The rain held off and the show began. From the choirs and ensembles to the dramatic representations and poetic renditions, endless talent was on display with far too many standouts to mention any one individuallyUnder the guidance and leadership of our Music and Drama staff, Debating, Mooting and Wordsmiths coaches our students showed that the Arts is alive and well in the hands of Somerset College.
Congratulations to all our Half Colour, Full Colour and Honours award recipients and thankyou to all who made this night memorable. A special thank you to all of the staff for the hours you put in honing the talents of our students – the all-round Somerset Experience on show.
The students worked in teams to operate their businesses on campus over two days. Each team had to work together to produce the product, set up their stall and provide customer service during the very busy festival which attracted over 500 visitors from other schools. The costs were financed by a small loan from the College which had to be repaid from the revenues earned. All profits were donated to the College’s partner charities. The team that made the largest donation has earned a cash prize donated by the Bond University School of Business.
The financial outcomes from the market days were outstanding. A total profit of $2,342 was raised for our partner charities. The winning team, The DawgHouse (Brock Hudson, Matthew Sprague, Ray Cheng and Allan Wang), made a profit of $717. However, every team made a profit and all the students involved should be proud of their contributions to the work of the charities.
The Business Venture Competition has been held at Somerset College for a number of years and has become a tradition at the school. However, the depth of immersion in the entrepreneurial experience has significantly increased, as a result of the Celebration of Entrepreneurship. We would like to acknowledge the efforts of Mr Dane Oman and the various departments involved in organising this extraordinary event and making the market possible. We would also like to express our gratitude to the Bond University School of Business for their on-going support of business studies and entrepreneurship at Somerset College.
The culmination of every year’s Queensland Interschool Chess Championship is the “State Finals”. Over 1,000 teams from across every corner of Queensland compete all year in the gruelling qualifying stages, and last weekend there were a record number of finalists: 38 teams in Primary, and 18 in Secondary.
Somereset’s top Secondary team (James Kay, Kevin Song, Byron Morris and Kabilan Manuneedhi) were keen to improve on their second-place finish last year and take out the title. They fought bravely in the crucial Round 4 match-up against Churchie, but ultimately came up short, despite James’ crushing victory against the Churchie Board 1.
James Kay won his board prize with a score of 5.5/6 – higher than any other player in the event. Kevin Song also performed superbly, finishing on 5/6.
Although the team had its sights set for gold, I congratulate them for an outstanding result. I also congratulate our second team (Jack Luke-Paredi, Ben Atia, Keanu Matsuura and Jason Li) on finishing in equal 8th place.
Somerset came into the event as the rating favourites and defending champions (as well as reigning National Champions). But as always, the decisive match-up came down to the wire. Our boys handled the pressure brilliantly, and in the end were once again crowned champions.
Our top team (Oliver Yang, Eason Wang, Raphael Atia and Kenny Ming) went through the first day of competition with four team wins, and 15/16 individual points. The single game the team lost was to Somerset’s second team.
According to tradition, the champion was decided in the crucial match-ups on Sunday. Somerset fought off a strong challenge from Robertson SS in Round 5, winning the match 3 to 1. The real cliff-hanger came in Round 6 against Macgregor SS, who needed to win the match to overtake Somerset.
With Boards 1 and 2 tied at 1-1, it all came down to Boards 3 and 4. Just as everything seemed lost, Raff Atia and Kenny Ming stayed composed under immense pressure, and held two crucial draws.
Huge congratulations to our winning team! Congratulations also to our second team (Melody Yang, Anson Qu, Nikita Rubis and Michael Rossiter) on finishing equal sixth. Special mention to our individual gold medalists, Eason Wang 6/6 and Nikita Rubis 5.5/6.
Full results:
It was my privilege to coach these gifted students, and many thanks to Graeme Gardiner and the other coaches, Doug Williams and Shaun Curtis.
A group of 20 Somerset College girls visited Salisbury State School to compete in the Queensland Girls Inter-school Chess Championships, Friday 13 October. The competition is the girl's state finals, with teams as far as Cairns travelling to compete, with the winner of both Primary and Secondary who will qualify to represent Queensland at the Australian inter-school teams championships (Sydney).
We had three teams of four girls in the Primary Girls Division as well as two teams of four in the Secondary Girls Division. The atmosphere was quite casual prior to the start of the tournament with many of the players having practice games and chatting among themselves. As the first round was set to begin each player found their board and took their seat opposite their first opponent. As the round began and the chess clock started, the tension set in with all players concentrating on giving their all over the board.
As there are in all tournaments, there are favourites in each division, Kings CC were a big favourite in the Primary Division with three girls rated over 650. In the Secondary Division the main competition was Brisbane Girls Grammar School (BBGS) boasting two girls selected to represent Australia in the World Youth Olympiad later this year in India.
Our top teams in both divisions had quite a difficult start both teams conceding a few points in the first three rounds. Primary girls captain Melody Yang was playing on Board 1 against some of the best Primary School girls from all over Queensland. While in the Secondary tournament many of our girls were paired against each other (eg. players in Team 1 against players in Team 2) and took points off each other.
Round 4 was a good round, in Secondary Tournament where we were able to catch up with the team score of BGGS to be equal first going in to Round 5. Our Primary team began to have some very difficult games against some of the Brisbane girls but managed to hold their own. Unfortunately in the final two rounds we were overcome by a few teams including Kings CC who finished first, Somerset Team 1 finished fifth.
Rounds 5 and 6 Somerset remained completely tied with BGGS it all came down to the final round, the excitement and nerves in the hall were felt by all. We needed to score more than BGGS in order to win the tournament and with two of our top team playing two of their top team anything could happen. Talia Varcoe was first to finish with a win, Lyanna Chan finished at the same time as BBGS top player both won. Moments later another BBGS won their game as did Mayuri Yamaguchi this meant Somerset had taken a 3 to 2 lead against BGGS however both teams had one player still playing, and to they were paired against each other.
