Intuitor is the schools e-newsarticles that get published on the website once a term. The students are encouraged to write about their experiences at major events that have taken place.

Articles include:

Global Leaders Convention 2010

Living Libraries

French Trip

A La Mode

My School Act

ESS Camp

Visual Arts Camp

Global Leaders Convention 2010

by Lois Cutmore

TURN PASSION INTO ACTION – DO SOMETHING REAL!

Economics is the study of people managing their unlimited wants in a world of limited resources.

On Thursday June 3rd Cameron Whitten, Alex Mitchell, Anna Churchill and Brandon Dowery, accompanied by Mrs Cutmore, attended the 2010 World Vision Global Leaders’ Convention at the Sleeman Sports Centre, Chandler. The Global Leaders’ Convention is an annual event hosted by World Vision designed to engage today’s youth in leadership programs to target world humanitarian issues. Each student was issued with the latest 40 Hour Famine T shirt and a coloured label which divided them up into pink, blue and green groups.

The day’s activities started with a game show simulation in which the odds were stacked so that the pink team was able to answer every question and were given free trade chocolate. Students were then split into 3 different groups with a bag of resources to do simulations of trading food, fuel, TVs and new technology between countries such as the USA, India, China, Brazil, the UAE, Zimbabwe, the UK, Nepal, Vietnam, Australia, Kenya and Germany. Students were chosen to be Head of State and Trade Minister with the game being won on the basis of the number of goods in excess of the basic quota. Results were as expected – the rich countries became progressively richer while the poor countries fell further behind.

The message was that in 1960 we had all the technology, all the resources and all of the power necessary to feed the world. The expectation was that world poverty would be halved by 2015. Then the oil prices rose in 2007 causing the price of food to double in many countries and precipating the global food crisis. To illustrate this point, we listened to the story of Sammy who lives in a village in Kenya where there is a severe lack of food and water. Sammy’s mother collects firewood in the desert and sells it earning 20 cents an hour. Breakfast is a cup of tea and dinner consists of ground maize mixed with water. Sammy goes to school only when his mother is not working.

The world food crisis statistics are staggering. Now that the world’s population has almost reached 7 billion, every night 1 billion people in over 30 countries go to bed hungry – one sixth of the world’s population. On current trends the world’s population will reach 9 billion in 2041. And every year there are about 80 million more mouths to feed. $1.25 per person per day is the average amount in poor countries that people have to spend on food. Contributing factors to the global food crisis are climate change (drought and higher temperatures), decline in agricultural research and development, higher oil prices, bio-fuel production (reduces the quantity of grain available for food), change in population balance (more people in countries like China and India), short supply of crops, food wastage in wealthy countries (3 million tonnes of food was wasted in Australia in 2009) and urbanisation.

The next activity divided us into 10 groups – the UN, World Food Program, EU, Greenpeace, Monsanto (agricultural company researching genetic engineering), Nepal, International Meat Secretariat, WV, Woolworths and the Australian government. The task was to discuss the problem of introducing an international tax on domestic and industrial food waste to fund global agricultural development. Then Queensland Youth Ambassador recapped on her 12 day WV trip to Nepal at Christmas. Each year the youth ambassadors visit an impoverished nation to learn about the problems faced by their communities. In Nepal there are many slums along the rivers in Katmandu and for many of the children there is no happy ending. They are forced to work like adults as the daily priority of most families is simply survival. Even very young children are sent out searching for food in the forests daily before going to school.

We then watched the story of Lalou from Nepal, a 7 year old who parents are dead and he lives with his grandparents. Lalou is often left on his own while his grandparents search for food and cultivate crops, and he does not have the opportunity to go to school. We can be leaders in the moves for global change as greatness = impact. The messages that came across from the presentations were: “Find your unending passion and marry this with the needs of the world.” “Whatever you are, be a good one”. Abraham Lincoln. “All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke. “If you look through a thorn you will see the world like a thorn. If you look through a flower you will see the world like a flower”. Nepalese quote

In summary Nepal is the focus of this year’s 40 Hour Famine.

The people of Nepal are hungry for a change.

What are you hungry for?

Participate in the 40 Hour Famine and make a difference.

Join the QACI World Vision Generation team from August 20th-22nd 2010

Create your own page on http://www.worldvision.com.au/40hourfamine.aspx

Think of something to go without for 48 hours – food, furniture, speech, TV, elevators, books, technology, facebook, friends, music, stationery…..

The money will go towards seed banks, irrigation, greenhouse, cold storage, mother and child health in Nepal,

 

Get involved in the Vision Generation team and support their cause for 2010: “Don’t trade lives”.

 

Living Libraries

by Rhiannon Moore

The world is a well of knowledge, to those who choose to seek it. Unfortunately modern lives sometimes prevent such knowledge from being recognized and passed down. Stories change, points of view are conflicting, in the end, some will be left with nothing.

