Magazine 2019

86 with their syllabus work and routines. The assembly was also filled with musical items and a drama piece to add to the variety of performances. The entire Culture Department also worked tirelessly in the preparation for the production of Cats. We are proud of the various achievements and developments of every aspect of the Culture Department and we have had an enjoyable and amazing term in office. We would like to extend our appreciation and special thanks to the Head of Culture, Ms Dodders. She has been there to guide us, help us and has truly shown us just a small part of what goes into making the College a vibrant and diverse environment. Michael Oliviera, Ilse Thomas and Hendrik Smuts In 2018, Parklands College saw the birth of a new portfolio, the Equity and Diversity portfolio. We started our year with a Grade 7 information session, where we informed the new learners to the Campus of what College life was going to be like and reassured them of our commitment to being a school where everyone is welcome. Our contributions to this year included participating in various assemblies. We spoke to the school about Mother Tongue Day, explaining what the day was about and celebrating linguistic diversity. We also covered the theme for this year, ‘The Importance of Indigenous Languages’. Around the time of Human Rights Day, we lead the Freedom Bell Ceremony. The purpose of this annual ceremony is to celebrate our freedom from prejudice and to honour our commitment against all prejudices, especially racism and sexism, by ringing the College Freedom Bell. We were also given the opportunity to address the school about Freedom Day, where we recounted the events of the first democratic election and listened to a poem by Scribbler of Verses, performed by Michaela Bezer. We ended the assembly by treating the school to a song by Mango Groove and Juluka. As Equity and Diversity prefects, we were also given the privilege of hosting the Africa Day assembly where we were able to celebrate the diversity of Africa. This included performances from the Marimba bands and involved the integration of isiXhosa week with Likhona Mbovane performing a poem and the isiXhosa learners singing traditional African songs. It was an honour being an Equity and Diversity perfect; it really was the perfect platform that allowed us to speak for those who feel that they don’t have voices. We continue to advocate the importance of equality for all, opening the eyes of others to any injustices and wish our successors well in this quest. Nadeem Jeewa and Eden van der Watt The year 2019 was a bumper year at the College with a diverse and exciting number of Clubs and Societies to choose from! At the first Clubs and Societies Assembly we showcased over 40 different clubs on offer at the College. There definitely is a special place, where every learner could light up his or her passion, here at Parklands College. Participation in College Clubs and Societies offers unique opportunities, ranging from creating and running our own clubs to participating in international competitions. To name a few: Nthato, Jace and Abigail from the Senior Debating Club represented South Africa at the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships. Green Solutions Club, one of the successful learner-run clubs at the College, offers the learners an awareness of our environment and helps to develop individuals who are responsible for their own environment. The Clubs and Societies prefects hosted an expo later in the year to showcase the Clubs and Societies to visitors and learners alike. On Open Day, visitors to the College could learn how to play a traditional instrument, the Marimba, see interesting scientific experiments and actively participate in activities offered by some of our Clubs and Societies. At the Sport, Service, Technology and Culture Assembly and the Honours and Leadership Awards, Service Awards were given to learners who had been instrumental in serving the College or our wider community. The year definitely went by quickly; however, it has been a successful one for us, filled with lots of excitement, passion and responsibilities. Leading this special portfolio has made this one of our best years at Parklands College! Ah Young Kim and Nicolaos Papavasilopoulos This year kicked off welcoming the new learners at their device orientation workshops. This was an important task and I valued the assistance of volunteers in getting the new learners up to speed with their iPads or laptops, and teaching them some of the key points on getting integrated with the Parklands system. A fundamental task of being an IT prefect is to support and manage any technical requirements for the extensive number of events hosted by the school. Besides the exciting weekly assemblies, there were a plethora of riveting events at which to help out, from Parklands Got Talent to the Matric Variety Show to the musical production of CATS. Welcoming Mr Philander into the sound engineering department was a great highlight. Slowly but surely we have been improving and sorting through the vast amount of equipment at the school, whilst also training up the sound team so that they can tackle the tasks of managing live events in the upcoming years. With the many technology departments at the school, I’ve been privileged to see first- hand, the incredible amount of improvements in the ever- expanding clubs such as Robotics, Application Development and the Technovation Team. With the addition of the new Learning Innovation Center, it is virtually impossible to imagine the full extent to which the new technology will be used for innovative learning at the College. All in all, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time serving as the Technology prefect. It has been incredibly rewarding, particularly in such a technology focused school. I feel genuinely fortunate to have been exposed to the industry-leading CLUBSAND SOCIETIES EQUITYANDDIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY