Month: March 2023

“We are halfway through now. So far extraordinary” began the text message from the Palladian Solo Vocal where St Paul’s was represented by Lucy O’Brien and Isander Mesimeris. The Palladian brings together in competition all the USyd colleges across the repertoire of cultural activities, Solo Instrumental and Solo Vocal now done. Lucy gave an amazing performance of ‘I’m Not Afraid of Anything’ by Jason Robert Brown, and Isander performed ‘L’alba sepàra dalla luce l’ombra’ by Tosti, the only one to perform an operatic art song brought home a 3rd place for Paul’s, behind Andrew’s and Wesley. The Intercol Palladian has become a tough competition and brings instrumental, vocal, dance, ensemble, acting and debating under one competition umbrella for Sancta, St Andrew’s, St John’s, St Paul’s, Wesley and Women’s colleges.

During the first Palladian event of 2023, the Solo instrumental competition the College was represented by Isabella Taylor on violin and Chris Lennox on clarinet. Congratulations to both of them who faced tough competition from the best musicians from the intercollegiate community.

From the Senior Tutor, Katie Allen

Last year’s academic results are in and our Paulines can be proud of their fantastic achievements. Over one third of the College received a HD or D average in 2022, with a strong showing by last years Fresher cohort!

Once again, five of our top ten undergraduate academic performers were Freshers: Mr Ed Taylor (Bachelor of Engineering Honours and Bachelor of Arts) , Mr Luka Mattani (Bachelor of Veterinary Biology and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine), Mr Josh Taleb (Bachelor of Engineering Honours (Mechatronic Engineering) and Bachelor of Science), Mr Tylor Wessels (Bachelor of Engineering Honours (Aeronautical Engineering) and Bachelor of Commerce), and Mr Alessandro Petagna (Bachelor of Economics/Bachelor of Advanced Studies). All these men received a high distinction average and have made a truly impressive start to their university careers! Our annual average mark across the College was 70.4%.

Another area in which Paulines excelled is in our tutorial programme. In 2022, over 1100 tutorials were held across the undergraduate and graduate communities – the largest tutorial offering in the College’s history. At the heart of our tutorial programme is peer learning and students encouraging each other. We had 60 young people teaching in our programme last year, including 15 members of Graduate House, 40 members of our undergraduate community, as well as recent alumni and friends of the College. Our students have reported that, ‘coming straight out of high school, [tutorials] really helped us understand …what was required of us to succeed in university.’ Our tutors have, students reported, shown passion and ‘consistently demonstrate a willingness to help.’ A big thank you to all our tutors at Paul’s for being so, in the words of our students, ‘proactive, compassionate, empathic, and diligent’ and ‘embodying what it means to be a Pauline.’

Academic Life is also off to a fantastic start for 2023. Our incoming freshers are studying a wonderfully diverse range of degrees. We have students studying vet science, computing, teaching, architecture, music, nursing, law, psychology, pharmacy, commerce as well as a significant number of students, the most in recent years, choosing to take traditional liberal university studies in the Arts and Sciences. On Friday of Welcome Week, after a fun-filled few days, a studious air descended over the Quad and Library as freshers met with seniors in their degree groups to plan their studies for the semester ahead and get to know other students in their cohort. Our tutorial programme is also now in full-swing with over 90 subject tutorials offered across our undergraduate and graduate communities.

The academic life of St Paul’s is looking exciting this year and we are looking forward to seeing our students aim high, do their best, and look after each other. Here to a great 2023!

From the Senior Tutor, Katie Allan

The 2023 Academic Year began early for our newest medical students. Long before Welcome Week, our newest aspiring doctors began their first semester of medical studies on 30 January. Organised by our Assistant Senior Tutor for Medicine, Meheer Zaveri, and with presentations by 2nd year medics Arnav Shetty and Catherine Trueman, we held a Welcome Evening the night before their first day on the McMillan Building rooftop! Over a casual pizza and drinks, Cat and Arnav, as well as many other of our medical students, gave some helpful tips and tricks for beginning medical school and explained the tutorial and clinical skills programme in Graduate House. It was a friendly and informative afternoon with an excellent group of young people. We look forward to seeing them develop into the knowledgeable and caring doctors we know they will be!

We are lucky to have tutorials for all medical subjects, and many clinical skills, in Years 1 and 2 of the Sydney Medical programme with 10 of our senior medics involved in tutoring our newer students. Our Assistant Senior Tutor and 4th year medical student, Meheer Zaveri, runs the programme in conjunction with the Senior Tutor and our subject tutors.

All the best to all our medical students for a great 2023!

Congratulations to Rev’d Dr Max Wood and Rev’d James Collins OAM who have been declared by the Returning Officer as Clerical Fellows for six year terms on Council. Both Max and James have served for 8 years as Clerical Fellows and the College community is delighted they will continue to serve.

An election for two Lay Fellows was conducted by email to those eligible to vote in this election. There were four candidates:  Dr Christine Biscoe (Retiring Lay Fellow); Dr Nadia Dimmock (Nominated by David Keyte and Daniel Sloman); Mr Ralph Evans AO (Nominated by Bruce Fasher and Richard Churcher) and Mr Ralph Goninan (Retiring Lay Fellow).

