| Mt Maria Opti-MINDS Team Place Top 3 Nationally | | http://www.mtmaria.qld.edu.au/news-and-events/Pages/optiminds2018.aspx | Mt Maria Opti-MINDS Team Place Top 3 Nationally | <p style="text-align:center;"><img src="/news-and-events/PublishingImages/Pages/optiminds2018/cropped%20pic.jpg" alt="cropped pic.jpg" class="ms-rteImage-2" style="margin:5px;width:100%;height:291px;max-width:500px;" /><br></p><p>Congratulations to our team of Mt Maria students who competed in the Open Division of the Science and Engineering Opti-MINDS Challenge State and Australian Finals at the University of Queensland this past weekend, Sunday October 14th. The team performed incredibly well, placing within the Top 3 nationally, no small feat in a Challenge of this size. Opti-MINDS is a creative sustainability challenge which asks students to think creatively and communicate possible solutions for set problems. <br></p><p>Mt Maria Cultural Program Leader, Kath Bryant said that it was an honour to see the team present a design of such an outstanding level. “The team worked extremely hard to produce their design, their solution is of an extremely high calibre,” Mrs Bryant said. “The preliminary judges commented that a professional design team could not produce the same results that our team did.”<br></p><p>Open Division team member and Mt Maria student, James Orman said that the team spent many afternoons and weekends developing their solution. “We created a 3D model and then manufactured the components on the laser cutter," Mr Orman said. <span style="background-color:transparent;">“</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">We also came up with a fictional backstory explaining the problem and our solution, as well as how we developed it."</span><br></p><p>Mt Maria wishes to thank Alinta Energy for their generous sponsorship of the Science and Engineering Opti-MINDS team.<br></p><p><br></p><p style="text-align:justify;"><br></p><p style="text-align:center;"><br></p><p><br></p> | | | | |
| Mt Maria Confirms Spot in CBSQ 2019 | | http://www.mtmaria.qld.edu.au/news-and-events/Pages/cbsq2018.aspx | Mt Maria Confirms Spot in CBSQ 2019 | <p style="text-align:center;"><img src="/news-and-events/PublishingImages/Pages/cbsq2018/64D7584C-9606-4C01-9E28-8619CB1ABD63.jpeg" alt="64D7584C-9606-4C01-9E28-8619CB1ABD63.jpeg" style="margin:5px;width:100%;height:300px;max-width:450px;" /><br></p><p style="text-align:center;">Congratulations to the Mt Maria team who recently competed at the Champions Basketball Schools Queensland Competition at Mt Warren. The team performed exceptionally well, securing a highly sought after place in the competition for 2019. The boys won six out of their eight games and placed seventeenth overall, an amazing effort for the team. Team coach Mr Ben Seymour says that he is super proud of the boys and is excited to see what the future holds for basketball at Mt Maria.</p><p style="text-align:center;">Congratulations to all the students who competed!<br></p><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="/news-and-events/PublishingImages/Pages/cbsq2018/A6EE2EE8-BE9D-4E40-8F76-7574E6A19D4F.jpeg" alt="A6EE2EE8-BE9D-4E40-8F76-7574E6A19D4F.jpeg" style="margin:5px;width:100%;height:200px;max-width:300px;" /> <img src="/news-and-events/PublishingImages/Pages/cbsq2018/0BFABFA1-FE08-4A13-B22B-3D8DC0566BC7.jpeg" alt="0BFABFA1-FE08-4A13-B22B-3D8DC0566BC7.jpeg" style="margin:5px;width:100%;height:200px;max-width:300px;" /><br><br></p><p><br></p> | | | | |
| Past Student Mackenzie Bond 'Winging to farmers' | | http://www.mtmaria.qld.edu.au/news-and-events/Pages/paststudentmackenziebond.aspx | Past Student Mackenzie Bond 'Winging to farmers' | <p>Past Mt Maria student Mackenzie Bond was featured in The Catholic Leader recently, discussing the innovative business proposal she pitched to a panel of industry experts at Charles Sturt University's AgriTech Incubator conference in Wagga Wagga, called<em> Outback Wings. </em>Ms. Bond was social justice captain at Mt Maria in 2017, has been passionate about starting<em> Outback Wings</em> since her College days. Mt Maria is very proud of Mackenzie's achievements, and wishes her the best of luck in all her endeavors. <br></p><p>Read The Catholic Leader's article on <em>Outback Wings</em>, written by Nicholas Holt, below:<br></p><p><img src="/news-and-events/PublishingImages/Pages/paststudentmackenziebond/Catholic%20Leader%20Magazine%20Article%20(002).jpg" alt="Catholic Leader Magazine Article (002).jpg" style="margin:5px;width:100%;max-width:859px;height:928px;" /><br></p>MACKENZIE Bond is not the average 18-year-old university student. The Mt Maria College alumna has pitched an innovative business proposal, called Outback Wings, to a panel of industry experts at Charles Sturt University’s AgriTech Incubator conference in Wagga Wagga.