NEWSLETTER Term 4 Week 9 2020 Global Education

Issue Term 4 2020: Year 7: Egypt Then and Now 10 Year 11 Speech Night 02 Pimlico Think Tank working with Landcare Inc. 11 Youth Reef Engagement Workshop 04 Year 8: Spanish Conquest Art Piece 12 Year 10 Create Your Future Job Program 05 Year 9: The National Project 13 Create Your Future Job – Group Business Project 06 Year 10: Decarbonize Decolonize 15 Year 10s Lead Workshops for Year 7s at Pimlico 07 MUN North Queensland Conference (MUNNQ) 18 Year 8s Innovation through Action and Fun 07 Tedx Townsville 19 OptiMinds Challenge State Finals 08 Global Programs - Photos 20 National History Challenge - National/ State 08 Speakeze Holiday Programs 21 ASEAN Youth Forum 09

Website: https://pimlicoshs.eq.edu.au/curriculum/subjects-and-programs/global-education

Joanne Keune has worked extensively over several weeks preparing our Year 11 students for their speech night. We wanted to hear her story and vision on how the students went.

Joanne Keune: The advent of the mobile phone has caused young people to rely on texting and slowly avoid face to face communication - or even talking on the telephone. The Grade 11 speech night - now in its 3rd year, aims to give students a chance to deliver their speeches on stage in front of an audience. The fear of public speaking, or glossophobia, is the number one fear in the world (prior COVID) - it is the most extreme form of face to face communication. This extreme fear in- jects a major dose of self confidence and self-esteem into our students. For many it might be the only public speech they ever deliver, for others it will be the first of many. Students can choose their own topic to speak about. Students write their own speech - and learn to trust their own words.

This year in 2020, we saw the most vulnerable speeches delivered. Students were gutsy, raw, and honest. These speeches can be seen on Youtube on the Speakeze Channel. Take a moment - they are only 4 minutes and the ideas covered are diverse. Funny isn't it - we can pay someone to do almost anything for us - cut our hair, do our taxes, fix our legal problems - but we can't pay someone to speak for us. No one else can know and express our individual thoughts. We learn math at school - we learn to write - and yet little focus on how to speak. I am so very proud as a Pimlico alumna, to see Pimlico rec- ognise this critical individual skill - and put a special focus on it.

Globality is about communication. People, countries listening to each other – listening to other ideas and ways of doing things. Learning, improving - all towards a better world.

PAGE 7 Student Testimonials:

“I have learnt that there is no excuse to not show up. Writing and practicing a speech is straight forward and procrastination is what holds us back."

“You actually gave me a boost of self-confidence, thank you"

“I have learnt that public speaking can be really rewarding - you just have to give things a go”

“I liked the chance to listen to everyone else speak - and what they thought" PAGE 3

Passion, enthusiasm, motivation and innovation were all traits that were present during our first Youth Reef Engage- ment workshop presented by Reef Ecologic in partnership with the Global Education Department. The Youth Reef Workshop is a new program under the guidance of Pimlico Think Tank which is designed to allow students to express their voice on topics that are important to them; with a foucs on The Great Barrier Reef. This program allows for students to express Pimlico SHS Global Citizen attributes of resilience and innovation as they look at ways to protect The Great Barrier Reef and engage with our local community.

Reef Ecologic, a non-for-profit organisation, are working with local natural resource management group, NQ Dry Tropics to develop a local community action plan for our Townsville community. They aim to engage Burdekin youth (<25 years old) in discussions to help determine priority projects for the region in the coming years. The workshop was designed to determine priority areas for preservation, con- servation and potential projects or ideas that should be progressed and resourced in our region.

Throughout the morning, students learnt the history and interesting facts about the reef, then determined their own personal values of the reef and the Townsville environment. The students developed action plans that focused on strategies, actions, outcomes. We had students cultivate plans that included; beach clean ups to prevent pollution, improve en- vironmental practices of tourism operators on the GRB through partnerships with Sealink and Tourism Townsville, monitoring the fishing industry to prevent poaching through intergovernmental agencies to sustainable tourism plans on Magnetic Island.

We will develop this partnership further to hopefully allow some fieldwork in the near future!

“I developed my teamwork and problem-solving skills on a topic that I feel is important, the reef” – Ceilidh.

