Archive for November, 2012

French lesson

Thursday, November 8, 2012

History tour helps students learn about themselves

Jemma Galindo
Bachelor of Arts student
Avondale College of Higher Education
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia

Matthew Robinson (left) and Gavin Bowyer (right) at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France. Credit: Jemma Galindo.

The Avondale students who travelled to France to better understand history have returned with a better understanding of themselves and their classmates.

The Modern History Tour unit sees students studying modern history in first semester and then touring the sites of that history in second semester.

This year’s tour began in Paris, but the students found the Somme Valley, site of the Western Front in World War I, most affective. Marketing major Matthew Robinson reflects on the “chilling reality that hits you when you imagine what it would have been like back in the day.” Bianka Costigan says the experience will help her teach with more integrity. “I feel more authentic.”

Tour leader and dean of the Faculty of Arts and Theology Associate Professor Daniel Reynaud speaks highly of how the students “engaged with both the history and the culture of where we’ve been.” Bringing history to life, particularly history that has been the subject of your study, “makes it all so real and easy to comprehend,” says English major Kyria Mansfield.

The tour also taught the students about travelling. The most highly rated tip: pack lightly. Teaching student Cherie Stocker: “Bring a boyfriend if you want to go shopping and put all the stuff in his bags.” Tip two. Il faut apprendre autant que possible sur la langue et la culture avant que vous alliez. Translation: learn the language. However, it is hard to top James Dawson’s tip: “Get on the plane when it leaves. That generally gets you to the places you want to go.”

Liselle Pullen, program manager at Academy Travel, accompanied the staff members and students on the tour. Their enthusiasm and sense of unity impressed her. “You’ve got a brilliant community going,” she says. “You’re all very supportive.” “I’ve had classes with some students for years but didn’t really speak to them,” says modern history major Amelia Qiosese. “Now I feel they’re lifelong friends.”

Natural selection—not!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

A call to give back to the less fortunate

Megan Townend
Bachelor of Business student
Avondale College of Higher Education

Some say life comes down to the survival of the fittest—who’s the strongest, smartest, fittest, richest.

Some say how and where we live comes down to a game of chance. They say it’s all about natural selection, the struggle for life in which only those who can best adapt to existing conditions are able to survive and reproduce.

What do I say?

I’ve been blessed with a supportive family, an education, easy access to clean water and food and a bankable income.

However, what if I: lost a parent to disease; dropped out of school early; drank water from a well an hour’s walk from home and ate only when I could find food; and relied on the generosity of others for income?

I’m one of the lucky ones.

Why?

I’d like to say life comes down to making the best use of our abilities. I’d like to say how and where we live is, ultimately, up to us.

Is it?

The ways of the world confuse me, but I’m sure of one thing: I’ve been blessed, abundantly, and not necessarily because I deserve it.

I constantly ask myself what I’m doing with my blessings to bring glory to God. The impact of sin on the world tells me other things are more important, but the overseas mission trips I’ve led this year remind me I should offer up my cross daily to serve Him.

And I serve because I have the support of a family, the knowledge that comes from education, the strength from the food in my stomach and the financial means to do so.

Life doesn’t have to come down to the survival of the fittest and it isn’t necessarily all about chance.

I’ve been given a desire and a passion to live differently, to give back to those who haven’t been as fortunate as me.

This is my mission in life.

What’s yours?

Jac Banquet buzz

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Launch of yearbook a celebration of you

It looked like the Oscars. Yes, entry to the Jacaranda Banquet was slow, but no one seemed to mind. Students walked the black carpet—a tie in with the yearbook’s CMYK colour model theme—then posed, celebrity-style complete with paparazzi-like flash photography, in front of a large roped off sponsor’s wall. The message: we are celebrating you. And celebrate they did. “It was buzzing,” says Candice Hardy (pictured, left), who led a team of students from Bruna Tawake’s Event Management class in organising the banquet. “We couldn’t even get the students to sit to have their meals.” Credit: Lagani Gairo.


Worldly

Thursday, November 1, 2012

University slogan suits Christians

Nathan Brown
Master of Arts (Research) student
Avondale College of Higher Education

A new slogan and marketing campaign launched by my other higher education provider earlier this year has caught my attention—and imagination.

Deakin University’s new attempt to encapsulate, position and promote itself in a single, bold word is “Worldly.”

As someone who grew up in a church environment, I don’t think I’d ever heard this word used positively, so the idea of successfully pitching this to the university intrigued me. “Worldly,” it seems, is the word that best sums up what Deakin aspires to be and why prospective students should choose to study there.

The continuing roll out of the marketing materials has added to the picture of “Worldly” as a promise to expand a student’s experiences and understandings of our world in a wholistic way, becoming engaged with, interested in and passionate about—as well as relevant and useful to—the wider world. This, as counterintuitive as it might initially sound, is exactly what Christians, churches and church-based entities are called to do and be.

The Christian’s relationship with the “world” should always be one of tension, best summed up by James in a call to care about the world around us, particularly those in need, at the same time as we “refuse to let the world corrupt us” (James 1:27, NLT). It’s in this second sense that the word “worldly” has been a negative and even threatening or dismissive description in most common Christian usage.

However, we also need to reclaim and redeem “worldly”—in the best sense of the word—as part of our sense of identity and mission. After all, it’s the motivation ascribed to God Himself for His mission to our world: “For God loved the world so much that He gave His only son . . .” (see John 3:16, NLT). That mission includes us—and the rest of the world. And we are called to be “worldly” agents of His kingdom mission.

Correspondence

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Brown talks to Smith and Jones

An update (“Brown talks to Smith and Jones,” Connections Vol 25 No 22): I had a positive meeting with Member for Casey Tony Smith on October 15. He asked for more information on this issue of international tax evasion by multinational corporations and was open to further meetings on these issues.

Nathan Brown
wp.avondale.edu.au/connections
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Market Day Southlake

Thank you for hosting a great market (“Shop, play, relax,” Connections Vol 25 No 24). My daughter and I loved it—she had a ball. All the staff were kind and friendly. Hope you organise another Market Day Southlake soon.

Ivana Zanardi
www.facebook.com/avondaleaustralia
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