Remarkable achievements of Gold Coast state high school students
Some are conquering physical challenges. Others are pushing the boundaries of their minds. And then there are those whose skills are taking them all the way to Brazil. Meet the students setting the bar high at Gold Coast state schools.
Gold Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Gold Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It’s been a busy year so far at Gold Coast schools, as the stories below supplied by the Gold Coast Secondary Principals Alliance aptly demonstrate.
Students have been participating in the Kokoda Challenge, testing themselves mentally with STEM challenges – and the skill of some is even taking them all the way to Brazil.
TOUR TO BRAZIL
Students at Helensvale State High school are taking their skills to the international stage. Football Academy students Cooper, William and Ashton will travel to Brazil in August to represent Australia after the International Selection Panel recognised their standard of play at the 2022 National Schools Championships.
Cooper, an U16 player, earned selection after reigning at the National Championships representing South Coast.
Cooper scored 47 goals in 10 games, including scoring six out of the seven goals in the Grand Final to secure a South Coast title.
William is a highly intelligent goalkeeper whose rock steady hands and outstanding communication saw him earn selection for the U15s while representing South Coast.
Ashton has been selected for the U14s side in the goalkeeping position due to his cool and calm demeanour. His quick reflexes helped him make some crucial saves at the State Championships, earning him a well-earned spot in the National side.
Through their involvement in Helensvale’s Football Academy program, these students have excelled through the school Futsal pathway to earn representative honours. They will tour Brazil, receiving elite coaching opportunities, while also playing international matches.
We wish them the best of luck and are very proud of their achievements.
STEM COLLABORATION WITH SINGAPORE
Helensvale State High School STEM Ambassadors have been pushing the boundaries of their classroom and borders.
The STEM Ambassadors have been engaging in online exchanges with the ‘Swiss Cottage’ school in Singapore. This experience has had students across Year 9 and 10 at both schools, collaborating in STEM activities hosted by the partnership schools.
Both schools had equipment and the brains trust of mixed students coming together despite distance and language barriers to create a puff-powered vehicle.
From prototyping with Singapore, to building the actual vehicle, students learned how to then “incorporate technical mechanics into the small-scale experiment” and “find a unique solution to a complex problem”.
Not only have students enjoyed engaging in the STEM activities, but many of their favourite parts of the project have been that they get to interact and learn about students their own age in a different country. They also look forward to meeting their counterparts later this year when they pay us a visit.
Students from one group said: “Our favourite part of today was interacting with the students from Singapore. We connected through the activity and look forward to meeting them in person.”
GROWING GOOD HUMANS
Growing Good Humans (GGH) is one of Palm Beach Currumbin SHS’s signature Tier One (Whole School) Intervention programs that supports better Health and Wellbeing for our students.
The Growing Good Humans workshops, which form the backbone of the program, operate from a platform of student story telling as a means to supporting shared empathy and improved mental health and wellbeing outcomes.
As a Tier 1 intervention, the workshops act as a “mass inoculation” (Nussey 2020) to support better wellbeing. They can also be a tool to help identify those students requiring further, more intensive support.
Beyond Blue’s website acknowledges the benefits of this type of activity also: “One of the most powerful things you can do is talk openly about a personal experience or mental health condition”.
GGH increases student’s capacity and skill sets to have a conversation that counts. The workshops allow students to open up, to normalise that it is OK to not be happy all of the time and to seek support when needed. Connections are created and students post workshops have noted that there has been an increase in empathy and a decrease in judgement. Students report feeling less isolated, feeling validated and enjoy learning the new skill of holding space for others.
What GGH is about is being kind; being kind to yourself, to others and setting up a connection through that kindness. We are in an age of disconnection, GGH offers students a form of connection and feeling less alone; it creates a nicer environment in the school and a better culture. PBC is proud of the impact that GGH has had on its students, staff and wider community.
