College News
Culture and Student Leadership 2019
The start to the 2019 school year has been fantastic with so many positive events and opportunities to contribute to our amazing school culture and to demonstrate leadership. The term kicked off with a group of our elected Senior leaders attending Enthuse Camp at Luther Heights in Coolum. This camp is designed specifically for school leaders to teach them about leadership, communication, empowering groups and positive role modelling. The students who attended described the camp as ‘Life-Changing”. The camp was then soon after followed by the Commencement Service, where our Middle Years and Senior Years leaders were officially inducted into their roles. This is a very important time for our elected leaders as they commit their service to their respective roles and to the college for the year.
The first major house event of the year was the swimming carnival, which was a huge success. The winning house on the day was Stephan House in years 4-6 and Strohmeyer House in year 7-12. The house spirit at the pool was so positive and energising. The House Captains and student leaders did fantastic job in creating the wonderful atmosphere at the Ashmore Road pool.
Battle of The Bands was a resounding success with over 455 tickets sold to the event which is the biggest crowd we have ever seen and the energy in the Robert Hoff Hall was electric. Congratulations goes to Mackenzie house for taking out the winning honours this year with a very well-produced and performed show. Congratulations should also go to all performers from Strohmeyer and Stephan who put on very entertaining sets and kept the crowd rocking. The staff band also rocked out some golden-oldies and showed fantastic talent and entertainment.
With the event being such a resounding success and the house spirit being so vibrant it is certain that our school culture is thriving and we can all be so proud of the community which we are blessed to be a part of.
The Student Representative Council (SRC) is an initiative which is designed to empower the student body to have a say and make and impact in their school. This year we were inundated with over 170 nominations for positions on the SRC, which is absolutely mind-blowing. This is illustrative of the drive and passion our students have for the college and their desire to contribute to its success and direction for the future. 35 students were successfully elected by their peers to make up the SRC for 2019 and they will represent their peers with pride and conviction throughout the year in fundraising events, student support initiatives and governance matters within the school.
To enable our entire student body to demonstrate leadership and further improve school culture to model what is described as their “Dream Trinity” the student-led lunchtime activities were born. There is a deep desire among the student body for things to do and to have things on offer for them to do, to improve participation in everyday school life and a genuine love for the college, to increase connectedness among the various cohorts and to have an outlet to have fun everyday.
These activities are designed to empower students to take ownership and responsibility. The process which students are expected to follow in the organisation and implementation of their chosen activity is designed to test their communication, time management and leadership skills and thus lead to improvements in these areas over time. This leads to an increase in self-belief and capability which will overflow into other areas of their lives.
There have been some great activities on offer so far this term including virtual reality groups, boardgames, trivia, dance groups, year 6 & 12 mentor groups, handball tournaments, basketball shootouts, colouring in competitions, reading groups and the very popular lunchtime karaoke.
Our year 6 and 7 cohorts have attended leadership incursion facilitated by Lutheran Youth of Queensland and YLead. These were full day events designed to empower our youngest students on campus to recognise leadership in all its forms and allow them to step up and lead focussing on their strengths, their ability to empathise and inspire.
There have also been a large number of events where our elected Middle Years and Senior Leaders have been involved including the year 12 badge ceremony, scholarship testing, school tours, hosting assemblies and chapel, fundraising initiatives including the Bullying No Way campaign and Townsville flood appeal, Trinity foundation breakfast, International Women’s Day and so much more. School culture and leadership is alive and thriving at Trinity!
Mr Rhys Emmerson
Head of Culture and Student Leadership