<br>The conference aims to spark innovation and economic development for small and medium sized enterprises, while fostering greater participation<br>of women in entrepreneurial endeavours. <div><br></div><div>Ms Bond, who is studying Animal Science at CSU, is developing an enterprise that will provide aeronautical veterinary services to outback farmers across Australia. The initiative was inspired by the Royal Flying Doctors Service that was founded by Reverend John Flynn in the late 1920s. Ms Bond, who comes from rich farming pedigree, has an acute understanding of the diffi culties facing the industry.<br>“I read an article a few years ago about the 1970s BTEC campaign (Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign),” she said.<br>“There were a heap of vet students and vets who were posted in remote areas of Australia to treat all these animals.</div><div>“They had small aircrafts. There was a vet named Dr Peter Tree – he was dubbed the ‘flying vet of Australia’– and it was deemed incredibly successful.<br>“Once the campaign was successful, however, all these vets that were posted in all these towns and areas either retired, or packed up and went<br>back home.<br>“So we were left with these areas that had suddenly received vet care services, and then returned back to nothing.<br>“And it’s remained that way until today.<br>“Now we’ve reached the point where we’re not set in our habits; we have big livestock enterprises setting up shop, but they don’t have access to sufficient agricultural vet services.”<br></div><div><br></div><div>New biosecurity laws in the agricultural industry will place increased pressure on the accountability of Australia livestock.<br>“All farms have to record everything that happens on their land so they can trace back the life of an animal,” Ms Bond said.<br>“If you sit down to dinner to have a steak, the whole idea of having bio-security laws is so that you can trace back the life of that steak.<br>“It’s better for disease control, and opens the doors for exportation.”<br>Australia has 60,000km of coastline, and 48 per cent of the country’s total land is zoned for farming and agriculture.<br>“With these bio-security laws we’re having to up the ante with our animal medicine practices and we don’t have the means to do this because Australia is so big.<br>“You can drive for twenty hours in Queensland and still be in Queensland.”</div><div><br>If the scheme is successful, Outback Wings will provide same-day services, transporting advanced medical equipment to the livestock.<br>“I’ve got about twenty-four hospitals that I’ve made a location for and I’ve done my flight paths from that, so we’ll be able to cover every inch of agricultural land and tend to those thirty million livestock animals that need care,” Ms Bond said.</div><div><br><div>Ms Bond, who was social justice captain at <span style="background-color:transparent;">Mt Maria College, is no stranger to the farming </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">c</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">ommunity, and said her values were firmly </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">r</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">ooted in the soil of her predecessor</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">.</span></div><div>“Coming from a fi fth-generation farming family, <span style="background-color:transparent;">my motto is – never look down on someone </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">u</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">nless you’re giving them a hand up,” she said.</span></div><div>“That’s how I’ve been raised and that’s what’s <span style="background-color:transparent;">shaped what I’m doing with my business.</span></div><div>“In a world where a lot of people are so easily <span style="background-color:transparent;">offended, we’re all just trying to fly under the </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">r</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">adar.</span></div><div>“People are too scared of being politically <span style="background-color:transparent;">i</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">ncorrect – we are now a society where people </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">a</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">re afraid to stand up for our values.</span></div><div>“There’s a real victimhood mentality, and <span style="background-color:transparent;">farmers are the complete opposite.</span></div><div>“They don’t want to look like they need help, <span style="background-color:transparent;">a</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">nd I think from whe</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">re I’m coming from – especially </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">a</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">t a time where we’ve been hit by a really </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">b</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">ad drought and we’re still trying to get out of it – </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">I’m thinking, ‘what do these people really need?’