17th February 2020
Seven Girton Grammar School VCE students will perform or exhibit at the VCAA 2020 VCE Season of Excellence, across four different categories based on their outstanding VCE results in 2019.
Acting Head of Girton Grammar School, Dr Emma O’Rielly said it was a tribute to the breadth of quality teaching at Girton, as well as individual student effort, that led to multiple students being selected to participate in the Season of Excellence.
“We are delighted that this year, we will have students involved in acting, composing, oral presentation and exhibiting artwork through this prestigious programme.
“Five of the students were in Year 11 when selected for the 2020 programme, and two students graduated from Girton last year.
“We have always prided ourselves on developing in students a love of the Arts as well as graduates who undertake further studies that lead them to a diverse range of professions, and these students are a testament that intention,” Dr O’Rielly said.
Girton students selected to take part in the VCAA 2020 VCE Season of Excellence are:
Top Acts
Ms Georgia McMillan, Year 12 – Drama
Georgia will perform a seven-minute dramatic solo performance that she wrote herself based on Shakespeare’s famous Juliet character. The protagonist is a strong independent young woman who challenges her writer, William Shakespeare, to change her destiny. Juliet’s story is paralleled with that of female aviator, Amelia Erhardt, and uses Elizabethan language and contemporary feminist ideals.
Mr Jack Smith, Year 12 – Theatre Studies
Jack will present his VCE monologue, a unique interpretation of the character King George III from the play by Alan Bennett, ’The Madness of King George’. Set in 1786, Jack’s performance combines period costume with a subtle soundtrack which sets the location, portraying the vulnerability of King George as he struggles to keep a grip on the Crown and authority, his family, his sanity and his sense of self.
Top Class – Sound
Ms Holly Notarangelo, Year 12 – Music Style and Composition
Holly composed a piece of music representing the Aldi stores, inspired by the history of the supermarket chain started by two brothers in Germany. With a focus on a comical experience, the composition imitates supermarket sounds to connect listeners with the storyline. The piece includes musical influences from German Folk music and extended techniques to capture the PA system, children getting lost, and car park sounds.
Top Class – Music
Elijah Alley, Year 12 – Music Investigation
Elijah plays Classical Guitar and will perform Danza Brazilia, a feature piece from his Year 12 Music Investigation recital programme. Elijah’s recital programme explored the relationship between Classical Guitar and its integration into 20th Century South American music composition.
Top Arts
Ms Prue Wilkinson, Year 12 – Art
Prue has been selected to exhibit one of her Year 12 paintings in the TopArts 2020 exhibition at the NGV Ian Potter Museum in Federation Square. Prue’s artwork addresses the theme of confinement. The NGV views hundreds of artworks and selects only around forty to display in TopArts.
Top Talks
Ms Eliza Griffith, Year 12 – Extended Investigations
This research-based subject was introduced to Girton for the first time last year, and student numbers in the subject have doubled this year. The subject requires students to develop a research question, review related literature, design a research methodology, collect data, and write a 4000-word report. Eliza researched how the fictional trajectory of Naomi Alderman’s The Power, correlated to the #MeToo movement and contemporary discourse on gender politics.
Top Class Design
Mr Hugo Begg, Year 12 – Systems Engineering
Hugo Begg has been selected for Top Designs in Systems Engineering with his work being showcased at the Melbourne Museum. His unit ¾ Sat is a fully articulated robotic arm designed to perform any number of tasks in a repetitive manner. The arm is programmed to have a simple menu and control interface which allows it to be used by most people. The arm features micrometre accuracy on all axis and can target set coordinates with high repeatability.
