Welcome to the 2019 Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize students and teachers. We have quite a journey ahead of us!
Here is the list of the successful awardees:
Sophie Baker Central Yorke
School
Melissa Campbell Glenunga
International High School
Laura Cassell Xavier College
Matilda Cotton Glenunga
International High School
Lily Farrell Loreto College Marryatville
Montana Foster Wudinna
Area School
Liam Kay Cardijn
College
Shreyas Khanna St Peters College
Sophie Lipman Loxton High School
India Little Kingston
Community School
Charli Medlow Meningie
Area School
Ryan Schwarz Endeavour
College
Elise Turtur Roxby Downs Area School
William Wiseman Kingston
Community School
Daisy Yates Saint Martin’s Lutheran College
Tabitha Zdanowicz Loxton High School
Teachers and RSL SA Delegate to accompany the students
Ellen Glass Aberfoyle
Park High School
Maddison Lawrie Kingston Community School
Lauren Smith Central
Yorke School
Bob Kearney RSL SA
Malcolm McInerney Department for Education
A quick glance shows the Awardees breakdown as:
* 10 Department for Education, 3 CESA and 3 AISSA schools
* 9 country and 7 city schools
* 12 girls and 4 boys
* 7 Year 9 students and 9 Year 10 students
Congratulations to the students for some outstanding entries and you certainly deserve the opportunity to visit Vietnam to learn and commemorate in September-October 2019.
Keep an eye out for new postings on this blog as we prepare for the trip - to gain over coming months, knowledge and understanding about Vietnam and the Vietnam War years.
Announcement in South Australian Parliament: 6 June, 2019
The Minister for Education, John Gardener MP announced the prize awardees in the Parliament of South Australia yesterday (6 June). Here is the transcript from Hansard of his response to the question:
Can the minister update the house in relation to the 2019
Premier's ANZAC Spirit School Prize?
The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for
Education) (14:51): I'm very pleased to have this question from the member
for MacKillop, and hot off the press is some good news for some students in the
electorate of MacKillop, which I will come to shortly.
I know this is a prize that is supported by members right
across this parliament. I'm sure that members across this parliament appreciate
the opportunities that teachers in their schools give to students in their
local areas to be able to participate in this prize, to engage with our service
men and women, returned service men and women and, indeed, potentially historical
service men and women, family members and others who have served our country so
that they can better understand what the ANZAC spirit is and what it is to be a
key part of Australian history, and to understand it.
This year, more than 1,000 years 9 and 10 students across
South Australia took part in the ANZAC Spirit School Prize, and 16 of those
students have been successfully chosen to participate in a 14-day study tour to
Vietnam later this year. This is an opportunity for all 1,000 students to be
able to undertake studies and do research on individual service men and women,
soldiers and nurses, people who have given for our country and made sacrifices
during those two significant conflicts in particular. Previously, it was World
War I. During the centenary of ANZAC those were highlighted.
This year, the poster featured Sir Ross and Keith Smith, Wally
Shiers and their other crew member in the centenary year, recognising their
extraordinary flight across the world. That's relevant here, too, because 1919
was the year after the end of the First World War. One of the themes they were
looking at is the way the nation recovered and the way the spirit of the nation
was supported by the Prime Minister's prize offered for that trip around the
world. That's one of the things students considered. Indeed, World War II
subjects were also available.
I am really pleased also to note this year that the entries
that were submitted by schools for judgement have been submitted to the RSL
Virtual War Memorial to contribute to that. But on to the winners. I am really
pleased that the member for MacKillop has asked the question. I can advise him
that the Kingston Community School has provided two of our winners this year:
India Little and William Wiseman. Indeed, the Meningie Area School has been
honoured with Charli Medlows' performance, but members right across this
chamber can be pleased with the performances of their local students.
We also congratulate Sophie Baker from the Central Yorke
School, Melissa Campbell from Glenunga International High School, Laura Cassell
from Xavier College, Matilda Cotton from Glenunga again, Lily Farrell from
Loreto College in Marryatville, Montana Foster from the Wudinna Area School,
Liam Kay from Cardijn College, Shreyas Khanna from St Peters College, Sophie
Lipman from Loxton High School, Ryan Schwarz from Endeavour College, Elise
Tutur from Roxby Downs Area School, Daisy Yates from Saint Martin’s Lutheran
College in Mount Gambier and Tabitha Zdanowicz from the Loxton High School.
All these students are worthy of our congratulations, and I
think that they will be joining all the previous students who have gone on this
trip on 5 July when, at Ayres House, we will be holding a reception for many of
those students who have undertaken those study tours.
I think that it is going to be an amazing group of young
South Australians who have done this work over the last decade and a half or
so. Their research and their participation in the community has added to our
state's understanding of ANZAC, but I think that this trip and this prize in
particular is an aspirational opportunity for so many young people to give some
thought to what this country has been built on over the last one hundred years
of that ANZAC tradition and what feeds into that spirit.
A press release also went out yesterday and can be accessed at
