2022 School Magazine

ASTRONOMY CLUB

I nterested in stars, planets, or anything related to space? Astronomy Club might be just for you! This club is coordinated by Mrs Smith, who you might have seen around the Maths Faculty. Astronomy Club is open to all Year levels, and we meet on Alpha Thursdays from 3.30 pm to 4.30 pm in K602. We take part in interesting discussions and fun experiments related to Astronomy and Space Science. You also have the opportunity to take a pair of the School binoculars home for some star-spotting. This year, there was an introduction to a special Astronomy Club award for students who complete a variety of activities throughout the year, as well as an Advanced Award for past club members. I first found out about Astronomy Club through the Daily Notices on Minerva and was instantly drawn to this club due to my curiosity in celestial objects. Since then, I have been able to enjoy a wide variety of engaging activities every fortnight, including creating our own telescopes and planning a trip to Mars. Our club will welcome any new members with open arms, feel free to come along! Ajin Kyoung (9H)

BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2022 | 089

ATHENE A thene is an invitation-only society dedicated to political and philosophical discussion comprising Year 11s and 12s from both BGGS and Brisbane Grammar School. New members are nominated by Year 10 teachers, democratically selected, then invited by our coordinator, Miss Parry, to commit to two years of Athene—watching and contributing to discussions in Year 11 and presenting papers for discussion in Year 12. The papers presented explore all manner of philosophical and political issues from controversial current topics to evaluating proposed solutions for societal issues and interesting hypotheticals. Though COVID-19 meant we were unable to meet as a group for the first half of the year, we have still managed to discuss a broad range of interesting topics. One example, Johanna Conomos’ (12W), paper discussing the advantages and disadvantages of human genome editing, led the group to discuss the implications of such technology on our society in the future and led to constructive discourse about how it could disproportionately affect different groups in Australia and countries around the world. Another paper discussed by the group this year focused on an intriguing hypothetical: what would happen if the basic necessities of every human being were fulfilled for 10 years? The discussion which followed explored the ramifications of such a proposal on areas such as the global supply chain, wealth distribution and our sense of purpose as human beings. Ultimately, Athene this year was a success as everyone avidly contributed to group conversations which allowed for interesting and lively discussions that showcased a wide range of diverse perspectives on some of our society’s most complex issues. Scarlett McLellan (12H)