Throughout 2021, students have been involved in clubs and activities in our Learning Centres.
The STEM Video Game Challenge is a yearly competition organized by ACER, where primary and secondary students design and make a game using game engines such as SCRATCH, GODOT, and Unity. This is the second time Parade has entered the competition, with a team in 2019 reaching the semi-finals of judging.
In 2021, four teams undertook the challenge, with two solo teams submitting games. Harry James (Year 8 L12), had these thoughts to offer,
“In the challenge, you are tasked to create a game that revolves around a theme, this year it was, ‘Scale’. The STEM Challenge is similar to ‘Game Jams’ in that you have to create a game on a topic in a selected time, except you have around one and a half terms to complete this, only a bit more than the 48 hours that Game Jams are. When I first started creating my game, Scale 'Em Up, I only had a small knowledge of game developing, and I didn't know how to code in the language that I ended up using. Yet, I was able to submit the game in time. I would recommend that everyone try it.”
The 2021 participants from Parade are:
Harry James Year 8 L12
Jonathon Tsioulos Year 8 L17
Fabbian Saggese Year 7 T14
Fraser Ning Year 7 T15
Aurelius Williams Year 7 T17
Felix Vu Year 7 T15
Kyden Hurst Year 12 T04
Liam Camilleri Year 10 L06
We wish the teams all the best of luck in judging!
The Dungeons and Dragons Workshop is a new club in the Nash Learning Centre, and has been tremendously popular with students who are both seasoned in the role-playing game, or are new to it.
In Dungeons and Dragons, players create characters who they will role play in action/adventure encounters, developed by a storyteller – the Dungeon Master. Players then work with each other to overcome obstacles, solve problems, and use collaboration to negotiate their plan of action. Fabbian Saggese (Year 7 T14) said of the Workshop,
“D&D is my favourite club. Before my first session in 2021, I had a D&D set (The Lost Mine of Phandelver) which I wanted to learn but had no idea, and I pretty much gave up. But when I came to Parade, I had seen the club and was interested straight away, and when the day finally came, I came to D&D and loved it. I immediately found a group of friends.”
The club boasts members from all year levels and runs every week in the NLC (and online during remote learning). New members are welcome!
PC Club has been a great success in 2021, with large attendance at every meeting. PC Club aims to draw students together who have an interest in Personal Computing, especially in building a computer, and gaming.
Throughout 2021, PC Club members have researched computer parts, learning about the technology behind modern computing, and helping choose parts for a build. This computer build will be raffled in 2021, with all proceeds going to MacKillop Family Services, so watch this space!
Early in Term 3, the IT Prefects were involved in running a Super Smash Bros. gaming tournament for charity, with lots of passionate students competing. Luke Cesarin (Year 11 B05), student facilitator for the Club says,
“My experience with PC Club could only be described as a positive one at the least. The Club is not only for PCs, it is also for gaming and other technology related topics, which is why I take part.”
Parade College is a Partner School with the BanyuleNillumbik Tech School, who develop and run specialist STEAM programs and activities that help prepare local students for the challenges of the future and the changing nature of work.
Each year, Parade students are invited to represent the College at the Tech School, to be Student Ambassadors who will participate in the creation of programs at the Tech School.
This year, four students, one from each Year level from 7 to 10 represented the College. The 2021 students were:
Jacob Greco Year 7 T15
Jack Mitchell Year 8 T11
Max McArdle Year 9 H20
Daniel Jorgandzijoski Year 10 T05
Daniel Jorgandzijoski (Year 10 T05) explains,
“Currently being a Student Ambassador involves learning new skills such as CAD (Computer Aided Design), programming and designing. We are currently organizing a Maker Faire that would have usually invited primary schools over to the tech school and we the student ambassadors run the students through different activities such as CAD, robots and potentially even virtual reality. Being a Student Ambassador is a great experience as we get to socialize with other students from other schools and learn new skills.”
We thank all the Ambassadors for their dedication to the Tech School’s programs this year.