Magazine 2020

118 | Edition No. 23 | 2020 Although 2020 was not what we had hoped for as House Prefects, we did not allow the difficulties to prevent us from having fun. We started out our year with our annual Big Brag event which was a chance for all the newly elected House Captains to showcase their themes for 2020 and to give us one new war-cry. As this was our first event we decided to showcase ourselves too. We were very excited because we were allowed to use the new scoreboard. The houses showed off their new themes and performed their war cries as promised. All the houses performed very well and we were look- ing forward to a very promising year. For our second event, the Inter-house Swimming Gala, we were for- tunate to have a perfect day to be in the water and out in the sun. There were so many races, such as the pool noodle race, the T-shirt race and the prefect race. There was also great music and food and everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. Covid-19 caused some of our events to be cancelled and some of them changed like the Inter-House Public Speaking event. We added a little twist to the competition, and made it online for obvious reasons. Many people had to get out of their comfort zones and embrace something new and foreign. In true Parklands spirit, the participants impressed with their high standard. We enjoyed being your House Prefects and will always remember the year that we were locked down. Unam Gida and JustinWatling Prefects of Houses 2020 started with our exciting New Learner Orientation Day. We organised activities for more than 100 new Parklands learners fo- cusing on collaboration, social interaction and fun. In the first quarter we hosted a Buddy Picnic for over 200 students which provided an opportunity for our new learners to connect and engage with their Matric and Grade 11 Peer Supporter buddies. There was an abundance of food, lasting friendships were built and the “gees” was fantastic. This event was a huge success and one of the highlights of our prefect portfolio. An important aspect of the year is the Class Representative training. Class Reps bridge the gap between the school body and student body. At the Quarter 1 and 2 Class Rep training, our Class Reps were familiarised with the problem solving and leadership skills needed for their important role in the seamless functioning of the College. Our Term 3 and 4 Class Reps underwent the first ever online Class Rep training. Our Class Reps and Prefects participated inWorld Read Aloud Day, which is celebrated on February 5, to foster the love for reading, books and appreciating literacy. As part of our portfolio, we hosted and organised the annual Inter-GradeWar Cries, with every Grade bringing their best. The Grade 11s were victorious and showed everyone how it should be done. We also collaborated with the Sports Prefects to host a very successful Boere Sports Day during Afrikaans Week. It was great to see everyone contributing to the spirit. Although different, it was still an extraordinary year. We have loved being your Learner Affairs Prefects. We would like to thank Mrs Strauss, our Prefect Liaison, for her guidance, humour and endless support. 2020 has been a year of self-reflection for all of us, and we could not have asked for a better Prefect Body to appreciate the highlights and navigate the challenges. Our story was interrupted along the way, but it is still a great story to tell. Ana Silva Nunes and Georgia Bowles Learner Affairs Prefects “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” - Rabindranath Tagore Service at the College has been outstanding throughout the memo- rable year of 2020. When Cayley and I got appointed as the very first Service Prefects at the College, we knew that we had to start our tenure off with something great. So in the Spring Quarter of 2019, with Breast Cancer Awareness and Prostate Cancer Awareness Months coming up, we decided to start a new tradition and had a Pink Day and a Blue Day where we sold pink and blue ribbons as well as collabo- rated with Interact and Mindful living to host a bake sale in order to raise money for these two worthy organizations. Both of these days were huge successes and we hope that the next Service Prefects will continue our tradition. Since then we have assisted our Ser- vice Clubs and other individual and College Initiatives, such as creat- ing awareness for Mandela Day by encouraging donations to the Siya Kolisi Foundation, Foodforward SA 20/07. The Service Clubs have done tremendous work to improve the lives of the people and learner affairs service houses