COLLEGE NEWS No 12 www.bridgehouse.org.za 11 May 2018 ____________________________________________________________________ Allan Gray Entrepreneurship Challenge Prize During the holidays, Bridge House prizewinners Tim Vermeulen (far left) and Bocasho Braaf (third from left), who came 2nd and 3rd in the Allan Gray Entrepreneurship Challenge 2017, were treated to their magnificent prize. Tim wrote the following report: Twenty four hours hours of flying is no fun. No amount of movies can make up for it, but our destination, the famous Silicon Valley home to inventors of anything and everything awesome, made it all worthwhile! This was the reward for the top three high school learners in the country in the Allan Gray Entrepreneurship Challenge 2017, an all expenses paid trip to the hub of innovation and entrepreneurs. Freebies and infinite refills were everywhere we went in San Francisco. The freebies meant I came back with a new wardrobe, including a hat! There was free pizza to fill ourselves with, at just about every event, not two or three boxes but at least twenty or thirty boxes! And, Allan Gray generously gave us pocket-money for all our shopping. We barely had time to sleep as we chased from one amazing event to the next, to learn more about: the latest block-chain technology; A.I.; how virtual and augmented reality are applied in the operating theatre and to network with entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. We were shown an amazing world of progress and new types of internet that had been created. Trains that could change an eight- hour commute to a one-hour commute using a vacuum and extremely powerful magnets. The trip to the Stanford Virtual Reality labs was amazing, the VR was so immersive that the floor even vibrated to make it feel more realistic. I was flying (no wings) between high rise buildings. The place that excited me the most was Draper University, a university for aspiring entrepreneurs, founded by venture capitalist, Tim Draper. I am inspired to try and get in there one day as it gives entrepreneurs all the resources they need to help launch a successful company. Some of the other attractions we visited were: Golden Gate bridge; the Intel museum and Muir woods. We were treated to a test-drive in the incredible Tesla – most of which was driverless. We saw awesome robots and I really enjoyed being able to interact with their varying degrees of intelligence, all except for one, named Pepper. She is a humanoid robot that can read emotions and remember faces. You could talk to her like you talk to Siri. Sometimes, she would initiate conversations. People were asking her for hugs and she stretched her arms out and embraced them, so I thought I would ask. “Pepper, can I have a hug?” “No”, was the reply Since then I have been seeing a therapist. We would like to thank Anthony Selley and Allan Gray for making this awesome trip possible, it truly was an experience of a lifetime. The 2018 competition starts in August and I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in business. Apart from broadening your knowledge and improving your entrepreneurship skill, you too could reap these rewards. It has given us several life-changing opportunities. Here is a link to our itinerary https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-mJEDEidPq-qXI3h-BcBc_pfv_Ywnvsq-h0Iv9fPXHo Allan Gray video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GAcDQbvbOLc&feature=youtu.be Matric Dance 2018 The staff and Grade 11 Moms worked so hard with so much creativity to transform the theatre into a typical Havana scene. Even the weather played along for this hot, sultry night of the Matric Dance 2018. The Matrics arrived in all manner of transport for their special evening, including a huge digger/loader (below). You can view an album of the latest available Matric Dance photographs, taken by the official photographer Nicholas Santrucek, on the school Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Bridg eHouseSchl/ West Side Story Two weeks ago, the Grade 8 Musical Theatre Elective group and Grade 9 Music pupils went to see the musical, West Side Story, at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town. Based on one of the most famous love stories of all time (Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet), West Side Story tells the heart- breaking, short-lived love story of two young and idealistic lovers in New York’s Upper West Side in the late 1950s. The lovers, Tony and Maria, get caught in the conflict between two rival street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. It was a privilege being able to attend such an utterly amazing performance and we thank the Music Department for organising it for the pupils. Parents’ Forum Thank you to the Parents’ Forum for organising the enlightening talk by Megan Harrington-Johnson (HJW Attorneys and Safe