2015 QUT Young Ambassadors Report
At the beginning of this year, six students from GCC were appointed as QUT Young ambassador. Each term they have met with staff from QUT and are involved in a variety of workshops. The QUT Youth Ambassadors are from Year 10, Billie Sandes, Ella O’Keefe, Jesse Woods and from Year 11, Isabelle Westaway, Lachlan McCaig and Will Smerdon. Jesse Woods was asked to describe the latest workshop they did last Thursday.
On Thursday 27 August, six students from Year 10 and 11 attended their third QUT Young Ambassadors workshop. The workshop is normally held at the QUT Caboolture campus and is an opportunity for secondary students to provide feedback to the university on how to engage with students and identify university access issues for young people. On this occasion a special workshop was held at the QUT Gardens Point campus in Brisbane providing us the opportunity to engage in Science and Engineering activities. Upon arrival, we toured around the campus and visited various buildings. In this tour we were shown The Cube located in P block. The Cube is a huge interactive cube with different games and displays on each side.
Afterwards, we had the LittleBits challenge. During this challenge we designed electric circuits using LittleBits to perform various tasks, such as creating a nightlight or a flashing light. LittleBits are basically the Lego of the circuit world. We also learnt about the different types of engineering. Lastly, we went back out to The Cube and were given a chemistry quiz sheet. We used the mini-games on the Cube to find the answers. I enjoyed this workshop and, in particular, listening to a current engineering student talk about his university experience. It was also good talking to the other students from different schools. We are all looking forward to our fourth and final QUT workshop for this year in early November.
University @ Glasshouse
Starting next term, Students in Year 11 have the opportunity to complete a Diploma of Business by the end of Year 12. From the start of 2016, this will also be offered to our current Year 10 students.
The program will require about 5 hours per week of study. This can be done mostly on Wednesdays however those Year 11’s doing it this year will need to do a 2 hour class once a week on one afternoon from 3:30 – 5:30pm.
More information about this program was given out on Thursday evening however if you were unable to attend then please contact me for further information.
In 2016 we will be offering university subjects from the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT). To do these courses, students need to be achieving at a B average grade. Only those in Year 12, 2016 can apply to QUT.
Approximate costs to do these courses are:
- Diploma of Business: $3,500 for which Commonwealth assistance is available through the VET-FEE HELP program.
- University of the Sunshine Coast: $400 per subject (a saving of 50% on normal fees)
- University of Southern Queensland: Free for the first subject.
- Queensland University of Technology: Free for those who are accepted.
The USQ subjects are online and can be studied here at school. The USQ subjects are done through the Sippy Downs Campus and the Diploma of Business will be delivered to students at GCC.
For more information see the following websites:
Diploma of Business: http://www.careersaustralia.edu.au/course-details/diploma-of-business
USC Headstart: http://www.usc.edu.au/learn/courses-and-programs/headstart-program-year-11-and-12-students
USQ Headstart: http://www.usq.edu.au/study/high-school-students/head-start
QUT START: https://www.qut.edu.au/study/high-school-programs/start-qut
Rise and Shine Scholarship
Our College presents one scholarship for a student currently in Year 10 to do a USC Headstart subject in Semester 1, 2016. The course is fully paid for and the student also receives $100 towards text books and stationery. More information about this scholarship will be sent out to Year 10’s soon.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me for further information about University @ Glasshouse.
David Heyworth, Head of Senior School