2024 School Magazine

Competitions

Debating

Did you know that each cell in your body contains about two meters of DNA? If laid end-to-end, it would stretch from earth to the sun 1333 times! But, if you think that’s cool, it gets cooler! In preparation for the two-hour-long Australian Biology Olympiad at the end of July, some eager Year 11 Biology students joined Head of Subject, Ms Tracey Monteith, every Wednesday morning during Terms 2 and 3 to talk everything Biology—from Darwin’s theories of inheritance to biotechnology and DNA profiling. The competition was a brilliant challenge, and we enjoyed testing our newfound mettle. In exciting news, the talented Kathryn Petersen (12O)—who was selected for the Australian Olympiad team in 2023—won a coveted gold medal at the International Biology Olympiad in Kazakhstan. Only 30 students out of 300 are recipients of the gold, and we could not be more proud of, and awed by, their achievement. Ms Tracey Monteith’s invaluable knowledge and enthusiastic teaching has challenged us and extended our classroom learning. We’re extremely grateful for this experience and can’t wait to carry what we’ve learned through senior science and beyond! Emily Kua (11G) The 2024 Debating season has been a fantastic and incredible experience for all involved. We set out this year to generate more excitement for Debating—both by supporting our teams and encouraging others to spectate debates. It’s fair to say that we’ve been successful on both counts! We chose to preface the season by hosting two student-led workshops; one for Year 7 Students, introducing them to Debating, and one for Years 10 to 12 as an introduction to senior format debates. We also held a kick-off breakfast, complete with original 2024 Debating stickers! These events helped to generate enthusiasm and excitement for the Debating season! We also incentivised all students to spectate debates, through the True Blue initiative. It was wonderful to see Year 7 Debaters watching and supporting their seniors, as well as non Debating students coming to view their first debate! With these measures, our 2024 Debaters all enjoyed the season! Partly due to this enthusiasm, we also had some exciting results——most notably our 11.1 team, who won premierships for both the BGDA Senior Division and the QDU Year 11 competition, as well as the 9.3 team who won the BGDA Year 9 trophy. Overall, we are so proud of every student who debated, mooted or spoke persuasively this year! Dorothy Rae (12G) and Sophie List (12E) Debating Captains

Biology

100 | BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2024