“I enjoyed the personal and interactive focus of this program, and it allowed myself to understand different perspectives of the Great Barrier Reef” – Callum.

“Public speaking and presenting ideas I was most passionate about, was something I highly enjoyed with this program” – Sarah.

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For the past 13 weeks, 20 selected Year 10 students have been participating in an innovative program to develop entrepreneurial skills through the Australian School of Entrepreneurship (ASE). They have had guest speakers, mentorship opportunities, developed partnerships through the Townsville City Council and been given some seed funding to develop their own businesses. These are some of their stories.

What was something you learnt and/or enjoyed throughout the Create Your Future Job Program?

The program created many opportunities for us to view businesses from different perspectives. Working together in a way showed us the skills required to work in a company. The many different activities and projects we did inspired us. – Aaddi, Sophie and Monique

I enjoyed learning how to manage income and money. I had fun developing the advertising for my own business, the group project and through the various activities. – Lillee

What was something you thought challenged you throughout this program?

Communication, having to speak about your ideas. This was especially tricky when we did our group project as everyone had different ideas. – Nadia

The biggest challenge I thought was communication, being able to express your ideas and share what you think is tricky. It did however build up my confidence to speak which I thought was an major achievement in this program. – Dionne

What was your main ‘takeaway’ from this program?

This program taught us how to manage a business, budget and organise our finances personally. There were a lot of life skills that we learnt, through a fun and interactive environment. – Aaddi, Sophie and Monique

This program allowed me to get a taste for the world of business, and give me ideas to what I actually enjoy and ways to start a career. – Lillee

Would you recommend this program to someone else in Year 10? Explain

I would recommend this to someone else in Year 10, as it helped me so much and gave me insights into a world I didn’t know about. The various activities were fun and I am thankful I signed up for this program when it was offered. – Nadia

I would absolutely recommend this program to the next group of Year 10s (if offered), as they would love the opportunity to do something different and get chosen for something you might not think you ever would be selected for. It was a lot of fun and enjoyable to be part of. – Dionne PAGE 5

Business, business and even more business. These were the main concepts that were driving the Year 10 Entrepreneurship students across the course of 13 weeks. The thought that they could develop their own business at the end of this program. Their first task was to develop a group business opportunity which encouraged teamwork and collaboration. After much heated discussion, it was decided the group would focus on a car wash business plan. In the led up, the students worked within teams each focusing on various aspects of a business plan; COVID-Safety, Operations, Finance, and Management under the guidance of the ASE team to make their venture come to reality. Across the course of the day, students washed 107 cars, sold over 100 cans of soft-drink/ water and generated over $2,000 in profit. A true success for their first ever business opportunity. Many thanks for our Pimlico school community for coming out and supporting our young people in finding their passions.

As part of their own small-business developments in late term 4, students were advertising their small-business at the local markets (Cotters in Flinders St and at the Willows) across two weekends. Students had established small start-ups in photography, errands solutions, jewellery, circus basking, dog-walking to name a few. They are working on promoting their start-ups on social media and around the school. There is even a tv-commercial in the progress! Best of luck to students in their new found ventures.

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One the core concepts of communication training in Year 10 is the ability to work with younger students to achieve a common outcome or goal. In Year 10 Global Studies, students have been working with Joanne Keune (our communication coach) through the Speakeze communication program to teach students the skills needed to work collaboratively and effectively with young people. As part of this program students in Year 10 had to develop an interactive communication workshop to promote public speaking and positive interactions amongst the Year 7 students. Students had all the choices; how long their lesson would be, the topics, activities, location and how it would run – with some interesting outcomes. Students developed sessions that involved interviews, outdoor mapping activities, mind-games, collaborative competitions, physical games and teamwork tasks. Well-done to all the Year 10 students who took part within this program, we hope that you have learnt how important communication is especially when working with young people.

As part of the final consolidation activities undertaken last term, the Year 8s were tasked with developing, planning, design- ing, and implementing the creation of a board game that incorporated knowledge and skills that students had developed through their global units that term. Students were given complete freedom to implement their own creations and present this to their peers. Often within schools, we miss out on the innovation aspect and let students create their own journeys. This activity, was just that – innovation. Students produced some excellent, well-thought out and unique board games that encompassed the theories of global citizenship through innovation. The group had a blast playing and deciphering the games in the final week of the school term.

