Dear members of the Mount Lilydale Mercy College community

Welcome to the Holy Week, Easter Thursday and the last day of Term 1.

As a College it is central to our belief that we celebrate Easter. This year this was done through Liturgies written, led and conducted by our Year 11 and 12 students in the Youth Ministry classes. Pictures from the Liturgies can be seen below. The services were based on the Stations of Cross , however the group had rewritten them, so each was seen from Mary’s perspective:

• Mary the Mother of God
• Mary who was present and supported Jesus throughout his ministry
• Mary who watched her son arrested
• Mary who saw her son scorned, ridiculed and tortured
• Mary who watched her son carry a cross
• Mary who saw her son crucified.

The Liturgy gave each of us a very personal perspective and helped us come to understand the humanity of Jesus. Whilst we understand Jesus to be both fully human and fully Divine, we need to remember and understand the pain that he would have felt and the pain suffered by those that loved him.

It is also appropriate that this, the last newsletter for term, comes to you on Holy Thursday also known as Maundy Thursday, which means "Washing of the feet Thursday". An act that will be symbolically repeated by our Pope and in Churches all over the world this very evening. This act, the night before Jesus was taken, gives us a clear understanding of what Jesus was asking of us. The act of washing someone else’s feet is not a pleasant one and it is a clear act of service to that person. It is a very personal thing to touch someone else’s feet and it is an act of a servant.

As we, this Holy Thursday, approach our Easter and the celebration of the resurrection, let us remember what the resurrection is asking of each and every one of us - to be of service to each other.

At this time we also remember those families that suffer loss with the passing of loved ones.

Let us pray for Tomas Majdancic (Year 7) whose grandfather passed away recently and for Ken Town, grandfather to Isabella (Year 12) and Joshua de Wit (Year 9). Let us pray for the repose of these souls and may they rest in peace.

I wish you each and every member of our community a Happy and Holy Easter.

God Bless
Philip A Morison
Principal

Easter Prayer — God of New Life

God of New Life, We give you thanks that through the life, death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, you have shown us how to live, to work and to love.

Lord, grant us your peace, enabling us to walk humbly each day with you.

God of New life, You entered into our everyday: our lounge rooms, our classrooms and our boardrooms. Often we have been deaf to your voice, blind to your activity and slow to follow in your ways.

Lord, grant us your mind, to discern what is good and life giving.

God of New life, You stood against injustice and oppression despite the ultimate cost. We pray for the work of agencies around the world, confronting injustice and bringing the Good News to the poor.

Lord, grant us your strength to stand for hope and justice for all.

God of New life, You have rescued us from the final word of death, enabling a new story for your people and the earth.

Lord, grant us your courage to live each new day in your grace and the freedom of your new creation. Amen

Adapted from a prayer by Greg Hewson – Tear Australia

Please be advised that College Office will be open during the first week of the holidays, Tuesday 3 to Friday 6 April, from 8.00am to 4.00pm. The College will be closed during the second week of the holidays, reopening in Term 2 on Monday 16 April.

Pope Francis said that “every person ought to have the awareness that purchasing is always a moral and not simply an economic act”.

World Vision in its 2015 report, Chocolate’s Bitter Taste, estimates that Australians spend up to $3 billion on chocolate a year, with sales peaking at Easter. Much of the chocolate we consume in Australia is made with cocoa beans picked by enslaved children, particularly in West Africa. You can make a difference to the world, and to the lives of these children, by buying only slavery-free chocolate.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Please buy and eat only slavery-free Easter eggs and chocolate this Easter. Look for one of these three symbols on the chocolate wrapper and make a difference. You can find further information about this campaign here: ACRATH - Slavery Free Easter Chocolate

Our Year 10 Seminar Science students have had an action packed term, exploring a range of applied areas of Science including:

Making Cars
The Year 10 Solar Racing Seminar students have learned about solar energy as a vehicle power source and constructing and modifying model STELR solar racer cars. These Year 10s were also challenged to design a small electric vehicle out of recycled goods. Many finding various ways to improve and make their little racers zoom more quickly.

