Year 11 ESA Student Leadership Forum

On Monday 17 August, a small group of Year 11 students from both Maddingley and Woodlea had the opportunity to attend an inspiring leadership conference at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.  The day brought together students from a range of schools across Western Victoria, giving students the chance to meet new people, share ideas and learn about different approaches to leadership.

Please enjoy below a highlight of the day from Year 11 student, Samaira V:

Throughout the day, we took part in interactive workshops, discussions and activities that encouraged us to reflect on our own leadership skills and think about how we can make a positive impact in our final year of school.

It was a valuable and inspiring experience that gave us new ideas and perspectives on what it means to be a good leader.  We are excited to bring what we learnt back to our school and use these ideas to make a positive difference in our school community.

Ainslee Grinter – Head of Year 11 (Maddingley)

Maddingley

Year 12 Chemistry

Year 12 Chemistry students have been studying the classification and understanding of carbon-based molecules, such as fuels, fats and proteins, that make up the world around us.

Molymods allow us to visualise the molecular spatial arrangement of biomolecules, including their bonds, atoms and movement. Being able to physically represent these molecules on a large scale develops a stronger understanding of the reactions between them.

These provide pathways for simple ‘building block’ molecules known as monomers to form complex and larger molecules known as polymers through condensation reactions. For example, we were able to replicate tryptophan (left) – an amino acid that is commonly found in food like bananas that forms peptide bonds to build proteins in the body.

To represent lactose (right), a glycosidic link (Carbon-Oxygen-Carbon) was constructed between one glucose monomer and one galactose monomer to form the disaccharide sugar.

Josh P and Ori D – Year 12 Chemistry Students