College Highlights
Southern Downs Regional Youth Council
by Mrs Jill Hume
On Thursday 19 October, Assumption College Year 10 students Isabella Sullivan, Lincoln Murphy, Amy Ryan and Calum Oloman, attended their final meeting as our College Southern Downs Regional Council Youth Representatives. Throughout this year, these students have proudly participated in Youth Council meetings and, along with student representatives from other local schools, have been a voice to Council on matters that impact our community, such as waste, road safety, ageism in the community and many other relevant items. Through their learnings from guest speakers and presentations by council representatives, our Youth Council Representatives have had the opportunity to be the voice of the youth in our community. We thank the Southern Downs Regional Council for this wonderful opportunity for the youth in our region, and congratulate Isabella, Lincoln, Amy and Calum for their leadership and participation throughout 2023. You have certainly set the standard for our 2024 Youth Council Leaders!
J W Morgan Article
by Mr Simon Hamlet
The 6 October 2023 edition of Nature carries an obituary to W. Jason Morgan, if you would like to read it you can find it here W. Jason Morgan, discoverer of plate tectonics (1935–2023) (nature.com). Morgan is not well known, but the idea of plate tectonics that he advanced is. To quote the Nature article –
It showed that Earth’s surface consists of about a dozen rigid plates. They are created at mid-ocean ridges, destroyed in subduction zones where they converge, and move past one another along great faults, such the San Andreas Fault in California.
Other papers followed, explaining that volcanoes occur where plates subduct, mountains rise where and when continents collide, and earthquakes result from jostling and shearing at plate margins.
Within a decade, the theory of ‘plate tectonics’ was broadly accepted. Morgan had presented the geological equivalent of Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution soon after being appointed as an assistant professor at Princeton University in New Jersey and had transformed geology forever.
Image Caption: Two tectonic plates, the Indo-Australian and the Pacific Plates, part of a simple jigsaw recently released by Geoscience Australia.
Like so much of what forms today’s science curriculum, the theorists who proposed the idea were still alive when their ideas made it into the curriculum; Plate Tectonics in Year 9 and Big Bang theory in Year 10 are just two examples that are being taught this term. Science and the associated processing of ‘big data’ are continuing to add to our understanding of our world.
The exciting thing about being a teacher is not just that I can teach new things to students, but that I could well be teaching a person who will transform our understanding of the world in which we live, and who, like Morgan, could see that knowledge become part of the curriculum in their own lifetime.
Arts and Design Showcase 5:00- 5:50 pm, 23 November 2023.
Please join us in celebrating our students’ efforts from this year at the Arts and Design Showcase evening. Our static and screen/film displays will be presented at the back of the Assumption Hall for your viewing pleasure while student music performances will be on the stage area. The students' Film Academy short film production will be on show. It will be the first public viewing since the red-carpet event at the local cinemas. Ready to wear textiles and 'Straight to the Pool Room' art, wood and metal work items! We look forward to seeing you there.
2024 Assumption College Variety Concert
Date claimer: 26th and 27th April
We are starting to call for students who would like to audition for next year's Assumption College Variety Concert. After the success of last year's efforts we are looking forward to the diversity of creativity, skill, courage and team work that will be showcased on the evening. Students, please look out in the notices for times to catch up with staff working towards the event to talk about possible contributions and anything you may be wanting to prepare. Parents, guardians and friends, mark your calendar to keep either night free to witness ACW Showcase 2024! Look forward to seeing you there.