Faculty news
The Arts
Ms Aimee Gust Head of Department
Year 12 Film, Television & New Media
To kick off their first assessment exploring participation in media, Year 12 Film, Television & New Media (FTVNM) students went to university.
After catching the bus to QUT Kelvin Grove on a hot summer’s day, students were very impressed to enter their first (wide-screen and magnificently air-conditioned) lecture theatre.
Academics from QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre, Professor Michael Dezuanni and Mr Bondy Kaye, shared their knowledge on cutting-edge new media theory. Not only did students and teachers learn about emerging trends in social media entertainment and how the features of emerging technologies, such as TikTok and Minecraft, have enabled them to become so widely consumed; our conceptual understanding was also enriched with some big ideas about relational labour, micro-targeting and embedded advertising, micro-celebrities and algorithmic culture. The presentation provided a fantastic grounding for launching into the IA1 Case Study Investigation and equipped students with some excellent vocabulary for sharing their findings.
Thank you so much to Professor Dezuanni and Mr Kaye from QUT for giving up their time to so wonderfully summarise the thought-provoking themes of Unit 3 FTVNM.
Senior Humanities
Mrs Lucy Gray Head of Department
Wharton Global High School Investment Competition
State High’s team, Gryphon Group, has been announced as a regional finalist in the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition. This annual contest is run by Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Global Youth Program, in which students compete in teams, led by an advisor, to win the chance to manage the wealth of a potential client.
Gryphon Group comprises Year 11 students, Yash Bordia, Alexander Lovisi, Harry Moonjely, Ningcheng Wang and Samuel Zhu, and is advised by Economics teacher, Mr Justin Virly.
After more than 15 weeks of participation, Gryphon Group has been selected in the top 10 teams in the region (Oceania, Europe and South America), and is the only team in Australia to progress to the Virtual Regional Finals in March 2021. Gryphon Group earned their place in the Virtual Regional Final as one of 50 teams around the world selected from 972 submitted final competition reports across 35 countries.
The winners of the Virtual Regional Finals will be awarded the opportunity to progress to the Global Finale in May 2021.
Best wishes to Gryphon Group in the next phase of competition.
“Knowledge is power—even in the market.” – Gryphon Group
Samuel Zhu Year 11
Mr Justin Virly Economics Teacher
Languages
Mrs Ashlee Bruce Head of Department
From the Languages Department
Welcome to 2021! For our new students, we are sure that your experiences as Languages students at State High will be fantastic! This year, we will explore how Language Learning is for Life. We will do this by looking at things such as language use for self-identity, for family and community connection, for careers, for cognitive development, cultural interaction and understanding, cultural appreciation and empathy—the list really is endless! We are also excited to share that in 2021, Brisbane State High School will begin its use of the program ImmerseMe, which is a virtual-reality based program for learners of languages. This program will be used with our Year 10 Languages students (all year), and our Year 9 continuing students in Semester 2, and will enable our students to participate in scenario-based conversations in the languages they are learning. Given the current international travel restrictions, this is likely to be the closest we can get to having our students in the countries themselves! We are also exploring ways that we can provide this program to our Languages students in other year levels—we will keep you informed as the details evolve. We look forward to working with our students this year, and watching their language proficiency and cultural understanding grow.
Learning & Enrichment
Ms Natalie Coleman Head of Department
Support for Academic Success
The Support for Academic Success (SAS) after school program will recommence Week 4 of Term 1. This support program, coordinated through the Learning & Enrichment department, aims to provide a productive and positive environment after school for students to meet their academic responsibilities. The program is supervised by our Learning & Enrichment teacher aides. Our SAS Senior Leaders for 2021 are Evie Huang (Year 12) and Trinity Pham (Year 11).SAS has an open-door policy to all students. Students can choose to work independently, seek teacher aide support, or enrol in our mentoring program where they are paired with a Senior Mentor. Senior Mentors offer their guidance to support junior students in specific subject areas to complete homework and assessment. SAS aims to assist students to develop effective learning strategies and positive learning routines through the guidance and the sharing of another student’s experiences. Our mentors’ voluntary participation in this program is a reflection of our learning community and the collaboration between our junior and senior students is an important contribution to our positive learning culture.
SAS runs Monday to Thursday for one hour directly after school in I Block, room 1.21. Inquiries regarding participation in our SAS mentoring program can be emailed to our Learning & Enrichment department – Learning&Enrichment@brisbaneshs.eq.edu.au. Parents and guardians should state their child’s preferred attendance day and indicate if there is a specific subject, or subjects, they would like the mentoring session to focus on. This will allow us to best assign a suitable Senior Mentor.
Ms Olivia Pereira
Support for Academic Success (SAS) Program Coordinator