2024 has kicked off with the Leadership team bustling with activity. In my roles as a School Leader and the International Captain, I have found myself in a position to inspire others, leading and supporting initiatives aimed at driving meaningful change.
To me, being an International Captain means that I could better cater for the needs of international students and support them in their journey at Tintern. In my own journey at Tintern, I had overcome the language barrier when I first came to Australia with the endless support of the teachers and my peers at Tintern. The warm, caring environment has also enabled me to discover new opportunities in the areas of music and mathematics, and find people who share many interests as me, creating some of the most invaluable memories which I have. Having such experience myself, I believe that it is crucial for each individual at Tintern to feel warmth and a sense of belonging at the school, and for the new students, make a smooth transit into a brand-new environment, especially for those who have a different background or culture.
One of the ways for fostering this sense of warmth was to celebrate special events from various cultures. To exemplify, this year for Lunar New Year the Senior College was filled with festive flair with decorations such as lanterns and banners, as these carry the meaning of good fortune and prosperity for the Asian cultures. Furthermore, the festive vibe was further enhanced by an assembly presentation which informed students about traditions of the event, as well as a celebration event which involved handing out food from the Chinese culture and playing music in Chinese language during a Friday lunchtime. This not only promotes cultural diversity at the School, but also holds significance for the students who belong to the Asian culture as it provides them with an opportunity to share and celebrate these traditions with their peers.
Along with the ongoing support for the international students, another aspect which I and the rest of the leadership team would like to focus on is to enrich school life for each student at Tintern by running lots of exciting events. So far events such as Christmas Week and Valentine’s Day were run with a great level of success, and we hope to make more exciting events happen in the coming weeks.
I hope to create more positive impacts to our School community with the leadership team and can’t wait for the exciting year ahead of us!
Hailun (Helen) Yang | International Student Captain 2024