But for those who listen, the stories paint a rich, vibrant picture, and give more clues and advice for future generations. Through their “living library” program, QACI’s Year Ten Theatre classes made listening to such stories almost impossible to resist on 24th April, as they flooded the State Library of Queensland with their monologues.

Despite the changing weather conditions, the energy of the theatre students never dampened as they enlightened the public with stories and insights gathered from research into crucial events in the lives of elder members of their family. Presenting stories of subject matter ranging from war to games, dolls to dogs.  The performances were well-received by audiences, who included the enthusiastic elderly, families of performers, intrigued children and most importantly those of the general public - captivated by hearing merely glimpses of a monologue and who then decided to stick around.

Overall, the experience was one that will linger with both the student performers and the general public for years to come.

French Trip

by: Lois Cutmore

Some people will do anything for a few extra days in France or 3 weeks in the life of a QACI French teacher!

April 4th

We met at Brisbane airport at 12pm ready to board our flight for Paris via Singapore where we had a 3 hour stopover. We waved goodbye to parents, Mr Jose and Mrs Tate and headed off. 

April 5th

We arrived at Paris early in the morning on April 5th, dropped our luggage at the Hotel Némours in République arrondissement and headed for the metro and the Champs Élysées. We climbed the 300 steps to the top of the Arc de Triomphe for a fantastic view over Paris, had lunch on the Champs Élysées, walked down to the Place de la Concorde and the Obelisk, the Jardin des Tuileries and spent the remainder of the afternoon in the Musée du Louvre gazing at the incredible artwork and architecture and of course, the Mona Lisa. Dinner was in a restaurant in République.  

April 6th

We spent the morning wandering around République, visited the markets, shopped, had coffee and pastries, caught the TGV (train de grande vitesse) for Bourg en Bresse (medieval town) and the bus to the Lycée Arbez Carme, arriving at about 5pm for a welcome function and to meet our homestays. My first homestay lived in a gorgeous house in the country. I slept in the attic overlooking the fields and had Coquilles Saint Jacques for dinner with and lemon meringue pie! Yum!

April 7th

We headed off to school with our homestays for classes and a tour of the school. Lycée Arbez Carme is a senior secondary school that focuses on plastics production (the main industry in the town) but also has an academic stream like our IB. There are about 1500 students and the campus is huge. We lunched in the school canteen – bread, entrée, main course, cheese, dessert and fruit. Dinner for me (courtesy of my ever generous homestay) was at a restaurant on Lac Genin – rillettes, magret de canard, œufs à la neige and cheese.

April 8th

Two of the Arbez Carme staff took us to see the dinosaur prints that were discovered in 2009 about 10 km out of Oyannax in the Jura mountains. Then we headed off to a monument for the Canadian and British parachutists during WW2. The Ain region was a major area for the resistance (maquisard) during the war. Oyannax was completely destroyed and rebuilt. In the afternoon we visited the Musée des Peignes (Comb Museum) and one of the original plastics factories which will become the new museum. My homestay purchased several different cheeses and we had raclette for dinner – a delicious dish made from melted cheese and boiled potatoes with jambon cru and salad. Near the cheese shop there was a small castle with a plaque saying that various buildings in the area had been burnt down by the Germans during WW2 to catch members of the resistance. 

April 9th 

Two English teachers from Arbez Carme took us to Pérouges (medieval town) and Lyon in the school minibuses. Pérouges has cobbled streets and the original buildings have been preserved. The specialty is a kind of sugared flat bread. We lunched in the park looking over Lyon, visited Notre Dame de Fouvière and climbed down the steps to the Ampithéâtre Romain where Mr Tate could not resist a soliloquy and the Cathédrale Saint Jean. The afternoon was spent wandering around the streets of Lyon, visiting bookshops, sampling the wares in the confectionery boutiques, visiting the cathedral and climbing back up the steps to go home. I changed homestays and was treated to more culinary masterpieces at each meal.

April 10th

The school holidays started and the morning was spent visiting the markets and walking around the shops in Oyannax. For lunch my homestay family took myself and Mr Tate to a restaurant where he tasted crème fraîche for the first time and we were treated to an amazing meal. Late in the afternoon my homestay and I went to the movie “Liberté” – the true story of a group of tsiganes (gypsies) during the war. Dinner was quiche but by this stage I could not fit another thing in!

April 11th

My homestay took myself and Mr Tate to the Abbaye d’Ambronay – a beautiful former monastry which is now a museum at Bourg en Bresse. Then after a very quick lunch of gésiers (duck gizzards) with salad we headed off to Annecy – a commune on the edge of a lake in the Rhône-Alpes region with the mountains in the background. On the way home we almost went to Switzerland by mistake when my homestay missed the turn off the autoroute. That evening we dined on cassoulet with pastries and chocolates purchased at the confisserie in Annecy.

