St Johns Ambulance
St John members this term have worked hard in mastering their extended patient assessment learning how to gather a history, take vital signs and compete a head to toe assessment. This term, members expanded their knowledge across a wide range of important topics, including how to manage seizures, burns, head, neck, and pelvic injuries, bites and stings, asthma and anaphylaxis, strokes, diabetic emergencies, and much more. They put their skills to the test through various challenging scenarios, ensuring they’re well-prepared for real-life situations!

On Sunday, 8th September, Lauren Fisher proudly represented our division in the State Youth Challenge, where she competed against 30 other participants from across Victoria. The competition tested her first aid skills in high-pressure scenarios, complete with screaming patients and chaotic situations. In addition to handling these intense challenges, Lauren was tasked with creating and teaching a lesson, demonstrating a skill, and performing effective CPR. Her preparation included numerous practice sessions, where, with the help of student volunteers, she honed her ability to manage multiple patients and bystanders simultaneously. A huge congratulations to Lauren for her exceptional performance and dedication in representing the division so admirably!
Nessryn Tabiatt, St Johns Ambulance 

Meharpreet Kaur – Future Health Leaders Program
On Friday August 23rd, Year 11 student Meharpreet Kaur flew to Canberra and joined 12 other students from around Australia in the Future Health Leaders Program. The Future Health Leaders Program works to inspire female high school students to enter a career in health and medical research, innovation and life sciences. It was a busy day for Meharpreet with lots of new experiences:

• Firstly, a welcome and orientation
• A panel with female leaders from non-profit, government, industry and clinical health settings
• A provided lunch and tour of ANU
• Two immersive, hands-on lab sessions with female leaders in academia and ANU ambassadors
• A session at Parliament House during the final hour of the day, meeting with current Parliamentarians with an interest in health and medicine

PVGC would like to extend a huge congratulations to Meharpreet for being 1 of 12 students selected to take place in this event

Music Gala
PVGC’s annual Music Gala was a highlight of the year as usual on September 18th with our amazing students showcasing their music and rhythmic talents. As always they were well supported by our incredible music department and the event was well attended by the PVGC community! 

Elise Keles-Huseyin & Fatima Basra – Evatt Model UN competition

Fatima Basra and I were incredibly fortunate to participate in the Evatt Model UN competition, an experience that was both challenging and rewarding. Each team represented a different UN country in a mock conference, working together to draft a resolution that required the approval of at least 9 out of 15 member states, including all veto powers. We proposed amendments and new clauses, which were debated and voted on, and had the chance to express our country’s stance through speeches.

We competed in the preliminary round on August the 25th at Melbourne Law School, where we competed against over 100 teams, and we represented Australia. We engaged in debates on two pre-prepared resolutions, one addressing poaching and the other focused on human security in Haiti. Additionally, we tackled an impromptu resolution on plastic consumption. Throughout the day, we successfully passed three of our amendments.

Advancing to the semi-finals on September 7th at St. Hilda’s College, we encountered a more competitive atmosphere, making it challenging to secure a place on the speaker list. In the semi-finals, we debated one prepared resolution on Kurdish independence and two impromptu resolutions concerning the India-Pakistan conflict in Kashmir and refugees in the UK. We were delighted to see three of our amendments passed.

Ultimately, we made it to the reserve list for the grand final, placing us in the top 19 teams in Victoria. We are incredibly proud to have represented PVGC and would like to thank everyone who supported us in this amazing opportunity to compete!
Elise Keles-Huseyin 11G