School) for both parents and Grades 7 to 12 pupils, on bullying and its legal ramifications. From the ESU On 17 April, College pupils were privileged to be addressed by Margot Keys. Margot is a recovering addict, an amputee and a single parent of 2 sons who shares her life story openly and honestly with pupils across the country. Margot grew up in Camps Bay and during her school career achieved provincial colours in 6 sports and national ranking in two of those. She started experimenting with drugs while still at school; first marijuana and eventually moving onto other drugs. Margot talked about how destructive and addictive drugs can be, and explained how her own drug and alcohol abuse almost destroyed her life. Her aim is to highlight the risk involved in substance use and abuse to as many teenagers and families as possible. After the presentation, the pupils were given a chance to engage with Margot and ask questions about her experiences and the information she had shared. Note: The School’s Educational Support Unit (ESU) have invited Margot to share her experiences and knowledge with parents, too. Please do keep an eye out for this upcoming presentation for parents, where Margot will share not only her personal story, but also discuss issues such as the importance of boundaries, action and consequences, consistency, pocket money, curfews, parties, sleepovers, communication, love and trust, parties, alcohol, drug testing and peer pressure. Mrs Donna du Plooy Advanced Programme Mathematics Conference Eighty four Maths educators from forty two institutions in Gauteng, KZN and the Western Cape spent the day at Bridge House last week for an Advanced Programme Mathematics Workshop organised by our Head of Maths, Stephan Willers. The presenters came from all over the country, including Stellenbosch University. Aladdin rehearsals are in full swing and bookings are open. Don’t miss out on this magical journey, buy your tickets as soon as possible from College Reception. Tickets for evening performances cost R100. There are limited tickets at R250 per person for the Gala Dinner. Performances begin at 19h00. Bridge House Alumni Congratulations go to Robert Moerman (Matric 2011) son of Maths teacher, Mrs Marcia Moerman, who has been awarded a full scholarship from Trinity College Cambridge University. He will be doing a MASt in Applied Mathematics. The MASt (master of advanced studies) programme is a nine-month long course work masters degree. He starts in October. Robert follows in the footsteps of another Cambridge student, Timo Smuts (Matric 2005), who graduates with an MBA from Cambridge University in July this year. Recently we received this very nice letter below from Henkie Smook (Matric 2005) “I wanted to inform you of my career development. I chose to go to Bridge House in Grade 10 to become an artist. At Bridge House under Mr Fuller’s tuition, I developed my love for drawing and went on to study visual communication design and ended up graduating with an Honours in Visual Communication Design. I also did a Photography Course at SIPS and internet marketing at UCT. I worked for an agency, Digital Drawing Room, where I worked with various brands such as Jade Hubner (the Top Billing presenter), Cancercare and others. I also designed a logo for an aeroplane ,Ska SA aircraft leasing. At the beginning of 2017, I opened my own business and have been working on 25 different brands, building some from scratch. My website is www.digitalbrother.co.za. I see all the new talent coming from the Bridge Houe Art Room and it looks great. All the best Henkie Smook In other news, Bridge House past pupil Nic Stevens (Matric 2011), recently spent two nights out at sea searching for lost fishermen. This is a regular occurrence because he selflessly dedicates a lot of his spare time to sea rescue working with the NSRI. He has trained hard in the different skills required and has helped save many lives . Christian Landau (pilot) and Kurt Maske (paramedic), both from the Matric Class of 2009, are working together transporting critically ill patients on Air Mercy Flights. PARENTS PLEASE SAVE THE DATE – FRIDAY 1 JUNE Open Day - GET Curriculum presentation and displays We are embarking on an Open Day in the College on 1 June and would like to invite all interested parents to join one of the two talks on our new GET curriculum at 13.30 or 15h00 in the theatre. An exhibition of the work carried out in all the Electives and Core subjects in 2018 will be available in the Learning Commons after the presentations for parents and pupils to see first-hand what the various subjects entail. Orgari/ Bridge House Ubuntu Auction The second half of this term is an extremely busy one and this has had an effect on parents being able to book tickets for the cultural evening and auction that has been planned to raise funds for the Bridge House Bursary Fund.