SENIOR SCHOOL
It’s a GAS, a GGAS!
A group of senior boarders from
farming backgrounds have recently
formed a new group – GGAS – or the
Guildford Grammar Agriculture Society,
with the idea of growing a crop and
planting a vegetable garden on the
flats. The boys, Cameron Snooke
(12Sc), John Dewar (12Sc), Curtis
Guthrie (10St), Jacob Finlayson (10Sc)
and Lawson Harper (9He) started a
conversation that might well end up
being their legacy in the boarding
community for many years to come.
To get the project started, the group
mapped out their plan and presented it to
Mr Brad Evans, the Head of Boarding. The
plan started off with crops of wheat and
canola and soon developed to include a
vegetable garden.
The boys identified a suitable plot of land,
which came to be known as “The Patch”
and started compacting the cultivated
ground. Coming from farming backgrounds,
these farm-smart boys knew that the ground
was very light and without compacting it, the
seeds would sink too deep into the soil and
would not germinate.
The idea of planting a vegetable garden
came from John Dewar, utilising some of
“The Patch” to grow pumpkins, potatoes,
carrots, tomatoes, strawberries and cabbage.
The seeds were purchased and planted in
early June, with the produce to be donated
to the boarding house for an afternoon
snack or for use in the evening meals.
Cameron Snooke cultivated (pardon the
pun!) the idea of planting the canola and
wheat crops, the idea being to grow the two
crops and to inspect their growth. The group
started the process of cultivating the ground
in Term 1 and finished the job early in Term 2.
The seeds were planted at the end of May,
when there was a break in the wet weather.
Da Vinci Decathlon
The Da Vinci Decathlon, an Interschool
competition hosted at Wesley College,
entices Year 9 and 10 students to compete
in a variety of unique challenges in various
subjects. Teams consisted of up to eight
students and had been assembled together
from 25 schools. The students would test
their ability in areas of maths, science,
art, poetry, philosophy, code breaking,
engineering, drama, English, cartography
and general knowledge. Students of
immutable talent would then be applying
their creativity, academic knowledge and
skills throughout the day.
Guildford Grammar School’s team this
year could be summed up in one word:
Formidable. Consisting of eight capable
Year 10 students, we ventured in this year
with unprecedented confidence. Our team
members were Archie Shaw (10Fr), Joshua
Ding (10Ha), Joel Moffet (10Fr), Thomas
Stanicich (10He), Alex Jose (10Fr), Jordan
Syme (10Sc), Ryan Wijayananda (10SG)
and Matthew Simmonds (10Fr) led by our
supportive supervisor Mr Robin Shaw. On
that note I would also like to acknowledge
the contribution made by the two reserves
Dane Begovich (10Sc) and Titan Webster
(10Sc) who also attended Da Vinci meetings.
The contest was divided into two sessions,
each session would have multiple subjects
commencing simultaneously, so organisation
and teamwork was essential. Session one
entailed science, drama, art, poetry and
engineering. Working in engineering Alex,
Jordan and Ryan constructed an object
capable of standing in water using a limited
paper supply;