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OptiMinds is a sustainability and creative challenge to allow students to develop critical thinking, innovation and communication skills. As part of the Pimlico Think Tank team this year, students decided they wanted to enter to the event to promote their notion of sustainability. Students had the choice of three categories, each with a different theme; language literature, science and engineering and social science. We had two teams win the regional Townsville region semi-finals and they were selected for the finals in Brisbane. The first team nominated social science which had the theme of resilience. The students developed a skit that outlined the impacts of COVID-19 on the wider community through the acts of a few. The second team nominated science and engineering which had the theme of transformation. The students created an art piece construction machine which would trans- form to develop an alternative artwork design. It was great to see the various year levels working effectively together and the growing partnership between Pimli- co Think Tank and the STEM Club at Pimlico.

The National History Challenge is a nation-wide challenge to promote effective research for students interested in historical concepts. It gives students the ability to examine Australia’s past and make links to their own communities. The theme for this year’s competition was ‘contested’ histories. Students could select any topic or follow one of the special categories as per their submissions. This year we had over 30 Year 10 Global Studies students take part in this event and with six entries being submitted for judging. Congratulations to Chinisa Burns for her outstanding essay on John Simpson, and being selected as a ‘state-winner’ and ’national finalist’ for the Australian Wartime Experiences special category. Congratulations to Bethany Read, on her essay on women's involvement in World War One and Two, who was selected as a ‘national’ finalist. Congratulations to all students who where involved this year.

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Twelve selected Model UN students from Years 9-11 took part in the national Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Youth Forum hosted by Asialink Foundation, an international organisation based out of the University of Mel- bourne. Students used diplomacy, negotiation skills and effective communication to present ideas on digital futures, eco- nomic growth and gender equity from the perspective of Lao People's Democratic Republic and Republic of Indonesia as members of the ASEAN organisation.

They presented clauses and debated issues surrounding; effects of corruption and capitalism on education and governance sectors, removing unexploded ordnance and humanitarian aid, post COVID-19 tourism boost programs and improving digital technology across the region. Students utilised their 21st century skills, global citizenship ideals and positive interactions to pass their ideas on to the other 70 students from 15 schools across Queensland! Well-done to all involved.

“I loved interacting with new people from different schools to come to solutions on the programs. In this specific event, I really improved on my amendment writing skills, which enriched my confidence within Model UN” – Lara

“The biggest takeaway from the ASEAN Youth Forum, was that a consensus should not be taken for granted” – Leyton

“My key concept from this form was, how to remain diplomatic when faced with residence and pressures from others” – An- na

“I developed the appropriate leadership and diplomatic skills to be able to effectively navigate the delicate debate of the day” - Callum

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This term Year 7 have been deconstructing historical events across time, with a focus on Egypt. Students had the chance to examine Ancient Egypt, develop analysis and perspectives of the Arab Spring and compare/contrast the events to their own lives today. It was a unit of exploration and investigation through discussion and scrutiny. These are some of their stories from the Year 7 Global Studies students.

Throughout your project, what was the most challenging aspect you encountered and why? To find all of the information about Ancient Egypt that was relevant to the task because it happened so long ago and websites tended to infer or guess what it meant. The family tree of King Tut was also very complex and hard to understand – Min- hal and Izzabel

Researching and finding reliable sources with the right information. There is a lot of information and we have to carefully select the right information – Willow

It's hard to know which sources to believe and which are reputable because some of them copy other websites or aren’t fac- tual – Aiden

As part of the task you had to compare your life as a teenager and someone in Ancient Egypt/Arab Spring – what were some of the biggest differences/similarities you noticed? Difference - in Ancient Egyptian times only one person got to choose the religion for everyone as well as being the Leader being able to choose who they hung out with. Similarities - Arab Springs - use of mobile phones, filming and uploading vide- os to social media. Also religious influence to people’s life much more than now. - Clarie and Ruby

The young people in Egypt in 2010 were a lot more educated about politics and government than we are and they expressed opinions in public. – Willow

Noble teenagers in Ancient Egypt didn’t have much responsibility. Everything was done for them by slaves so they just got to prepare for being an adult – Aiden

