2015 School Magazine

O’CONNOR

MEET ME HALFWAY GABRIELLA ELGOOD AND MEERA PRASSAD HOUSE CAPTAINS

With a united house, our house spirit was well and truly on display at the Interhouse Athletics and Swimming carnivals, where we cheered on our fellow O’Connor sisters with some highly motivational war-crys. It wasn’t until Term II however, when we managed to tear up the cross country course, that we would regain our title as Interhouse Cross Country champions; definitely proving that eight legs are always better than two. Our successes didn’t stop there. Open Day was a chance for O’Connor to show off our baking abilities by making our signature, melt-in-the-mouth, ultra-yummy brownies. It was even more amazing to see them all sell out before the conclusion of Open Day, attesting to our creative capabilities and the superb organisation of the Year 11s who presided over our brownie stall for the night. The Year 8s also did a fantastic job on our O’Connor display stall and in welcoming our future O’Connor members so warmly to the School. What’s most fantastic about Open Day however, is that all the proceeds raised from our brownie baking went to our house charity, the East Timor Children’s Foundation. Although the year was flying by, no one could wait for Interhouse Choir, where we put our house unity and enthusiasm on display to belt out a superb rendition of New Soul by Yael Naim that no doubt intimidated the other houses. Looking back on all the wonderful memories O’Connor made this year, we are so proud of how unified our O’Connor family has become and how much we achieved through house spirit, teamwork, enthusiasm and cooperation no matter what the occasion. We were so honoured to have led the way for our O’Connor sisters this year. 2015 was packed with memories and moments we will never forget and will always treasure as house captains.

2015 was O’Connor’s best year yet! Embracing our motto ‘Meet Me Halfway’, we aimed to foster a community of Girls Grammar octopi that embraced cooperation and teamwork and embodied enthusiasm and house spirit to ultimately strengthen our house bond — a bond that was successful in integrating both Years 7 and 8. Integral to achieving this, and standing out among many of this year’s great successes, was our conception of ‘Tentacle Groups’. These groups comprised a mix of girls from various year levels. Through this initiative, we encouraged the girls not only to nurture and strengthen existing relationships, but also to meet new people and form new bonds with their fellow O’Connorians. Fun games such as cake decorating competitions, ‘Guess Who?’ activities and tunnel ball were regular features of our weekly house assembly that pitted tentacle group against tentacle group in friendly competition. Our house party was our first event of the year that saw lots of dancing, singing and laughing, not to mention some of the most creative maroon- embellished and octopus-themed costumes! The afternoon was integral to strengthening our house spirit and interyear bond early in the year, before we had to put our unity on display at the interhouse competitions.

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