April 12th

A quick trip to a gourmet shop followed by lunch (roast chicken and salad) and it was time to head for the train station to catch the bus and TGV back to Paris. We arrived back late in the afternoon and were on the metro for the Trocadero and the Tour Eiffel from which one has the most amazing views of Paris and which lights up on the hour after sunset. We walked to the École Militaire and caught the metro back just in time to catch a very late meal and tumble into bed.

April 13th

A visit to Montmartre was one of the highlights of the day. We entered the Basilque de Sacré Cœur just as mass was starting, then wandered through the artists’ quarter and onto the Café de Deux Moulins (featured in the movie Amélie) for lunch. We returned via La Galérerie de La Fayette (compulsory shopping), the Opéra Garnier, the Passages couvertes (covered streets with quaint little shops), dined and went to the Théâtre de la Madéleine to see Audrey Tatou perform in a French translation of Ibsen’s “Doll’s House”.

April 14th

The morning was spent at the sumptous Château de Versailles after which we returned via Les Halles to visit the FNAC store and the Quartier Juif. Dinner was an opportunity to try out some other tastes such as Moroccan food.

April 15th

We could not leave Paris without a trip to Notre Dame and the flower markets, followed by a boat cruise on the Seine with Vedettes de Pont Neuf. The afternoon was taken up with the Musée d’Orsay ( the modern art museum).

April 16th

Off to Charles de Gaulle airport to leave so we thought! We had been anxiously watching the news with its stories of the volcano in Iceland causing possible closure of European airspace. Singapore Airlines staff met us with the news that we would not be flying out and transported us to a hotel near the Champs Élysées where we were treated to excellent accommodation and food. We could not venture out as there were regular updates from the airlines.

April 17th

We went to the Trocadéro hoping to find the Musée du Cinéma which had moved and instead found the Musée de l’Architecture et de la Patrimoine. At the afternoon airlines briefing we were told that there would be no flights out for several days and from breakfast on the next day we would be on our own. Calls to the insurance companies and Mr Jose resulted in the advice that we should remain in our hotel.

Aprll 18th

This was a lazy day of wandering down to the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais as well as the Théâtre du Rondpoint and back past the Théâtre Marigny.

April 19th

Calls to the airlines resulted in us being put on a waiting list for April 21st and 22nd. We visited Les Invalides, the Musée del’Armée and la Tombe de Napoléon.

April 20th - 22nd

The airline informed us that we would not fly out until Monday April 26th. Mr Tate and I went to the central office and were told by the director that we were on a flight that evening. At last! We flew out at 10pm via Singapore (chance for duty free shopping) and were back in Brisbane on the 22nd.

My sincere thanks to Mme Leah for her tireless and impeccable organisation, Mr Tate for his unwavering enthusiasm and energy, the students for their constantly positive attitude and continual cheerfulness, to Mrs Jahnke for trying so hard to get us on the big screen and to Mr Jose for being on call for emergency advice.

A La Mode

by Alexandra Hackett

On Friday the 7th of May, the Queensland Academy for Creative Industries held their very own student-led evening of fashion, featuring a complete fashion parade using all student designs and models. À La Mode began with light refreshments and the first models from the first collection stepped out on the runway at 7pm.

The first collection was ‘The Little Black Dress Collection’ which was a group of 12 black dresses designed and created by a number of students as part of the Fashion Design Workshop held in term one. In this Workshop, students were taught by Alexandra Hackett, a year 12 student, how to make preliminary sketches and transform them into something tangible and fashionable. The students were taken through the steps of pattern cutting, sewing and later, modeling their own designs in anticipation for the fashion parade.

The second collection, ‘The Heterogeneous Collection’, consisted of various individual designers from all school levels, showing no particular theme or thread but that each design represented an individual that enjoys creating art and fashion - a quality found in many QACI students.This was then followed by ‘The Recyclable Collection’ in which, as part of the IB year 11 visual arts classes, many students created fashion based upon the theme of recycling. Guests saw how an old garden hose, piece of mesh or magazine cutout can be transformed into fashionable pieces when you look at them from a completely different perspective.Finally, the fourth collection for the evening consisted of all designs and creations from a singular year 12 student, Alexandra Hackett, the organizer of this event. All modeling and choreography was taught by Eloise Breskvar.

All money raised on the evening was donated to YoungCare - a charity helping to create change for young Australians with disabilities.  In total, we raised just over one thousand dollars.

My School Act

by Stephen Smith

In November last year I entered My School Act, an Australia-wide competition for unsigned musicians with the major prize of a $50,000 record deal with Sony Music. The whole competion was an incredible experience for me and I am extremely grateful for everyone who got involved and supported me at the end of last year. I’ll give you a brief rundown of what went on during the 1st Round and the Finals in Sydney.

