Student ambassadors at the Religious Studies 'In Focus' Conference
From Head of Religious Studies, Martina Cooper
The Studies of Religion In-focus Conference is an interfaith initiative to provide teachers with resources for their teaching of Studies of Religion in both the Preliminary and HSC Course. This year the topic was ‘Living Religious Traditions in the 21st Century’.
The conference took place in Sydney on Friday 4 March and I was asked to present a workshop on “How to help your students stand out in their HSC responses”. I invited two outstanding members of the class of 2015 to assist me in my presentation, Caitlin Madeira who was the College Captain of St Clare’s College in 2015 and Adam Hegedus dux of Waverley College 2015 and First in State in Studies of Religion II. Both of these students were awarded the Premier’s Award for All-round Excellence in their HSC.
Caitlin and Adam were excellent ambassadors for both schools and captivated the audience with their enthusiasm, advice and ability to articulate how to grapple with the demands of the HSC. I engaged them in a Q & A session and what interested and surprised most teachers present was their answer to the question: “ Is the HSC more about collaboration or competition?” Both advised that in collaboration and the sharing of resources they gained great insights across all their subjects.
The Studies of Religion II cohort from Waverley College and St Clare’s College engaged in a combined seminar and afternoon tea at Waverley College as part of their preparation for the HSC in 2015. Together with Mr Dominic Hearne and Ms Catherine Stewart we shared our wisdom, experience and knowledge of the course with the group and I believe that it helped to give them more strategies to make their responses stand out.
Caitlin and Adam are pursuing their tertiary studies at UNSW and take a great appreciation of their respective schools to their life beyond the HSC.
