A Uniting Church coeducational independent day and boarding school on Kaurna Country, Adelaide, South Australia
Early Learning to Year 12
This quote always makes me stop and think about just how much I have travelled in the past and what impact this has had on my personal world view.
Luckily for me, I have had many opportunities in my work as a Language teacher, and now as the Round Square and Exchanges Coordinator, to travel. At the end of this term, along with student delegate Aleisha Elliott (Year 11 Woollacott), I will be heading to India to participate in the Round Square International Conference 2019. There we will join over 800 other students from various nations to participate in a variety of activities including Adventure and Service.
In my last eNews article, I wrote in some detail about what the Round Square International Conference involves and the benefits these opportunities have for our Westminster community.
The quote above also makes me realise what a great bunch of adventurous students we have here at Westminster and how lucky they are to be in a position to take up so many of these opportunities. I regularly have so many students come in to chat with me about Exchanges, Conferences and Service Learning overseas and it is amazing how fearless and enthusiastic they are in their pursuits.
A fascinating part of my role is then talking to parents of these students (sometimes convincing them) that participating in these travel opportunities will be an incredible experience for their child.
So why do we as humans actually want to travel?
What is it that makes some people want to travel more than others?
There is of course no simple answer to this, except to say that some of our decisions are based on our values and upbringing, socio-economic status and our personality type. There is no doubt though in my mind that part of the reason why Westminster students are so keen to take up these challenges and opportunities is because of the influence they have at school with the Round Square IDEALS, which are embedded in every facet of what they do. The philosophy behind Round Square is essentially based on ‘experiential’ learning. The challenges and joy that travel can bring, truly encompass all of these aspects!
The Virtuoso Travel Blog has a great article on ‘10 powerful reasons why people love to travel’. On reading this, it is easy to see how well our Round Square IDEALS fit in with these points!
‘10 Powerful Reasons Why People Love to Travel!’ - http://blog.virtuoso.com/tips-and-trends/10-powerful-reasons-why-people-love-to-travel/
Just a quick note to say an enormous ‘Thank You’ to all of those who helped out at the Red Dove Café at the Royal Adelaide Show 2019. Westminster School once again had over 40 students volunteer their time this year, as well as several very generous staff members and parents. All feedback from both the organiser of the Café and from the students themselves indicated that it was a very positive experience for all concerned, in spite of the longer shifts this year.
Thank you must also go to the students who assisted in selling Legacy Badges and Bears at Parkholme Shopping Centre on Friday 6 September (Legacy Day). Their help was much appreciated and I received glowing reports from the organisers about how much initiative was shown by our students during this time.
Excerpt from an email received from John Spencer at Legacy:
Would you please pass on my congratulations to the students who assisted at Parkholme Shopping Centre on Friday – despite the cold and windy conditions.
Zoe, Mae, Sienna, Millie, Riley and Lewis all performed extremely well, being polite and confident in helping with the collection – they were a credit to the School.
During their hours they assisted me, they managed to collect over $688 dollars. This money will be used towards the welfare of dependents of Legacy.
Once again thank you and the School,
John Spencer
Legatee Section D
Do you care about what happens in your school, local and international community and want to have your say?
Would you like to be part of organising a variety of great service projects, exchanges and other events?
Are you keen to show off or develop your leadership skills?
Then why not nominate or have someone else nominate you to become part of the new Round Square Student Committee for 2020!
We are keen to have as many students as possible from a variety of year levels (Years 6 to 12), who are interested in promoting the Round Square IDEALS of Internationalism, Democracy, Environment, Adventure, Leadership and Service!
Round Square is a unique and amazing part of our school and provides our students with a number of great opportunities other schools don't have access to.
Find out more by contacting me via Email if you are keen to be a part of a dynamic, fun and motivated team!
The new committee will be formed early in Term 4 so keep your eye out for SEQTA notices advertising meetings.
For further information on Round Square, our initiatives, exchanges, or conferences, please contact me via Email.
Julia Chukwuani
Round Square and Exchanges Coordinator