Congratulations to Dr Christine Biscoe and Ralph Goninan on their election for another six year term as Fellows of St Paul’s College.

St Paul’s College Rosebowl Netball Team made history on 13 March playing the College’s first women’s competition game. The final score was Andrew’s 61 – Paul’s 34. The game was fast, exciting and full of suspense. An impressive crowd of undergraduate men and women packed the stadium which created an atmosphere that truly defines St Paul’s culture. The game was held at the University Sports and Fitness Centre’s Bryden’s Show Court, on the campus at Darlington.

Accolades began with seniors Jonah O’Sullivan and Oliver Thorne publishing an inspirational (and witty) video on the SClub Facebook page, which spoke about every girl on the team. Then shortly after Sydney University Sport and Fitness published their video reel on Instagram titled “History in the making” [Link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CptpCdSh-LG/].

Goal scorers included Mia Bagget, Juliet Malcom and Maddi Schmidt. Although the whole game was a highlight, the third quarter was fast-paced and found the crowd sitting on the edge of their seats. The team had a real rhythm and each goal scored by Paul’s resulted in senior Hugh Jordon playing a few celebratory notes on the trumpet. The whole team played with grace and demonstrated true sportspersonship. Captain of Netball, Nat McRory, said of this first game: “the girls completely stunned both myself and the coach. We had been training really well but it was incredible to see the girls break out and truly work as a team”.

The next game will be held on Thursday 16 March at 6.30 pm at Darlington against Wesley College.

At the start of the year the Students Club Committee of 2023 headed down to spend a weekend at The Barn Scone.  “The Barn” Scone is located 3.5 hours North of Sydney and is set in the idyllic Hunter Valley, on one of Australia’s leading thoroughbred nurseries Kitchwin Hills.

As an SClub they discussed and planned our strategic objectives for the year, especially surrounding the integration of females into the College and ensuring that the College delivers to its students the utmost in all areas of academic and social life. The weekend was full of activities. A tour of the horse stud, BBQ by the river and a game of scatter!

It was a great weekend to settle into our new roles, meet each other and prepare ourselves for the year! We couldn’t recommend ‘The Barn’ enough and a big thankyou to ‘The Barn’ and to Kitchwin Hills for such a great time!

For more about the Barn CLICK HERE

There is great excitement as the first St Paul’s Netball team prepare for their first ever Sydney University Intercollegiate Rosebowl tournament. It is not the very first participation of the College in Rosebowl but the first full competitive round. The Graduate House community has been participating every year in the RB friendlies since 2018.

Netball conveners Lucy Eyers and Nat McRory have secured the help of Jessica Keir to coach them. Jessica said: “from my point of view I’m feeling confident about the level of ability the girls on this team have and, for the first year on Rosebowl, we will definitely make a splash!”.

Netball Captain, Nat McRory, believes that every fresher and senior is an asset to the success of the College. “The faculty have selected such well rounded and talented young adults to enter into this historic year, the quality of our freshers will definitely be reflected in Netball” she said. Talent and commitment are being brought to the first ever St Paul’s Rosebowl representation.

In the team photo are: back row – Maddi Schmidt, Tilly Wittenoom, Ami Naito, Mia Baggett, Bis James, Sophie Jefferies, Olivia Laverty; front row – Zoe McHutchinson, Kate Brenner, Ella Mackay, Juliet Malcolm, Natalie McRory (captain).

Paulines of all ages are welcome to attend the games being held in the Bryden’s Showcourt at Sydney Uni Sports and Aquatic Complex, Cnr Codrington St and, Darlington Ln, Darlington NSW.

Games schedule:

• Mon 13 Mar 1.00 pm Paul’s v Andrew’s
• Thu 16 Mar 6.30 pm Paul’s v Wesley
• Fri 17 Mar 4.30 pm Paul’s v John’s
• Mon 20 Mar 4.00 pm Paul’s v Sancta
• Wed 22 Mar 5.00 pm Paul’s v Women’s

It is not surprising that the enthusiasm for celebrating gender equality and embracing diversity has been so strong at the College since the first women enrolled in Graduate House in 2018 and the first women undergrads began only weeks ago. On the eve of IWD the undergraduate community gathered for its IWD Dinner with guest of honour, Belinda Hutchinson AC, Chancellor of the University. The Chancellor spoke about the University of Sydney being one of the first universities in the world to admit women to degree programs (1881) and, that over her 10 years as Chancellor, how the number of women professors and senior leaders at Sydney had significantly increased – with more work to be done.

Over the summer break a big project for the College was a renovation of a tired old Sals. The need to bring the bar up to modern compliance standards necessitated a complete refit of the Salisbury and now the College boasts a 7am – 3pm café and 7:30pm – 10:30pm bar during the week.

The refurbishment features a styled bar area with refined cabinetry and new benchtops but retains the unique sandstone finish of the walls of the original boiler rooms (the bar area) and the 1860s staff parlour (the café). Outside a new bar and patrons’ area is protected by a modern sail cloth roof juxtaposing the grand heritage walls of the Blacket exterior. The paving throughout has been up-graded and fixed and all aspects of this licenced space now meet all compliance standards. It means the Salisbury can continue to trade as a public bar, and is open as a venue for students most days and nights of the week, including the popular Wednesday nights.