SCHOOL NEWS

MAXINE BENEBA CLARKE

During Literature and Year 11 EAL, we studied, discussed and analysed Maxine Beneba Clarke’s eye-opening debut collection of short stories, Foreign Soil. 

In class, we studied a variety of stories, such as ‘Shu Yi’, ‘David’ and ‘Gaps in the Hickory,’ which all explore themes of systemic racism, injustice and generational differences within families and communities. On Friday 27 March, we were privileged enough to have Maxine Beneba Clarke come in and talk to our classes about what Foreign Soil meant to her, her writing process and her own personal experiences. 

I think we speak on behalf of every student who attended this wonderful experience that we were extremely lucky to have met this incredible and inspirational author. 

Maxine told us to not only draw from our personal experiences, but to take inspiration from other lives as well. We will all remember and cherish this experience forever, taking what we learnt and what she taught us into the future of English. 

Isabella Pettifer & Petra McCauley

Year 10 Students

BARCELONA YOUTH INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE PROGRAM 

The BIYSC (Barcelona Youth International Science program) is an eleven-day program, with a myriad of research challenges to choose from, ranging from maths to biology, all undertaken at cutting edge research facilities. 

The program of my choosing was Infectious Diseases in the 21st Century as in the future I would love to pursue a career of this sort. I spent my time at the Hospital Del Mar; a hospital specialised in treating infectious diseases with my supervisor Roberto Güerri, the chair of Internal Medicine and Head of the HIV and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Unit. 

Throughout the project, I sat at lectures teaching me about the history of infectious diseases, and the key symptoms one should look out for. But most importantly, they taught me how to be a doctor; how to approach patients and ask the right questions by simulating patient cases and showing us the practical side of being a physician (performing intubations, using echocardiograms, etc.) 

In these eleven days, I talked to and befriended people I would never have met; people from Burundi, Switzerland and Romania to name a few. It is this connection I have formed with so many people that I am most grateful for as it enhanced the program to its fullest and allowed me to grow not only academically but mature as a person. 

Mateo Capurro Martinez

Year 11 Student