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What type of skills do you think you are learning through this process? Some of the skills we have been learning are; researching skills and being able to find information, how to work both inde- pendently and in groups and learning how to infer from sources - Clarie, Ruby , Minhal and Izzabel

"I have enjoyed learning about Egypt. I never knew who King Tut was or how young he was when he became Pharaoh". Claire

" It was really interesting how Arab Springs began and how one action caused a whole riot throughout multiple countries" Ruby

Across the course of this term, the Pimlico Think Tank group has been working hard to establish a working partnership with Land- care Australia. Through this program, students have been working with Coastal Dry Tropics Inc, and with their organiser Jake, who has been instrumental in providing advice and support for their partnership. As part of this partnership, Think Tank, are adopting a site just down from Aplins Weir to cultivate and maintain until 2022. Students are organising the dates, events, school involvement and promoting this site through our student body.

Secondly, students have been working with Solar-Schools by analysing our electricity/solar energy data from the solar panels within Pimlico to develop an alternative plan to decrease our energy consumption. In partnership with the Senior Student Coun- cil, Think Tank designed several implementation concepts using the solar-schools’ data from our school panels, to find ways to decrease our consumption and operate at a higher level of efficiently. Some of these are stagging break times, purchasing industry batteries and starting an educational electricity saving initiative. Students presented this information and the plans to Pimlico administration, and we are looking forward to see what happens next. Watch this space!

Thirdly, as part of our promotional side, students have been developing designs to promote Pimlico Think Tank to the school community. They designed several poster designs, Facebook postings and student-notice articles to grow our numbers. The big push was to give students a taste of what Think Tank was like in the final weeks of 2020.

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This term Year 8 have been examining how historical events can be visualised throughout art. Students were asked to create an art piece analysing the Spanish Conquest of the Americas. Year 8 had to design, implement and construct their own art-works and then explain how they depicted the role of the Spanish in Central/South America during the Age of Exploration, determine the motives of various ideologies and analyse various perspectives within their art-piece. These are some of their stories.

What was the art piece you created and what made you choose this style/concept/direction? We studied the causes and effects Spanish conquest in order to construct an art piece. An explanation of the art piece was writ- ten using sources given to us to explain how the artwork represents causes and effects, motives and actions, and interpreta- tions of the Spanish conquest. The art piece constructed was a painting influenced by the design of the Codex Mendoza, an Aztec manuscript. The style was chosen to create a painting that portrays the Spanish conquest of South America in a similar style of Aztec art.

What was something that challenge you? Or what did you have to strive to overcome or what was a success of working on your project? A challenge faced in the unit was to create a concise explanation of our artwork and how it represents the Spanish conquest using a limited number of sources. An additional challenge was to design an art piece based off Aztec artwork to depict the Span- ish conquest, this required a large level of creativity.

What type of skills do you think you are learning through this task? The task helped us learn multiple 21st century skills. These skills include effective researching skills, artistic skills, and concise writing. These learnt skills are important towards our education and are useful for future academic endeavours. - Hilman and Tia (8I)

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As part of the Year 9 Global Studies Program, students have been investigating complex real world national problems, and proposing solutions with a suitable funding model to implement their solutions. This was entirely student-led and requires them to demonstrate collaboration, leadership, communication, adaptability and persistence. These are some stories from what the students have been undertaking this term.

9F Global Studies - Youth Crime “My Global Studies class (Global Studies 9F) is writing a white paper on shoplifting and youth crime. We thought it was a big problem in Townsville and rather than doing a huge issue like assault or robbery, we thought we would target shoplifting specifically. The main challenge we’ve faced is that some of us couldn’t work together very well at the start. We’ve also had to start over a lot after changing topics. Some of ours topics were too broad to address so we had to choose something more achievable. Also, during the current climate we couldn’t reach the people in the community that we wanted assistance from. It is a challenging task but as a team we are generating results” ~ Sam 9F

9A Global Studies - Discrimination “The Class of 9A Global Studies Class was tasked with writing a white paper on a topic that affected the class on a national and local level. We undertook this project with hopes of trying to decrease discrimination not only in Pimlico, but in schools and workplaces across Australia. Pimlico State High School could not be more diverse, ranging from students coming from hundreds of different cultures, to students with different sexualities, and students who are affected by disa- bilities. We felt as if discrimination was one of the biggest issues that occurs daily, and we strive to change as we all wholeheartedly believe that’s students deserve to feels cared for and safe, especially in their school environment.