Making Wine
Our Year 10 Agriculture, Horticulture and Viticulture class has had a busy fortnight with harvesting and crushing the grapes from the MLMC vineyard and learning about the fermentation process in winemaking. These students also attended an excursion to Yering Station Winery where they toured the facilities with the chief winemaker Willie Lunn. Students learned about the operation of a large scale wine making facility and the processes that are involved.

Making our Waterways Healthy
We began testing the water at Olinda Creek again this year with our Year 10 Environmental Seminar Science group. The students are learning about the waterway and testing the chemical composition and the health of the creek ecosystem, by looking at the chemical composition and bug life present in it. This activity is part of Melbourne Water’s River Detectives Program which we joined last year and have been selected to participate in again in 2018. The results gathered by our students are entered into a statewide database and contribute to the overall knowledge and understanding of the health of the waterways around Melbourne.

The College recently installed a Solar PV system, comprising 298 panels and generating up to 80 kWh of clean renewable energy. For the first three weeks of March, these panels generated 7,245 kWh of clean renewable solar energy. That is enough power to run your laptop for approx. 362,249 hours!!

You can get a bird's-eye view of our new solar panels hard at work here VIDEO - NEW SOLAR PANELS

Eloise Trice - Environment Prefect 2018
Clean, renewable energy contributes about 16% of Victoria’s electricity production, with solar energy being a big contributor. Around two million Australian homes already have a Solar PV system installed, with the numbers increasing every year. Solar power is clean energy which aids in combating greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions are a concern not only for the College but also for the wider community, in regards to living sustainably. Maintaining a sustainable and environmentally-friendly stance at MLMC is a priority and in my view should be a daily discussion topic. I believe clean energy and solar power should be a major consideration in our local community, and it starts with learning more about it! You can learn more via the link below.

https://environmentvictoria.org.au/our-campaigns/safe-climate/renewable-energy/

PLOT TO PLATE — SCIENCE

This term the Unit 3 Agriculture and Horticulture students have been busy working on their business plans. Each student is required to establish a business for a small scale plant or animal production system. Meanwhile, down on the farm, a great range of produce has been harvested and made available to staff throughout the first couple of months of term including pumpkins, watermelons, cherry tomatoes, which you can see in the images below. Each day on McAuley Park Farm our students are learning the value of the moto - grow local and eat local!

St Patrick's Day Fundraiser
The St Patrick’s Day fundraiser was a huge success raising a total of $2103.80 from the Out of Uniform Day and bake sale. A big thank you to all the students, staff and parents who baked and donated sweet treats to be sold at the bake sale. A special thanks to all the students who helped serve on the day. And finally thank you to all the students and staff who bought cakes and dressed in green in support of the fundraiser.

Maddy George from Year 10 Jade:
Saint Patrick's Day in the CSYMA lounge was a massive success. We had hundreds of students visit the lounge to enjoy the music and games and purchase the many different biscuits and cakes that were on sale. The two Year 10 CSYMA groups worked really hard to make this day successful by making something to sell, dressing up in green for the occasion and most importantly spreading the word to others about why we were doing it, which is to raise as much money as we possibly can for Caritas. Overall the Saint Patrick's Day bake sale was lots of fun working alongside peers and feeling the sense of achievement when working behind the counter promoting Caritas.

CSYMA Lounge Update
This term the CSYMA lounge has been very busy, seeing over 100 members sign up. In particular, a large number of Year 7s who have put their hands up to get involved. Over this Lenten season students have undertaken many activities in the lounge including Stations of the Cross, where we learnt about each station and then had a bingo game to consolidate this new knowledge. Students helped decorate themselves and the lounge for St Patrick’s day making festive hats, shamrocks and leprechauns. We also celebrated International Women’s Day where everyone had the opportunity to write a card for a woman that inspires them, as well as many other exciting activities. It has been a chance for many students to get involved with the school and make friends from all year levels. I am excited to see what next term holds after such a great start.

Year 7 Special Persons' Day
On the morning of Tuesday 6 March the Year 7 students invited their 'special person' to join us at the College. The day provides students with an opportunity to show their 'special person' where they will be spending their secondary school years. It is also provides a way of saying 'thank you' to these 'special people' for helping them in life.

