Magazine 2020

116 | Edition No. 23 | 2020 the use of 3D printing, software, electron- ics, craft and hardware supplies and tools. Before lockdown the learners engaged their creative minds through making their own lizards using beads and wires. This year in Technovation,Team CapeAble (consisting of Sedira Mamdoo, Christine Greig, Brooke Elliot, Manuela Da Silva and Isabella Cutten and mentored by Miss Ra- chel Manyahti, Miss Rayanthi Pillay & Miss Carike Cass) participated and submitted their extensive and well researched appli- cation that addresses current real world challenges. This year they launched a World Virtual Summit consisting of excit- ing workshops and panel discussions which included International acclaimed speak- ers such as Natalie Cook. They entered their Service-based mobile application, TouchBase, into EMGirls Entrepreneurial Competition where they made the Top 20 among 350+ teams. They also presented TouchBase, alongside Keagan Strydom, at the Online 2020 IT conference hosted by Schoolscape. The Book Club explored the works of Paulo Coelho through his book ‘The Al- chemist’. The reader shares in the story of Santiago, the shepherd boy, on the journey to realize his personal legend. As in every book, there are many lessons to learn and this book provides many thought-provok- ing themes to its readers. Makers & Inventors is the new club we launched this year which aims to create practical, innovative products and solu- tions to solve real-world problems, using digital and mechanical disciplines and tools to analyse specific problems and develop meaningful solutions. Hosted in the Expe- rium in the Parklands College Innovation Centre, both Mr Changunda and an indus- try expert will be running workshops on product development on selected days. This is still a new club so there will be many new initiatives facilitated by this club next year. We encourage you to sign up as this is an opportunity very few people are exposed to. Exclamation is the Christian Society at Parklands where students meet up weekly to discuss the Bible, learn about Jesus, do worship and take part in many other Christian activities. Pre-lockdown they were regularly joined by local youth pas- tors who came and taught them about theWord of God, God’s character as well as problems they’d face as teenagers liv- ing for Jesus. The yearly cross-connection camp was cancelled because of Covid but nevertheless, they continued attending on- line youth services. The World Cultures Society learnt about two different countries, India and Cape Verde. Both countries were showcased by a presentation where the members learnt about their unique culture, language and foods. When they discussed India, tradi- tional clothes were brought in and they got to learn about some specific Indian traditions. The Entrepreneurs Club shared ideas and trends under their Google Classroom topic Business Ideas Zone. They experi- mented pitching businesses through ac- tivities such as ‘No-or-Go’ and Business Plans. Unfortunately, their plans for guest speakers and a competition launch were shelved due to the lockdown. However, the club members continued to explore their ideas and opportunities. We would like to thank Mr Dean Flanagan for being our liaison teacher in Quarter 4 of 2019 and 1 of 2020. Thank you for your guidance and the time you invested into our portfolio. Lastly, we would like to end off by saying a massive thank you to Mrs Sue Smid for taking over as our liai- son teacher for Clubs & Societies. It has really been a pleasure working with you in evolving the portfolio this year. We wish the next Clubs & Societies Prefects well for their tenure and we look forward to seeing what you bring to this very special portfolio. Athena Papaioannou and Bianca Botha Clubs and Societies Prefects We can all agree that 2020 has had its very unique set of challenges. With the nationwide lockdown, the closing of schools and the pandemic, we’ve seen our lives literally turned upside- down. But something else we’ve seen - which is quite incredible - is a complete transformation of Cul- ture at the school. The department rose to the challenges presented by the changes in society and embraced technology in a new and dynamic way. This goes to show just how meaning- ful Culture is to our learners and how it will overcome even the tough- est times. Let’s look at what we’ve achieved this year. Our year began in relative normality. The Music Department was teem- ing with life, starting with the Summer Music Boot Camp, our brand new event, where all the ensembles at the school col- laborated over two days with fun activities (including our very own music-themed Amazing Race) and lots of music-making. Then came our popular Parklands Got Talent! where we saw many talented per- formers (including staff members!) com- pete for the PGT trophy. Then came our exciting PCFM (Parklands Festival of Mu- sic), a collaborative performance featuring many schools and orchestras (including the Cape Philharmonic Youth Orches- tra, the West Coast Youth Orchestra as well as Edgemead High School and Paarl Girls’) and our guest Zolani Mahola from the band Freshly Ground. Soon after, the FET Drama learners, known as The Com- culture