic tournament that aims to inspire future scholars and leaders. The tournament consists of debating, collaborative essay-writing, a very challenging general knowledge examination, and a team quiz. This year's theme was "An Imperfect World" and the research areas included crime and justice, history, literature, science, art and music, and social studies.

Our results were as follows:

• Shumirai Sithole: Silver for Debating; Silver for Writing; Silver for History in the Scholars' Test; Silver Champion Scholar
• Michaela Watkins: Gold for Debating; Silver for Writing; Silver Champion Scholar
• Gabriella Fedetto: Gold for Debating (6th place overall); Gold for Writing (6th place overall); Silver for Crime and Justice in the Scholars' Test; Top Scholar Award; Gold Champion Scholar and 9th place overall.
• Team: 5th in Debating (Gold Medal); 3rd in Writing overall (Gold medal); 20th team overall in the competition and qualifiers for the Global Round.
• The Model United Nations Debaters participated in Mini-MUN simulations and two were selected to participate in the prestigious Young Leaders’ Conference, hosted by the South African Institute of International Affairs. The highlight of this conference was the presentation of a memorandum, drawn up by the delegates, to the Office of the Presidency. In addition, our debaters participated in a BackChat with the Deputy Minister in the Presidency about re-imagining a non-racist and non-sexist South Africa. We entered two teams into the Gauteng Provincial Model UN competition, and performed admirably, with Michaela Watkins earning a Best Speaker award.
• Our World Schools Debaters have also had a particularly successful season. Both the Junior and the Senior teams broke to the SACEE League Championships. The Senior team ranked an outstanding 7th in their region, a massive achievement considering the difficulty of the pool in which they competed. The Junior team progressed to the break rounds of the League Championships, only narrowly missing a place in the final. Georgina Stanley ranked in the Top Ten Junior speakers. In addition, both teams made it into the Gauteng Schools Debating Board Provincial Championship where they performed excellently. The Junior team made it through to the Break rounds and Nomalanga Luthuli and Jemma Jenkins-Ferret were invited to Senior Provincial Trials, and Edith (Anesu) Mugadza and Georgina Stanley to Junior Provincial Trials. In addition, Jemma Jenkins-Ferret as part of the official Gauteng Team to the Bratislava Schools Debating Championship.

---

POWER LIFTING

Well done to Bianca Gain who won the sub-junior and junior category oat the SAPF Deadlift Challenge recently.  She was also awared the Best Sub-Junior Female Award.

 

---

TENNIS

All our tennis teams won their games against Northcliff and Randburg last week.

---

WATER POLO

Well done to the 1st team who played in the Reddam Tournament this past weekend.  They made it through to the semi-finals playing against Reddam and narrowly lost 3-4.  They ended 4th out of 20 schools (last year they were placed 11th and the year before that 17th.  Our 2nd team played in the St Anne's 1st team tournament in the pouring rain and cold and were placed 8th against other 1st teams.

---

HERITAGE DAY CELEBRATIONS

In honour of Heritage Day, Girls’ College students attended school on Monday 26th September in Cultural Dress that reflected their own cultural heritage.

 

---

GSA - Gender Sexuality Alliance

The Girls' College announced that there will be a new group starting for those interested in creating a safe space to discuss Gender Sexuality topics and to stamp out homophobia.  This will form part of the Transformation committee and will run during breaks by the student leaders.

---

ROWING

GC Rowing club had a successful first regatta of the 2016/17 season – the clubs is excited for the season ahead -  4 Medals and 1 1st Certificate a B race.

Well done to all the rowers who competed in the St Mary's regatta.

U16A scull: Jordan Korevaar came 6th and Sydney Davison came 7th
U16B scull: Heather Tanner won convincingly
U16 double: Jordan Korevaar and Sydney Davison came 2nd
U16A quad: Sydney Davison, Jordan Korevaar, Megan Cronje, Jemma Jenkins-Ferret came 3rd coxed by Heather Tanner
1st scull: Nicole Masson came 3rd, Madison Crews came 4th and Jeannavieve Williams 7th
2nd scull: Alessandra Gain game 4th
1st quad: Madison Crews, Nicole Masson, Kate Pringle. Jennavieve williams and cox Shannon Etter came 3rd, missing 2nd place by only 0.8 seconds to a very experienced Holy Rosary crew.

(The full set of photographs from the rowing regatta are on the St Stithians College Rowing Club Facebook page)  
It is a closed group so you will have to ask to join.  

The rowing club have also set up the COXBOX newsletter which has many photographs details and articles.  Click here for the link.   1st Edition of The CoxBox 2016

---

BURN

The Boys’ and Girls’ College Drama Departments got together in Mears Hall to watch alumnus Mark Tatham in Liquid Fusion’s award winning production Burn. This was followed by a fascinating Q & A with the performers and their director Bailey Snyman, who is a lecturer at the Drama Faculty at the University of Pretoria. 

 

---