The first round was completely web based, all I had to do was set up a page, upload a video of one of my songs and get as many people as possible to create an account and become my fan. The idea seemed very simple at first but, being a late entry into the competition, I soon realized I had a lot of catching up to do. Some of the leading acts had been gathering votes for over 8 months and already had 400+ Fans, so in just a few short weeks I put all my energy into getting votes, starting at QACI of course. I performed on assembly and asked for support from my peers, I sent out several whole-school emails explaining exactly how to vote and updating everyone on my progress. The QACI community alone got me close to 200 votes, add the votes from my family, friends, family friends and family friend’s friends, I had close to 300 votes. I was really appreciating every little bit of support, but I still knew it wasn’t going to be enough. So I decided to get my hands dirty and hit the streets of Brisbane. I spent a whole day approaching random people in the city and serenading them, if they liked what the heard I gave them a flyer and asked them to vote. The reactions I got were priceless, but the votes I got were even better, as they managed to put me safely in the Top Ten Acts.

In December, after finding out I had made it through the first round, I had the amazing opportunity of being flown to Sydney for the finals. The finals consisted of a 3 day workshop where the top ten acts got exclusive performances from professional artists, met industry professionals and even got to record a demo at Studio 301. At the end of the 3 days a final five acts from the top ten were chosen to compete in a grand final at the Sydney Metro Theater. The 3 day workshop alone was really beneficial for me, I gained heaps of knowledge from industry professionals, had the privilege of meeting Paul Dempsey and Damien Leith and even recorded a couple of songs at a professional studio. I would have been quite satisfied to go home then, having already made it that far, but the Final Five were announced and I was ecstatic to find out that I had made it through.

The Grand Final was the following night and is one that I will never forget. It was hosted by Australian Idol Host, James Mathison, filmed by Channel V and held at the renowned Sydney Metro Theater with a live audience and panel of judges. Everything was just so professional and despite my nerves of being the only solo act left in the competition, I enjoyed every second of it. In the end I didn’t end up taking away the major prize, but I left knowing that I put on a great performance and gained a lot more experience and knowledge than I could ever ask for. Plus a free trip to Sydney with everything payed for wasn’t too bad either.

Again, I would like to thank everybody who supported me and put in the effort to vote. I can’t wait to enter again in July and I’m looking forward to receiving the same support this year.

 ESS Camp

by NAOMI O’REILLY

From the 8th to the 12th of March this term, QACI’s senior Environmental Systems and Society students stayed at the Crystal Waters Eco Village for their ESS camp. Throughout the camp the students conducted experiments and tests on the surrounding water bodies, information vital for their IA’s.

With the time demands associated with the nature of an anticipated subject the ESS camp provided students with a wonderful opportunity to focus on their data collection. This data will be vital to their course work and will continue on late into May.

As well as the opportunity to collect data, the students participated in a discussion board comprised of local residents of the Crystal Waters area. Discussing the topic of self-sustainable development, the board interacted with the students as they shared their different views on issues connected to the topic. This experience was of significant importance to the anticipated students as they go on to complete their extended responses to assigned topics.

We would like to thank all who were involved in organising and running a very successful camp. The collaboration between students, teacher and residents could not have been possible without the dedication and effort of our teachers; Mrs. Doyle and Mr. Ware, as well as all other administrators. It was a fantastic experience for all involved, and shows what an extraordinary environment QACI really is.

 

Visual Arts Camp

by OLIVIA ALEXANDER

At the end of this term the Visual Arts students travelled down to Mount Tamborine for the annual Visual Arts camp. The dedicated planning of the Visual Arts teaching team allowed for the students to collaborate with industry professionals and the students were able to select workshops to help them in their personal studio practices.

Catherine Schoch, a digital artist, worked with the students in experimenting with stop animation, rotoscoping and digital layering of different mediums. Haya Cohen’s workshop focused on the connection we have to the land and each other through the use of materials and different strings, some of which she grew and wove herself. The students also worked with Dace Machen for a second time. Dave attended last years camp and within his workshops students focused on abrasion though drawing, and interpretation of the landscape. They were also given the opportunity to attend a life drawing workshop, which was a fantastic experience for those who had done it before, or those who were just beginning.

As well as the wonderful workshop artists, international sculptor Antone Bruinsma visited the camp to speak to the students about his work as a full time art practitioner. The following day students were given the rare opportunity to visit his Mount Tamborine workspace and sculpture park. Throughout the camp, students focused heavily on completion of studio works and the artwork created over these three days has the potential to be exhibited in the final exhibitions of each cohort.

Thank you to all who were involved in organising and running the camp, it couldn’t have happened without you.