BATTLE OF THE BRIDGE
Australian representative Natasha Lynch from Queensland Academies – Health Sciences Campus travelled to New Zealand in February to represent Australia in the Battle of the Bridge weightlifting competition.
She achieved many personal bests lifting a combined total of 139kg, a new 6kg personal best. She placed in joint first but on countback was awarded second place.
Natasha also competed at the Queensland Athletics State Championships in March and achieved first place in the U18 Hammer as well as achieving third place in the Women’s Open Hammer and fourth place in discus. She then went on to compete at the Australian track and field championships in April in Brisbane achieving second place in U18 Hammer as well as fourth place in U20 Hammer and 10th place in the Opens Hammer.
She also competed at the All Schools State Weightlifting championship at Burleigh Heads last month lifting 60kg snatch and 80kg clean and jerk, a combined total PB by 1kg and placed second overall.
These are outstanding achievements by Natasha balancing her Year 12 International Baccalaureate studies along with her training schedule as an elite athlete actively displaying the IB Learner attributes of risk taker and balanced using grit, passion and commitment throughout her schooling journey.
Natasha travelled to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra in June where she attended a weightlifting camp with the Australian Pathways Squad.
PUSH FOR BETTER
Last term as part of the physical well-being program at Ormeau Woods State High School, a challenge was set to form a team to take part in the “Push for Better” push-up challenge. This was the school’s first time entering the challenge and we were excited to have 138 staff and students take part.
The challenge required participants to collectively, over 23 days’ push out 3144 push-ups to help bring awareness to mental health. Over the course of the challenge, the Ormeau Woods SHS team completed over 157,380 push-ups and raised $1227.
This amazing achievement saw them awarded number 1 ranking in Queensland and 5th overall in Australia which is an amazing achievement by everyone involved. Congratulations to all the participating students and teachers for helping raise mental health awareness.
NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES
Robina State High School takes great pride in nurturing their students’ potential through the Robina Alliance — a dynamic collective of local businesses, universities, training providers, and community organisations dedicated to propelling our student community forward.
Join us in celebrating the power of community collaboration and networking, as we unlock doors of opportunity for local businesses.
Our next breakfast will be on Friday, September 8 at TAFE Robina.
Chief Economist and Head of Market Strategy, Bank of Queensland, Peter Munckton, will talk about, ‘Tips on managing cash flow to navigate rising expenses to improve business success!’
Secure your ticket via: https://compasstix.com/e/aemxwyc6uo
TAKING ON THE KOKODA CHALLENGE
ORMEAU WOODS STATE HIGH SCHOOL
Ormeau Woods State High School has been participating in the Kokoda Challenge for the past seven years.
This year we were excited to have 47 students and seven staff forming 12 teams entering the challenge. In preparation for the event, staff and students were encouraged to participate twice a week in running club with teams also working on individual training schedules to suit their desired goals.
This year one team entered determined that 2023 was the year they could finish first, and that they did. After many hours of training, this dedicated team, team Ormeau J-Ulcoq finished in an incredible time of 6 hours and 57 minutes, being awarded the Jim Stillman Cup for their achievement.
We would like to congratulate all the hardworking staff and students at Ormeau Woods SHS for being brave enough to attempt this extreme challenge.
ROBINA STATE HIGH SCHOOL
Robina State High School students have had an excellent year for the Kokoda Challenge.
Twelve teams – made up of 1 x 96km, 7 x 48km, and 4 x 30km teams – combined for an impressive 48 students and 12 teachers out walking.
We were strong from the start but after 12-week training plan all teams were looking good. Unfortunately, a few injuries before the start meant a few teams were running a man down.
The students who participated got a chance to work as a team, experience the outdoors and focus on working hard towards a goal.
On the weekend of the challenge, the struggle was real. Some students and teachers couldn’t make it to the end, but the teams that did made great time.
It was yet another fantastic year for Robina and the Kokoda challenge – our students, staff and support crew were exceptional, and many are raring to go for next year already.”