If BGGS' player wins then the two teams are tied and the title goes down to a tie break method known as count back. However if Jennifer Yeung is able to win or draw against the higher rated player her team would win and qualify for the National Finals. This game was the last to finish with a large group of spectators gathered around the board to watch possibly the most crucial game of the tournament play out.
Jennifer was under pressure early but was able to defend well and work her way into an endgame where she was slightly better, both players began to get low on time and the tension intensified. Jennifer exchanged her pieces at the ideal point to force a winning endgame position that she converted to a win. As soon as the game was over and Jennifer stood up members of her team rushed over to hug her and share their excitement and joy in winning the tournament. It was a great moment for the high school girls to over come some extremely strong competition in order to win the State Championships.
The Secondary Girls team that will be representing Somerset College at the Australian Interschool Chess Championships is as follows:
We are extremely proud of all the girls who competed, not just for their performance over the board but their sportsmanship and manner was exceptional, as always. Please wish the girls luck for their next challenge at the National Championships in December.
The Secondary Girls team won the State Championship and will now represent Queensland at the Australian Schools Teams Championships at Sydney Grammar on December 2 and 3. The team consisted of Tahlia Varcoe, Jennifer Yeung, Lyanna Chan and Mayuri Yamaguchi. Lyanna finished 1st with 6/7 on the day, including a critical win over the Brisbane Girls Grammar board 1 in the penultimate round.
Two Open Secondary teams took part in the State Finals. Team 1 of James Kay, Kevin Song, Byron Morris, Kabilan Manuneedhi pushed Churchie all the way and ended up finishing second after two hard fought days. James Kay won the Board 1 prize with 5.5/6. Team 2, of Jack Luke-Paredi, Keanu Matsuura, Jason Li and Ben Atia, finished in a credible eighth position.
22 Somerset College students were selected to represent the South Coast team at the Queensland Athletics School Sport 13 to 19 Years State Championships. Competing against the best in the state, our students battled hard over a number of athletic disciplines producing some amazing results. A few of these results included:
All of the students who were selected to go and compete and gave it their all should be proud of their efforts. It shows that all of the hard work training and hours put in have definitely paid off. Congratulations to all involved.
Monday 23 October - Compulsory APS Summer Sports Practice (7.00am or 3.30pm)
Wednesday 25 October - Compulsory APS Summer Sports Practice (7.00am or 3.30pm)
Friday 13 October - APS Summer Sport v Saint Stephens College
Friday 10 November - Sports Awards Night
All sporting details are posted on Schoolbox on the Sports page.
More than 300 students applied and 160 are selected. There were 10 real-world research projects and each project was a week-long challenge. The projects required campers’ to apply their creative and investigative skills to cutting-edge research areas, such as gamification, drone technology, robotic vision, sport biomechanics, epidemics and outbreaks, and hospitals of the future. One of the most interesting projects was Breaking Bones, where we tested bone strength by actually breaking real bones (samples, not ours)! We tested changes in bone strength based on diet and examined the dietary requirements for the 2018 Commonwealth Games athletes. The projects were real-world related and it gave us a basic understanding of what is like to work for a company in reality.
mazing part of this camp was the opportunity to extend my social network. Tom Clancy, the American novelist, stated that “every person you meet is an opportunity to learn something”. It’s not solely an opportunity to learn from others but also some potential support provider in the future. During the camp, I was able to interact with people from across Queensland as far as Cairns and Mackey and we shared interesting stories about each other. In the dorm, the atmosphere was quite relaxing. We played cards and board games every night, we watched Rick and Morty together, we played Kahoot to cap our nights off and we had running club in the morning where we got up at 5:30am and went for a run around Brisbane river, basking in the light of the beautiful sunrise.
Getting to know the likeminded people was the best part of this camp. There were so many people with creativity and different personalities and everyone got along well with each other and enjoyed the experience. Before the camp, I thought it would be full of intellectuals, however, as I got to know people, I discovered that we had so much in common. The experience allowed me to explore so much more about the industry I am passionate about at and I would strongly encourage the current year 10 students to do well in their STEM subjects and prepare for this program next year.
I’d like to express my gratitude to Somerset College for letting me know about this program and Mr Abdou for writing a glowing teacher recommendation letter which was integral to the success of my application.
About the QUT Vice-Chancellor’s STEM Camp
Held during the School holidays, Monday 25 September to Friday 29 September 2017 and in its fifth year, the QUT Vice-Chancellor’s STEM Camp is a unique fully funded opportunity for Queensland’s bright young minds to experience real-world STEM research at QUT - regardless of their school or location. The camp offers application based places to 80 local Brisbane students and 80 regional and coastal students.
The 2017 camp was visited by several STEM VIPs including Acting Queensland Premier Curtis Pitt, Dr Christine Williams, Acting Queensland Chief Scientist, former NASA astronaut Chris Ferguson, Taj Pabari, Founder of Fifty-Six Creations and Queensland Young Australian of the Year 2017 and Derek Jouppi, Co-founder of Suncayr and Advance Queensland Hot DesQ grant recipient.
Families can help by donating non-perishable items such as Christmas cake, tinned meats, tea, coffee, puddings, mixed nuts, savouries, tinned fruit, biscuits, Christmas decorations, bonbons, condiments, toiletries and other non-perishable tinned items. Our staff across the college are also busy filling bags. We welcome your generous donations in the Junior and Senior Schools.
Students are encouraged to bring in their items and place them into the red WMQ bags provided in each Junior School classroom or Senior School Tutor Group. To assist WMQ, we ask for all donations to be received by Monday 13 November, Week 7.
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