Torey Burns - Year 7 Purple
On Tuesday I chose to bring my mum as my special person for Special Person’s Day. We started with an assembly and she got to learn a little bit more about the school - she heard our school song and I got to show her around. I took her to the science buildings, the food buildings and to first aid. My mum loved seeing my homeroom in the Mansfield Building too! We also saw Mrs Ryan and we met up with my sister Kyah from Year 10 at McAuley Hall where there was morning tea. Overall, Special Persons Day was great because I got to show my mum - who is my favourite special person - all around my brand new school and she loved it. I hope everyone who was at Special Persons' Day loved it and had a good time.

Georgia West 7 White and Alice Vardy - Year 7 BronzeSpecial Person's Day was a great opportunity to show our grandparents and my Mum our wonderful school. It was fun seeing them at our new school and it was a good to take them on a tour in person around the Chapel, the Mansfield Building and the CSYMA Lounge. We also got to meet our friends' special people which was very cool. Braedan Somers Year 7 Bronze and Josh Wolski Year 7 WhiteSpecial Persons' Day was awesome as we got to take our Dads on a magnificent tour of our cool College. We ate some delicious morning tea after the assembly with Mrs Prusac, who thanked our 'special people' for being such important people in our lives. We would both recommend to next year's Year 7 students taking part and bringing someone special along because it was a great morning.

Year 7 Family Picnic

On Friday 16 March from 6pm we welcomed our Year 7 student's families to the College for our annual Family Picnic. This annual event is a relaxed and fun opportunity for the students (from across all the homerooms) and their families to come together to get to know one another. The Year 7 homeroom teachers, Year 10 Peer Support team and some of the prefects were on hand for the evening to host a range of games.

Summer Edyvane, Year 7 Gold

I went on Friday 16 March to the Year 7 Family Picnic with my mum, dad, sister and brother where we had pizza and sushi for dinner. We had a very fun time because we played heaps of games and our team won the most lollies (because we were the the best team there)! The Year 10 Peer Support Leaders and the teachers were great at running the games at the picnic. The evening was a great way to meet new friends and socialise with our families and I wish that I could have this experience again soon!

Scarlett Keen, Year 7 Gold
On Friday the 16 March my mum and I went to the MLMC Family Picnic where we had ice cream, grilled cheese sandwiches and carrot cake. There were so many fun activities to do that you never got bored - there was Tunnel Ball, Jenga, Rob the Nest and plenty more. It was such a great night of fun, joy and teamwork!

Upset win at the teachers versus Year 12 students Ultimate Frisbee Competition

On Monday 26 March the annual teachers versus Year 12 students Ultimate Frisbee Competition took place at lunchtime in the Doyle Centre. A big crowd, comprising students from all year levels, was there to cheer them on. Coordinated by the Sports Prefect this much anticipated annual event has been running for approximately ten years. To date, the majority of these games has been won by the teachers.

Despite the fact that neither team did any training and there were no team captains on the day the competition was tough. The students secured a resounding win, with the final scoreboard showing: Students 6 to Teachers 4. Congratulations to the best players (who were both from the student's team) Issac Biasuzzo and Ava Brown.

(1) EISM Champions' Swimming Carnival
Congratulations to all the MLMC swimmers who qualified for the Champions' Carnival held at MSAC on Monday night. It is an extremely high level of competition and an excellent achievement to qualify. Our squad members include:

• Tom Elvin
• Jessica Finnette
• Maxine Flamsteed
• May Flamsteed
• Byron Foster
• Jay Harris
• Patrick Huynh
• Dominika Kaczmarek
• Matilda Kelly
• Blake Leenan
• Alice McCormick
• Mitch Mutsaers
• Chelsea Nunn
• Matthew Perry
• Jack Peters
• Luke Phillips
• Samahdi Reed
• Aaliyah Roberts
• Charlie Schneider
• Keisha Sunderland
• Riley Swankie
• Keilani Trewavis

Special thanks to Mr Fox, Mr Thompson, Mr Papadimitriou, Serena Gibbs and Grace Clinton (photographer) for their help on the day. It is greatly appreciated.

