2019 Year 12 HSC Showcase
By Terri Moore | Head of Curriculum, Innovation and Design
It was an enormous week for our Year 12 students studying Design and Technology, Extension English, Extension History, Music and Visual Arts. The HSC Showcase on Tuesday evening exhibited a wide range of works that were the culmination of the girls learning. Such an amazing effort from the girls and a wonderful opportunity for teachers, family and friends to celebrate with them. I would like to share with you exerpts from Natasha Huang’s opening speech. Natasha captured the experience and emotions from their journey in producing these projects.
“Welcome everyone to the 2019 Abbotsleigh HSC Showcase! … While all of us have been working on something unique, … we have all been working really hard over the past year on our major works and are so proud and excited to finally show them.
We all know that working on a long-term project while juggling school, extracurricular and personal commitments is incredibly challenging. It really tests our ability to manage our time, persevere and work on something consistently. It might be composing a Classical piece for an orchestra, designing something to solve a world problem or writing about something deeply personal. But it is definitely difficult to maintain that motivation after the seventh draft or when you feel like your fingers are going to fall off from drawing. So when you are looking at the stunning final products around you, don’t forget this amazing achievement and to appreciate the hundreds of hours that has gone into it.
Tonight, we are privileged to be seeing the major works from Design and Technology, Visual Art, History Extension, Music and English Extension 2.
The Design and Technology course has challenged the girls to shape an idea into a designed solution. This year we have accessories and clothing made from recycled materials like makeup, glass and fruit, as well as other projects addressing homelessness. They are on display in the Old Gym.
Students from Visual Arts have been able to explore a topic they identify with through mediums such as painting, sketching and photography. As we walk through the Grace Cossington Smith Gallery, it’s not hard to imagine these artworks being hung up in famous galleries around the world.
History Extension involves an individual investigation project with a focus on historiography. The depth of their perspectives and issues they cover is remarkable, so take the time to read them in the Peter Duly Concert Hall foyer.
In music, girls can either study Music 1 or Music 2, and Extension enables them to focus on either composition or performance. While the school has been lucky enough to hear some of the performances in assembly, we will be hearing some of their performance pieces in the music concert later today.
For English Extension 2, there is no prescribed content with everyone working independently on their own pieces, but it’s been great reading everyone’s drafts and seeing how they’ve taken an idea further and further. We’re able to explore ideas through poetry, fiction, critical analysis, play scripts, movies or multimedia and they are on display in the Old Gym.
And finally, I would like to give a shout-out to all 36 of us undertaking Extension 2 Mathematics. We’ve spent so much time practising questions, doing past papers and learning from each other. Even though we don’t have a major work to officially display, the immense amount of work we do cannot be overlooked.
Year 12. We did it! We’ve been resilient, strong, determined, last minute at times, but we’ve done it! Sure, we might have more exams and things to do, but I’m sure we can agree that it’s been an absolutely rollercoaster of an experience. We’ve developed our skills and been able to pursue something personal and driven by our interests. We’ve learnt how to take feedback and incorporate it. We’ve learnt to be adaptable and accept any challenges or changes that come. And while we may have trouble honouring our own work and only see the flaws, we need to recognise that what we have done is not easy, especially for those doing two or even three major works. And hopefully, we’ve learnt a lot about ourselves in the process. For example, I learnt that spreading out the 5000 words of the first draft I had to write is a far better solution than cramming it in the last week of the holidays (sorry Mr Chalwell). But at the same time, I’ve learnt that if I have the determination, ambition and vision to do something, I know I can do it. We’ve done our very best and no matter the result, we should all be so proud of what we have achieved.
Parents and friends, thank you for supporting us along the way, looking over our work and offering advice. Also, we’re sorry about all the late nights and anything we didn’t mean to say when we were stressed.
But most importantly, thank you so much to all the teachers and the supporting staff. You’ve undoubtedly been invaluable in reading or looking over our work in your own time, coming to see us, giving advice and being there every step of the way. We couldn’t have pulled it off without you.
The creativity and talent shown through the huge range of ideas and form is astounding. I know we are just as excited about showing our finished products, as seeing all the incredible things each one of us have dedicated so much time and commitment to. Thank you so much for coming and we hope you enjoy the night.”
- Natasha Huang
Congratulations girls on your efforts and sharing such an amazing showcase!