Proserpine State High School eNewsletter

Outside the Classroom

Sarah shares youth voice at CSIRO Council meeting

Our Year 9 student Sarah Hart has been advocating for Australian youth at the CSIRO Education and Outreach monthly meetings on behalf of the 2025 CSIRO Youth Reference Council.

The Council is coordinated by CSIRO's STEM Together program and Sarah has been an enthusiastic and active member taking on several roles across the Council meetings, and actively sharing her perspectives with those who seek Council input.

CSIRO STEM Together Project Lead Gemma Reid said they are delighted that Sarah has agreed to report Council activities at the Education and Outreach virtual meetings.

This is the inaugural year the CSIRO has established the Youth Reference Council that includes eight high school students from across Australia. Sarah was invited to apply after taking part in the CSIRO Future Shapers Program last year.

"Our mission is to provide youth insights from rural and underrepresented groups across Australia," Sarah said.

"Projects we have worked on so far included choosing from a variety of projects for the CSIRO to launch this year for National Science Week. We ended up choosing the Wild Watch experiment which has now launched."

The Youth Council continue to meet every three months and are now working on making STEM more diverse for under represented groups.

"I feel like adults in the STEM field need a student voice and I feel like they appreciate our opinions and love sharing their research with us," said Sarah.

Keep up the great work!

Year 12 Business students excel in uni program

A huge congratulations to our Year 12 student Tayla Ludbrook, who achieved a High Distinction in the highly regarded Bond University Business Extension Program.

This is an exceptional result that is extremely rare in this program that offers a real taste of university life across finance, marketing and entrepreneurship as our students were graded as university students!

Congratulations to our fellow talented Year 12 participants – Georgia Whitton, Liam Steen, Breeanna Jorgensen, Zia Muller, Belle Howard, Alanah Beattie, and Mia Dean – who also achieved outstanding results of Distinctions. What an incredible achievement from a group of future leaders ready to take on the business

Year 12 students boost law skills at Mooting comp

Last term our Year 12 students Thalia Foster, Zachary Gould and Callum Henry competed in the National Bond University Mooting Competition. They stepped into the shoes of solicitors, testing their advocacy skills in a real courtroom environment. The experience was both challenging and inspiring, as students engaged with complex legal issues and presented arguments before experienced university lecturers and practicing barristers. Our team demonstrated confidence, clarity and composure throughout and the valuable experience not only deepened their understanding of the law but boosted their confidence in public speaking. Congratulations to you all on engaging with this opportunity!

Student voice shared at Inter-school Debating

The first round of the annual Inter-school Debating Competition was a thrilling showcase of wit, worldliness and reasoning. Across both prepared and impromptu rounds, teams from Proserpine State High School and St Catherine's Catholic College tackled some of today’s most thought-provoking topics including economic sanctions and war crimes, cyber security, endangered species, homelessness and the future of AI in our courts.

The Junior Final came down to a head-to-head battle between two impressive St Catherine’s teams, while the Senior Final saw two powerhouse Proserpine State High School teams battle it out. In a very close-scoring final, our duo consisting of Millie Groom and Allegra Bradley claimed victory, despite being a team member down. Their poise, persuasive delivery and powerful teamwork sealed the deal.

A huge congratulations to all debaters who took to the podium. Your courage, critical thinking and ability to engage with big ideas was inspiring. Thank you also to St Catherine's for joining us for the event. Bring on Round 2 next week!

Community spirit shines at annual Reef Festival

Celebrating Creativity: Reeflections Art Competition

We are thrilled to share the outstanding achievements of our talented students who exhibited their works in the Reeflections Art Competition, held last week at The Heart Hotel Airlie Beach as part of the Great Barrer Reef Festival.

Lily Smith (Year 10), Natalie Cooper (Year 11) and Ivy Thompson (Year 12) all exhibited original artworks that explores ideas and themes about the reef. The competition was judged by Whitsunday Regional Council Mayor Ry Collins who awarded:

First Place: Lily Smith -$300
Second Place: Lily Smith -$150
Third Place: Ivy Thompson -$50

All three students also won an accommodation package from the hotel to enjoy with their families.

This is the first year a student exhibition has been on offer in conjunction with the Reef Festival and although it was only a small event, we would like to thank The Heart Hotel for giving our students this opportunity and hope that it will be bigger and better next year.

Events like this not only highlight the artistic strengths of our students but also build confidence, allow for peer inspiration, and foster a supportive creative community within our school.

We encourage all students to keep exploring their artistic voices and look forward to seeing even more incredible work in next year’s competition! Congratulations Lily, Ivy and Natalie on your wonderful efforts!

Seagrass shine on stage at Reef Festival

A group of our talended Seagrass Theatre and Music Company students shone on stage at the Great Barrier Reef Festival on Friday night.

Our students sang a variety of crowd-pleasing tunes that were enjoyed by all.

They also showed off their new shirts that feature the newly revamped Seagrass logo. Congratulations to our student who won our logo competition earlier this term.

Well done to you all for taking up this great opportunity!

Community Committee lead the way in street parade

Our student-led Community Committee dressed in coral-inspired colours and unique fish costumes to celebrate this year's theme 'Coral Kingdom'.

Well done to our Year 9 STEM students who made clever creations for our float as they have been exploring sustainable design.

Our students were joined in the parade by our Japanese exchange students from Asaka Nishi High.

Students immerse themselves at JCU Summit

Six of our Year 10 students took part in the James Cook University Navigate You Summit over the recent school holidays. The inaugural 5-day immersive program was a live-in opportunity for our students to experience university life, inform career goals, develop self-confidence and build cpacity for tertiary study after graduation. Below are two student accounts of the experience.

I had an incredible week-long experience at the Townsville James Cook University campus. The lessons were engaging and opened my eyes to different study areas that I had never really thought about or knew were on offer. I also really enjoyed the extracurricular activities like the drumming circle disco and graduation dinner. If anything like this came around again I would jump at the opportunity. This opportunity has helped me get a better understanding of university life and what my future may look like.

- Written by Lily Smith

The JCU Navigate YOU Summit was not where I saw myself these holidays but I am very grateful that I attended. Being able to make new friends from the North Queensland region and work with industry professionals, lecturers and uni students was the most rewarding part of the program. We had an absolute blast and learnt so much at the same time.

- Written by Mackenzie Cantamessa

Pop-up coffee cart a hit at Athletics Carnival

Staff and students were treated to delicious hot drinks at our Coffee Cart on Athletics Day, along with sweet treats made by our Year 11 Hospitality students. Feedback was positive and smiles a plenty - especially from well-deserving teachers who loved their caffeine hit!

Students ran this pop-up business with minimal support from Mrs Linneweber, really taking the reigns of all that was required on the day. Not all students were Senior Hospitality students, some simply showed an interest in contributing and volunteering their time. Thank you to our students who were instrumental in making this a success at our Athletics Day, your time and skills were greatly appreciated by many.

Leos lend a hand at school celebration

Our Whitsunday Leos Club students joined forces with the Proserpine Lions Club to serve tasty burgers at St Catherine's Catholic College's 100 year celebrations last weekend. Well done to you all for donating your time and thank you to those who made a purchase.