During the production of the white paper and the related goals, there were a wide range of challenges and obstacles which had to be overcome,. At the beginning, the production of the white paper started out slow as many of us were un- aware of the large task that was ahead, however as new ideas began to formulate, and the project slowly gained momen- tum. An influential factor of the progression of the white paper was obtaining reliable resources that coordinated within each area of work. Communication is key in order to complete a project as large as this, and we all learnt a valuable lesson in leadership, communication and responsibility. Overall, the white paper proved to be challenging at the start, and as the paper progressed more challenges occurred, however we managed to successfully overcome these hurdles and have reached the final goal of trying to implement the strategies.

Currently, the solutions and changes we wish to implement are in their early stages, thus meaning at this current time very few of the solutions are implemented. Our key solutions involve bringing in guest speakers to share their experiences and how they have faced discrimination whether it be on a racial, sexuality or disabled factor. However, some solutions such as NAIDOC Week actives and the multicultural club have been implemented for some time and all we wish to do is to promote the clubs and add more activities.

Throughout the project class 9A has gained more understanding on discrimination and how to identify it and to strategies to reduce discrimination as it is not an issue that can be solved quickly and requires time and effort within the community to help minimize any discrimination and there is no better place to start than within the school community.” ~ Alan 9A

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9K Global Studies – Sedentary Lifestyle What National project did your class undertake, why was this the case?

The class of 9K undertook the challenge to overcome as well as investigate the national issue of sedentary lifestyle among high school students using several collaborative and communicative skill sets. Prior to the finalisation of this investigation, various Australian issues were thoroughly considered however were sought less relevant in relation to target market, funding and achieved in an appropriate time frame. At first, the initial problem was drug use within secondary schools although throughout the duration of discussing and going into depth upon the matter, it was evident that this issue was unachievable and the class quickly substituted to sedentary lifestyle as there are several proactive and reactive solutions. In addition, this national issue was identified as most important to high school students and easiest to investigate due to the significant sam- ple size and the ability to relate to the topic.

Were there any constraints with your projects challenges? Strive to overcome? Success stories?

Many goals were set throughout the process of the project this resulted in the overcoming of challenges. For example there was a rough start to beginning as the class had initially decided to work on drug use in high schools however after going into further depth with the issue it was decided unsolvable so another vote was done. Furthermore the class also hit a dead end as the PR people needed to complete the logo, slogan and organisation name however the researchers hadn’t come up with suitable solutions so the project could be continued. This was overcome by communicating with the researchers to come up with a solutions. These challenges not only taught the class to communicate when an issue is faced but work collaboratively together to overcome it, these skills provided the students to take the initiative to strive and overcome. Setting achievable goals helped provide the class with individual steps so if a problem is faced it would not stop the entire progress of the project therefore the project on sedentary lifestyle was found to never run into a dead end. A main constraint faced with the development was time, time limits were significantly crucial in the evolution of the project as it provide the students with time management skills.

How are they progressing at the moment with implementation?

At this moment, the project has been completed for the assignment however the class has decided that a selection of students that volunteered would continue with the white paper. These volunteers are expected to finalize the white paper en- suring that it is fully completed efficiently ready to take the next step. Following this the students have decided to go further and put the plans for the solutions into action. There is a meeting planned with the principal where the students will discuss solutions with Mr Buchholz that are relevant to his power, any solutions that need higher power are planned to be sent to education minister etc. The class hopes that the plan is taken into consideration so that Jump To It Townsville can give Aus- tralian high schools a jumping start. ~ Billie and Leah

“One of the biggest enjoyments was that this project would create a sense of community in the room having everyone work as a team and we believe it was an issue that we can solve” - Neil and Minh

Image yr 9s Image yr 9s

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As part of the Year 10 Global Studies Program, students have been investigating and participating in an international climate change youth action project called, Decarbonise-Decolonise. This project involves over 25 countries across the world and allows students to share youth climate action ideas and develop concepts that will support the Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021. These are some of their stories.