COOMBABAH STATE HIGH SCHOOL
2023 was a big year for Coombabah State High School participating in the Kokoda Challenge. Seven teams tackled the challenge over the weekend with one team completing the 96km and six teams tackling the 48km.
Our 96km team finished the trek in 32 hours at 3pm Sunday afternoon, while the six 48km teams finished with times of between 11 and 18 hours.
With solid preparation for all teams leading up to the event, training sessions were held as weekend hikes and a morning session a week at the school.
All students and teachers were dedicated and committed and encouraged each other through. Everyone was there for their own reasons.
The feeling of achievement and pride was overwhelming. It was a challenge all participants were willing to try, and they smashed it – every participant pushed through their personal struggles, through the pain and achieved more than they ever thought possible.
The hard work and training leading up to the event paid off with the students being well prepared to tackle the huge hills.
In an event that sees big numbers of competitors drop out, the fact that 23 out of our 28 starters (82 per cent) finished was a great effort.
“We had a great time. The entire team remained together, positive, and in high spirits. No one complained, and we were smiling most of the way. I have two favourite memories from the experience. One was the plethora of compliments and comments we received for our matching Vegemite hats. The team loved them so much, we refused to take them off at night. We turned them around at night so the cap wasn’t in the way of the head torch. I also loved singing and dancing to music particularly at night. We all suggested songs to add to a playlist. We were singing and dancing in the dark, marching quickly to the tempo of the music. It was good fun. I couldn’t think of a better group to complete my first half Kokoda with. They were absolute legends.” Team Vegemite Hats 48km.
The fundraising efforts were fantastic with teams well and truly exceeding targets, overall raising over $6000.
CSHS also had two students complete the challenge with The Kokoda Youth Foundation after being selected into their program – Sisters Madison and Jordan set records by being the youngest sisters in a team to complete the 96km, doing so in 36hours and 53mins.
Both girls are off to Borneo in September for more hiking with the foundation.
We are proud of all participants and look forward to entering more teams next year.
HELENSVALE STATE HIGH SCHOOL
Helensvale State High School students and staff had a busy weekend trekking through the Gold Coast Hinterland as part of the 2023 Kokoda Challenge.
With 10 teams entered across three events, the ‘Helensvale Hawks’ were out in force.
With community, parent and care provider support, strong backing from several local businesses, enthusiasm and training, the exercise was a resounding success.
Training started for this event back in February with students and staff hitting the streets of Helensvale twice weekly, with a series of more testing hikes in between, including Mt Maroon, Hellfire Pass (Lower Beechmont) and a 20km beach-walk between Broadbeach and The Spit.
This culminated in the involvement of 40 students and 10 staff members, who raised over $10,000 dollars for the Kokoda Youth Foundation.
Helensvale High had a strong emphasis respecting and realising the values of the Kokoda spirit in mateship, courage and sacrifice. Leading up to the event the school was privileged to have been visited by members of the local Returned Services League to help make the connection between the event and the actuality of conflict. The school was well supported by a number of Helensvale enterprises including McDonalds, LJ Hooker, Club Helensvale, Gold Coast Big Four Family Holiday Park, Mortgage Choice, and It’s A Mega Thing.
Feedback from all involved was that despite the blisters, sore knees, bumps and bruises, Helensvale State High School will be back in 2024, supporting the Kokoda Youth Foundation in bigger numbers (and faster times) than ever!
Originally published as Remarkable achievements of Gold Coast state high school students
No let up: Residents vow to continue ‘View Tax’ fight
Unit owners have vowed to continue fighting controversial rates hikes after council agreed to a review, while a government minister has urged local governments to be ‘cognisant’ of cost of living concerns. Full story.
Gold Coast traffic: Out-of-control car causes M1 chaos
A single-vehicle crash is holding up northbound traffic on the Pacific Motorway on Thursday morning. See the details.