</span></div><div>“People often say that farmers are proud and <span style="background-color:transparent;">d</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">on’t want help, but they just need someone who </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">u</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">nderstands them – not people who are there for </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">a</span><span style="background-color:transparent;"> crusade.”</span></div><div><br></div><div>Ms Bond said Australian farmers were the <span style="background-color:transparent;">most self-sufficient in the world.</span></div><div>“They’re very self-reliant and self-suffi cient, <span style="background-color:transparent;">so when the chips are down they need to have</span></div><div>faith to fall back on,” she said.<br></div><div>“People say ‘Australian farmers are the backbone <span style="background-color:transparent;">of our country’, but in times like these you </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">re</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">alise that there is no backbone to the backbone.</span></div><div>“A lot of the onus falls on farmers and their <span style="background-color:transparent;">f</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">amilies, and I think a lot of people are out of </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">touch with what it is really like.”</span></div><div><span style="background-color:transparent;"><br></span></div><div>Ms Bond offered some advice on how Australians <span style="background-color:transparent;">c</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">ould help support this vital industry.</span></div><div>“Every time you walk into a supermarket, read <span style="background-color:transparent;">the label on the product you pick up off the shelf </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">a</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">nd make sure it’s Australian-owned and made,” </span><span style="background-color:transparent;">s</span><span style="background-color:transparent;">he said.</span></div><div>“Simple as that.”<br></div><p><br></p><p><br><br></p><p><br><br><br></p></div> | | | | |
| Students ignite their imaginations at Writer's Festival | | http://www.mtmaria.qld.edu.au/news-and-events/Pages/writersfestival.aspx | Students ignite their imaginations at Writer's Festival | <p style="text-align:center;"><span class="ms-rteFontSize-1"></span><img class="ms-rteFontSize-1 ms-rteImage-2" alt="Book Week 2018 Group with Veronica Roth at Author Book Signing.jpg" src="/news-and-events/PublishingImages/Pages/writersfestival/Book%20Week%202018%20Group%20with%20Veronica%20Roth%20at%20Author%20Book%20Signing.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:100%;height:375px;max-width:500px;" /><br class="ms-rteFontSize-1"><strong class="ms-rteFontSize-1"><em>Students at the Brisbane Writer's Festival meeting author Veronica Roth</em></strong><br></p><p style="text-align:left;">Mt Maria students had "the experience of a lifetime" when they visited the Brisbane Writer's Festival to ignite their imaginations and immerse themselves in the world of libraries, books, authors, reading and writing. The Brisbane Writer’s Festival is an initiative of the State Library of Queensland which celebrates authors and writing. Part of the Writer's Festival,<em> 'Word Play' </em>is an education program for young readers, storytellers, and illustrators across Prep-Year 12. </p><p style="text-align:left;">The students had a tour of the State Library of Queensland , followed by an author talk with Veronica Roth (author of the acclaimed <em>Divergent </em>series) and the day concluded with a comic design workshop with comic writer Alisha Jade. Meeting Veronica Roth was "an experience of a lifetime" some of the students proclaimed. Student Kate Linwood was particularly taken with the beauty of the State Library, "We explored different rooms dedicated to different genres of books, magazines, newspapers, art and historical objects. Did you know the State Library houses 3.5 million resources?!" Kate said.</p><p style="text-align:left;">The students are already looking forward to Brisbane Writer's Festival in 2019!<br></p><p style="text-align:left;"><br> </p><p style="text-align:center;"><img class="ms-rteImage-2" alt="BWF On Tour Photo 2.jpg" src="/news-and-events/PublishingImages/Pages/writersfestival/BWF%20On%20Tour%20Photo%202.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:100%;height:300px;max-width:400px;" /> <img class="ms-rteImage-2" alt="BWF On Tour Photo.jpg" src="/news-and-events/PublishingImages/Pages/writersfestival/BWF%20On%20Tour%20Photo.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:100%;height:300px;max-width:400px;" /></p><p style="text-align:left;"><br></p><p style="text-align:center;"><br> </p> | | | | |