Explain the project you are participating in, and what is the main theme of this program? The project that I am participating in is the Decarbonise Decolonise program which focuses on youth climate action and the ways that we can reduce our impact on the environment within our school and our community. It also focuses on collaborating with other schools around the world to get an insight into what is happening in those places and the stories that can be told about those issues. – Monique

What type of skills have you developed/learnt across the course of this program? Skills that have been developed across the course of this program include effective communication, multitasking, teamwork, time management and working with other countries to meet a common goal of creating change and finding solutions to help with climate change. – Taylor

What is something you have enjoyed most and/or felt most challenged by throughout the program? The most difficult aspect of the program that I have experienced so far is trying to discern what information is most important. The group I chose was one that had to answer a selection of questions through analysing research. After gathering so many sources and information it took a lot of my time cutting down my responses to just answer the question while providing exam- ples when necessary, and determining which was real or fake news. – Evan

Something that I have most enjoyed as part of this program was being able to have a zoom conference with a school in the Philippines. It was great to be able to talk about a climate issue affecting Australia and the issues that they are being affected by as well. – Monique

Why do you think Climate Change/Youth Action is important to address, for example, like through this program? I think it’s very important for all young people/ adolescents to understand the severity of climate change and exactly what we can do to save our dying planet. The more people that are educated about what is happening, the higher the chance of recovering the planet. - Isabella

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Explain the project you are participating in, and what is the main theme of this program? The past few weeks, the year 10 Global Studies class has been working in groups with separate tasks, as part of the Decarbonize Decolonise project. The Decar- bonise Decolonise project is a global project of 35 nations and schools all around the world collaborating in a discussion towards climate change, in hope of a sustainable future, free from the effects of human affected global warming. The project creates a learning opportunity around climate change, climate reliance and climate justice, in order to inspire youth to make real and lasting changes in their school and local communities. Through this we are able to understand the importance of recognizing our own obligations in mitigation, of seeing climate change as real and tangible, of feeling solidarity with those impacted, and of ad- dressing social injustice and power disparities within climate change impacts and strategies. A trilateral conference over Zoom was planned to talk to the partner- ing schools of Taiwan and Nigeria to talk about climate issues.

What type of skills have you developed/learnt across the course of this program? Throughout this program the class has been able to have a wider discussion with students from a completely different lifestyle and world. This has allowed us to learn about the devastating effects many tackle too regularly. While climate change has seen to be caused by the larger industries, there are many ways the daily life of students can be majorly contributing to the output of emissions. Through taking a carbon footprint survey, we were able to calculate an approxi- mate amount of carbon emissions we emit yearly. Many found their own emissions were lower than the region’s average, but much higher than the global. The results were then discussed and posted as a blog on the Decarbonise Decolonise website. Upon this confrontation we reflected on why the emissions were like this and how they could reduce to get a lower average and were able to com- ment and receive comments on their own blogs. This was extremely educational for us to develop skills in order to make a conscious effort with their carbon emissions.

Why do you think Climate Change/Youth Action is important to address, for example, like through this program? Please elaborate. Climate change has seen a recent rapid increase brought on by the unsustainable actions of the wider population. The ongoing effects of climate change have put many livelihoods in danger and will only continue to cause damage and loss to habitats and living conditions. Through this program many different aspects of this worldwide issue were addressed in order to understand the complex issues related to climate change and importance that youth action has for the future actions in effort to reduce carbon emissions and create sustainable life. - Hana and Bethany

PAGE 16 Explain the project you are participating in, and what is the main theme of this program? The year 10 Global class of 2020 has been participating in the Decarbonise Decolonise program. In this, we had to investigate climate issues in our community and create solutions to these problems. We have been interacting with students from all over the world particularly those from Kenya and Nigeria.

What type of skills have you developed/learnt across the course of this program? In this program we have learnt the skills required to be a global citizen. We have had to learn how to use language and knowledge that can be easily translated and understood by everyone. This turned out to be a fairly challenging skill to learn but we thoroughly enjoyed the process.

What is something you have enjoyed most and/or felt most challenged by throughout the program? We have enjoyed learning about different cultures and lifestyles throughout this project. It has been rewarding to see how our ideas could possibly be implemented into the world.