• 2nd 100m Freestyle Open- Keilani Trewavis
• 3rd 4x50m Medley relay- Mitch Mutsaers, Riley Swankie, Charlie Schneider, Matthew Perry
• 1st 50m Freestyle Open- Keilani Trewavis
• 3rd 50m Breastroke U16- Matthew Perry
• 1st 50m Breastroke Open- Keilani Trewavis
• 3rd 50m Breastroke Open- Jay Harris
• 1st 50m Butterfly Open- Keilani Trewavis
• 1st 4 x 50m Freestyle relay – Mitch Mutsaers, Riley Swankie, Charlie Schneider, Matthew Perry

(2) EISM Division 2 Swimming Carnival

• 1st 100m Freestyle Open– Keilani Trewavis
• 3rd 4 x 50m Medley relay – U13 Boys
• 3rd 4 x 50m Medley relay – U15 Girls
• 3rd 4 x 50m Medley relay – U16 Boys
• 3rd 50m Freestyle U15 – Domi Kaczmarek
• 2nd 50m Freestyle U15 – Luke Phillips
• 3rd 50m Freestyle U16 – Matilda Kelly
• 1st 50m Freestyle Open– Keilani Trewavis
• 3rd 50m Backstroke U13 – Maxine Flamsteed
• 3rd 50m Backstroke U14 – Byron Foster
• 1st 50m Backstroke U15 – May Flamsteed
• 1st 50m Backstroke U15 – Luke Phillips
• 3rd 50m Breaststroke U14 – Jessica Finette
• 3rd 50m Breaststroke U15 – May Flamsteed
• 2nd 50m Breaststroke U16 – Matthew Perry
• 1st 50m Breaststroke Open – Keilani Trewavis
• 2nd 50m Breaststroke Open – Jay Harris
• 3rd 50m Butterfly U16 – Domi Kaczmarek
• 3rd 50m Butterfly U16 – Matthew Perry
• 1st 50m Butterfly Open – Keilani Trewavis
• 3rd 4 x 50m Freestyle relay – U13 Girls
• 3rd 4 x 50m Freestyle relay – U14 Boys
• 3rd 4 x 50m Freestyle relay – U15 Girls
• 1st 4 x 50m Freestyle relay – U16 Boys
• 3rd 5 x 50m Freestyle relay – Multi-age Girls

(3) EISM Ultimate Frisbee Premiership
The Senior Girls win the EISM Ultimate Frisbee Premiership against Aquinas, held on Wednesday 21 March at Aquinas College.

Emily Franken - Year 12 Orange
The MLMC girls defeated their season long rival Aquinas College with a score of 9 to 8. It was a hectic day, first we had a preliminary final against Donvale in order to qualify for the big game. It was a solid team effort by us defeating Donvale 12 to 4. Straight after our preliminary was won we headed straight into playing Aquinas! Like I said, hectic day! The way we looked at it, the first preliminary was just a warm up! Both games were played with massive amounts of teamwork and love. Throughout the season we all became one team, not just three years levels. We never, ever, ever, ever, ever gave up and played with lots of PASSION. Friendships were made and we became a 'fris' family. It has has been an absolute killer of a season with a very talented group of girls and it’s fair to say that we will miss it all very much. Massive 'shoutout' to Beardy for always being the greatest coach and making it all such a great time.

(4) Football
Congratulations to Charlie Wells, Jarrod Thompson and Harry Keeling (Year 11) for all being selected into the Eastern Ranges under 16’s Patton Squad. Great effort!!

(5) Tennis
Tomas Majdancic - Year 7 Purple
On 24 and 25 February I competed in the Pat Cash Cup which was held at the Bendigo Tennis Centre. I was selected to represent the under 12s age group for the Eastern Region Tennis division which I currently compete in. Each Victorian Tennis Association had a team which represented their region from under 12s all the way to the under 18s age group. In total, the event showcased 11 regions across Victoria which saw 176 players compete. Personally, the competition was an awesome and enjoyable experience, with a lot of competitive tennis being on display throughout the day. Overall, we ended up finishing third, with a lot of positives for future years.

