Last week, the Humanities Faculty celebrated Humanities Week at St Catherine’s School. The week kicked off with a Senior School Assembly dedicated to sharing ‘Humanities Highlights’.

This primarily student led assembly allowed for students in Years 8 to 12 to draw attention to their experiences across the broad range of Humanities subjects.

Our School Captains, Kavina Kalaichelvam and Georgina Cottrill, opened the assembly, sharing their experiences with their study of subject in the Humanities domain. Kavina gave recognition to the teaching staff in the Humanities faculty, stating that “these are the teachers who organise long awaited excursions and send us articles that relate to what we were talking about in class because they just cannot get enough of us. They are not just our educators, but counsellors, therapists and role models. They put ‘human’ into Humanities and for that we are grateful”. Georgina revealed that her VCE studies are very much dominated by the Humanities, including her study of Philosophy, Global Politics, Legal Studies and Geography. Georgina articulated that while the content of the Humanities subjects she is studying is fascinating, what she values most is the way Humanities subjects “teach us to think critically and independently which is so important and applicable to all walks of life. They teach us to weigh evidence sceptically, and consider more than one side of every question. The Humanities encourage us to think creatively and ask questions about our world”.

Guest Speaker – Georgia Beattie (’04)
Our guest speaker, St Catherine’s Old Girl and entrepreneur Georgia Beattie (’04), shared her inspiring journey with the Senior students. In 2011, Georgia raised seed capital to found wine startup Lupé Wines. Lupé Wines specialised in supplying events, airlines and hotel minibars with the world’s first single serve glass of wine designed for ease of use. The company expanded quickly across Australia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China. Lupé Wines was listed as a top 10 startup to watch by BRW and Georgia was listed as one of the top 50 entrepreneurs to watch in 2015. In 2016, the company was successfully sold.

St Catherine’s Old Girl and entrepreneur Georgia Beattie (’04) shared her inspiring journey with our Senior School students at the Humanities Week Assembly.

Georgia was appointed as CEO of Startup Victoria in 2016 to help organise the startup ecosystem from her experience as an Australian entrepreneur. Most recently, Georgia has become CEO of Mycelia Organics, Australia’s largest organic mushroom farm. Her move into agriculture has given her the opportunity to create a business that not only meets the needs of consumers, but also makes a positive contribution to fighting climate change as well as rejuvenating the declining quality of the topsoil in Australia.

Georgia’s entrepreneurial success has come about as a result of acting on a business idea that she believes in. In order to take an idea to the next stage, Georgia recommends that budding entrepreneurs should follow these steps:

1. Write a one-minute pitch identifying the problem you are solving, the market size, how you are going to transact dollars and how you are going to execute and scale.
2. Identify three trusted mentors within your network who are relevant to your idea’s execution or industry. Forget family and close friends – they will tell you whatever you want to hear.
3. Pitch your idea to your three mentors and make sure you really listen to their suggestions and market insights.
4. Create a minimal viable product – a prototype that does not require too much investment. Make sure the product or service is unique, could appeal to a global audience and is protectable.
5. Try selling your product and collect data on your interactions with the market.
6. Surround yourself with like-minded people through your local startup community.

Source:
http://www.georgiabeattie.com/

Model United Nations General Assembly
Allegra Dennison (Year 10) and Fleur Anstee (Year 10) shared with assembly their experience at the Model United Nations (UN) General Assembly. Before this event, students were required to research the country they would be representing in order for them to understand what their country believes in and is opposed to, and why? The focus of the event was ‘Pathways to Peace’, which addressed War, Conflict and International Security. There were 30 groups each representing different countries. To begin, each group gave a short statement about their country. Issues such as gender equality and the crises of refugees were prominent discussion points that were raised during the day. Allegra and Fleur agreed that attending the Model UN General Assembly was an extremely enjoyable way to learn more about Global Politics as well as being an incredible opportunity to liaise with other students from across Victoria, to understand the political and economic challenges that are faced by not only our neighbours, but nations worldwide.

Year 8 Medieval Day
The Year 8 students conveyed their excitement of Medieval Day on Tuesday 6 August. The day was a huge success which was measured by the level of engagement of students in the range of experiences they participated in, including the traditions and customs of the Middle Ages, learning about weapons and battle, clothing and costumes and the games played during the time.

The Year 8 students conveyed their excitement of Medieval Day on Tuesday 6 August.

VCE Business Management Unit Market Day
On Thursday 8 August, the VCE Business Management Unit 2 class held a Market Day during lunch for Senior School students. Victoria Patsakos (Year 10), Julia Stern (Year 11) and Thalia Barbayannis (Year 11) explained that in small groups, Business Management students were required to put various concepts and theories they have learned in class into practice, in particular, financial considerations when starting a business and most exciting, the importance of marketing and developing a customer base. Students enjoyed great success following the numerous hours of preparation they had put in to developing their themed stalls to provide free experiences, entertainment and deliver high levels of service to their customers to all Senior School students. The stalls offered a wide range of unique and fun experiences with Lolly Pong being voted the favourite by the customers who attended Market Day.

The VCE Business Management Unit 2 class held a Market Day during lunch for Senior School students.

Australian Geography Competition
Students who participated in the Australian Geography Competition were also recognised at the assembly. Of particular note are students who received a High Distinction: Christina Wu (Year 8), Flora Du (Year 8) and Ava Colosimo (Year 8). Impressively, Paula Chen (Year 9) achieved a score that put her in the top one per cent of Year 9 participants – a truly outstanding result.

Congratulations to all of the participants.

Thank You
A sincere thank you must go to all staff in the Humanities Faculty whose teamwork, professionalism and passion ensures students are able to extend their learning beyond the classroom.