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VCAA Bulletin
No.96 – March 2024

Exellence and Awards

A group of students presenting at Top Talks 2024

Alex Louie, Xavier Dooley, Alexandra-Rose Hackel-Calvi, Alyna Hwey-Lin Ng,
Xara Anderson and Matthew Muller at the Conversation Quarter, SLV, for Top Talks 2024

 

The VCE Season of Excellence launches with Top Talks 

The VCE Season of Excellence was launched on Friday 1 March with Top Talks 2024. Four speakers took to the stage at the Conversation Quarter, State Library Victoria, to present findings from their 2023 VCE Extended Investigation study. The event was emceed by Curriculum Manager for Extended Investigation Alex Louie.

The speakers provided inspired and thought-provoking presentations:

  • Alexandra-Rose Hackel-Calvi (Woodleigh School) presented Preserving Southern Mornington Peninsula’s coastal middens against visitor erosion
  • Xara Anderson (Camberwell Girls Grammar School) presented Parasocial Relationships and Australian Politics
  • Matthew Muller (University High School) presented To What Extent can E. Coli Develop Resistance to Manuka Honey?
  • Alyna Hwey-Lin Ng (East Doncaster Secondary College) presented The Influence of Eurocentrism on South and Southeast Asian Women's Self-perceptions of Beauty.

Following the presentations, guest speaker Xavier Dooley alumnus of Top Talks 2019 addressed the audience. He emphasised the range of skills he took from Extended Investigation, citing the study as ‘teaching one to fish’. Xavier is now a medical student, an editor, the co-founder of Monash’s haematology-oncology society, and the founder of Accredicare, a not-for-profit that recognises unpaid care work.

‘How do you break down a year-long project into manageable, achievable portions for each day of each week? How do you manage your time well so that you can accomplish this? How do you write in academic language when you have probably never seen it before, much less actually used it yourself?’ Xavier reflected on these questions with the audience.

‘Extended Investigation means confronting these challenges and, in many instances, for the first time.’

A Q&A panel discussion closed the event, featuring the presenters, Xavier Dooley, and Alex Louie. The panel discussed selecting a niche topic (it can be rewarding, but you risk not finding many existing articles), over-writing (prepare to kill your darlings), time-management (very different to other studies) and the excitement of finding amazing sources after painstaking research

As the audience left the Conversation Quarter, students gave some feedback about the event. One reported that ‘Hearing Extended Investigation students talk about their topics gave me some great ideas about how to pursue mine’.

Another said that ‘Seeing different perspectives applied, on top of all the hard work the presenters committed to, is a fascinating outlook for someone who is going through the process this year.’

Recordings from this event will be available on the Top Talks page in April 2024

Take a look at some of the other exciting VCE Season of Excellence 2024 events.

To receive updates about the VCE Season of Excellence via email, you can subscribe to Season Update