(6) Athletics Training

• Starting next week (19 March)
• When: Monday afternoons (3.30-4.30pm), Wednesday mornings (7.00-8.00am) and Thursday afternoons (3.30-4.30pm)
• Where: Quarry Road ovals
• Why: To improve your athletics skills in a range of track and field events and fitness levels - ALL abilities welcome. Commendations up for grabs!
• Cost: FREE
• See Miss Webb or Mr Leaumont for more details

(7) Athletics Carnival
The House Athletics' Carnvial will be held on Friday 20 April at the Quarry Road ovals. It is a great chance to qualify for EISM and to get points for the House Cup. The more events you're in the more points you win. You can find all the details on the flyer attached.

(8) Results

Year 8 Results - 20 March

Senior Grand Finals Results 21 March

*Girls Indoor Cricket Final 18 April

Year 8 Results 20 March

Year 9 Grand Finals - 29 March

• Girls Touch Football @ Luthe
• Boys Ultimate Frisbee @ MLMC
• Boys Tennis A @ Tintern

Senior Grand Finals - 18 April

• Senior Girls Indoor Cricket

Year 9 Grand Finals - 19 April

• Girls Basketball A @ MLMC
• Girls Basketball B @ MLMC
• Boys Basketball B @ Aquinas

Please be advised that the Term 2 Quarterly Tuition Fees are due and payable by 16 April 2018. Please refer to your annual statement, downloaded in January on the Parent Portal for your quarterly payment amount. If you require any assistance, please don’t hesitate to make contact with the Finance Office on 9237 1315 or 9739 2209.

OzCLO 2018 COMPETITION
The Australian Computational and Linguistics Olympiad (OzCLO) is a contest for high school students. It challenges them to develop their own strategies for solving problems in real languages. The program is designed for high school students from Years 9 to 12. Please find below a brief report from our LOTE Prefect on MLMC's participation this year's competition.

Talia Colombani - LOTE Prefect 2018

On Wednesday 7 of March the OzClo competition was held involving five teams of four students from across Years 9 to 12 .The OzClo competition is a language competition but you don’t need to speak a second language to do it. We had three training sessions before the competition. The competition involves using problem solving skills on language based questions. The languages were either uncommonly spoken or ancient languages. We were given clues and had to figure out the answer to the problem. For example the problem they may give you is ‘I like movies’ and ‘you watch sport’ in a foreign language. Then as a team, you have to figure out how to say ‘You like sport’ from this information.

On the day, we were given two hours in our groups to finish seven different language problems which had multiple questions inside them. It was super challenging and we had to work hard and efficiently to get it done. It was a fun experience to be apart of. It helped to build our skills in teamwork and problem solving. It was an interesting experience to learn about different languages, how they are put together, how complex some languages are and how different some languages are to our own.

A big thanks goes to Mr Modini, Miss Mckenzie and Mrs Gail Preston for running the training sessions and allowing us to be apart of this amazing competition.

Year 10 Geography students fieldwork trip to PortseaIn mid March six Year 10 Geography classes went to Portsea on a fieldwork trip. The excursion was a part of their Environmental Change and Management area of study. Please find below a piece from one of our students about their experience. Tatiana Lintzeris - Year 10 BlueOur Year 10 Geography class recently visited the coastal town Portsea to conduct fieldwork. The aim of the day was to identify the coastal degradation caused by the dredging of Port Phillip Bay a few years go. It was evident that these actions have had a huge impact on the beaches and town as a whole. Our guides from BayPlay told us all about the changes to the area’s beach and marine life and the community's overall wellbeing.

Enrolments for Term 2 Instrumental Music Lessons are NOW OPEN

If you are interested in joining this exciting program please download an enrolment form from the MLMC Parent Portal website or alternatively, email the Instrumental Music Secretary Sharon Flint on sflint@mlmc.vic.edu.au. Enrolment forms need to be handed into the Music Department as soon as possible. To guarantee a lesson time for your son or daughter pleaes be quick!