Why do you think Climate Change/Youth Action is important to address, for example, like through this program? It is extremely important to learn about climate change and youth action as it gives us an understanding of what is currently occurring in our world. It also helps us to know how we can help. Throughout the Global Studies program we have developed many of these skills whether it be better ways to conserve water or ways to better our community. The Decarbonise Decolonise program has been a thoroughly enjoyable task. We eagerly anticipate future programs like this. - Emily

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Model UN, seems like it is the latest buzz word! Model UN is a stimulation activity where students take on the role of delegates of the United Nations and debate topics on the world stage; diplomacy and negotiation are critical to a successful outcome. This year at Model United Nations North Queensland (MUNNQ) we have had four students (Year 11/12) as part of the organisational team, and twenty students (Year 7-11) participate as delegates. Students debated and negotiated on topics of the Yemen Crisis, Climate Change Refugees and COVID19 – all topics that are complex in our ever-changing world. They endeavoured to produce effective amendments to resolutions; amendments such as educational governance through tax in- centives, using the G20 nations to support a world-wide free vaccine for COVID or the creation of a new state for climate refugees were all discussed. MUNNQ is an inter-high school activity aiming at promoting effective global relations and diplomacy through a combined effort between several state high schools in Townsville. Stu- dents strived and were quite successful throughout the day. These students meet once a week for MUN-training, which clearly has paid off as everyone is more confi- dent in their public speaking and negotiation skills. Congratulations to all involved!

“Model UN has profoundly improved my communication skills as well as my self- confidence. It has successfully allowed me to understand global issues through different perspectives and develop solutions to overcome problems within our society. MUNNQ has given me the platform to do this” – Alenna

“MUN allows me to experience and participate in conferences against other schools that can’t be experienced within the normal classes. Meeting new people and know- ing about global issues is one of the great things that an event like this can give you. “ – Mary

“I enjoyed MUNNQ has it given me the chance to debate with highly intelligent students and develop an outcome to complex issues. Furthermore, it allowed me to improve my public speaking and confidence.” - Shah

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As part of the Speakeze program, Joanne has been working on applying for a TEDx license from New York so that students and the Townsville wider community can express their voice on the international stage. Ellise Ryland (Year 12) was looking for work experience opportunities in her school July holidays and thus an effective partnership was born. This is their story on this journey.

Joanne Keune: Just before the July school holidays - the wonderful student councillor Ellise Ryland came to my office and asked me if I had any work experience opportunities for her during the school holidays. I had only just received the TEDx license from New York, but was busy with other projects so wasn't going to move on it immediately. Ellise's lovely enthusiasm made me re-consider this and I told her about it. She said YES and that she would be the primary public contact. So, we went ahead. Together we drafted sponsorship proposals to the Townsville City Council and Central Queensland University. Ellise even suggested we up it from $1000 support to $2000 when she saw how high the costs were i.e. video filming, editing, venue, lights, sound etc. Luckily, she suggested this as, pretty soon the seating numbers were halved due to COVID-19 greatly re- ducing the income that we were dependent on. Thus, Ellise learnt firsthand the reality of self-producing events - and the personal financial risk.

We set about with a schedule - advertised for speakers, received 25 - and had a panel of 5 people select the best 8. We designed how we wanted the night to work, got quotes from suppliers and booked services. Max Robson, 17 our School President was chosen as one of the speakers which is a huge achievement for a teenager. Max did 15 drafts of his speech and worked very hard on it. Practice after practice. The work certainly paid off and many audience members said he was their favourite. He delivered a speech “Life as a sexist simp" and discussed gender equity. Focusing on equal opportunities for people - not necessarily equal outcomes. Ellise Ryland co-compered the event and did an outstanding job. On top of this Caleb Cameron and Dani Turnbull both budding videographers were given the opportunity to train with Mangrove Media and operate cameras for the night.

All round it was a wonderful night for Pimlico. The Global Education department is reviewing changing this license to a YOUTH TEDx license and possibly presenting this each year for all students in Townsville to participate. OR - should we create our own non-American speaking event and promote this to North Queensland, Australia - even the world? Why not? With keen students like those at Pimlico - we can achieve ANYTHING!!!

PAGE 19 PAGE 12 For any feedback on the newsletter, please contact Mr. Harting (Global Education Coordinator) on PAGE 21 [email protected]