Melbourne University Student Union Ltd VCE Summer School academic and social activities
Photo courtesy: Melbourne University Student Union Ltd.
Are you going into VCE Year 11 or 12 next year? Organised by The Melbourne University Student Union Ltd, the VCE Summer School (two-week program held from Monday 11 to Friday 22 January 2010) provides a great opportunity for students to boost academic skills and meet new friends.
Bursaries are also available. Applications are now open.
Cassie Evans, a current Year 12 student and Kwong Lee Dow Young Scholar at Benalla College, describes her experience in attending the last VCE Summer School. Cassie was one of a number of Young Scholars who received a partial subsidy to attend the two-week residential program.
“Being from the country, having the option to stay at a residential college made it so much easier to make the decision to attend the program and gave me the opportunity to develop amazing friendships not only with fellow students from all over Victoria, but volunteer tutors as well.
Not knowing anyone at all, rocking up to St Mary’s College was surprisingly easy; and within five minutes I had already recognised three Young Scholars from past events! I had been to the University before, but two weeks of classes certainly eased the stress of finding my way around.
The program was not strictly academic; we were always kept entertained doing trivia, lunch events, sport activities and treasure hunting. We had periods of our chosen VCE subjects (mine were Legal Studies, Psychology, Philosophy, Mathematical Methods and English), with university students as tutors and a group of about 5-8 other VCE students. We gained a relatively thorough insight as to what the overall course would consist of in each subject, and the two-week program – including a ‘mock exam’ – definitely helped me in making vital decisions which what classes I wanted to do this year.
Workshops were another particularly enjoyable aspect of the event, in which we were able to choose from a broad range of programs such as learning guitar, Spanish or Braille. They were spread out over the course and were helpful in ‘breaking up’ the hard work we had done. And when I say hard, I don’t necessarily mean difficult but challenging in the sense that you know it’s the holidays and you know you are there to do work when you could be doing other things. But that’s the thing about Summer School (and VCE in general I guess), you are there only for yourself. Whether you were forced to go by your parents or decided on your own, in the end it’s up to you as to how you make the most of it. All the resources are there for you to look into, people to directly talk to, and fellow students to make friends with. Tutorials aren’t demanding and no one can make you do a bit of homework – it’s entirely up to you.
Looking back, I think attending Summer School was the best way to spend those two weeks in January; I gained useful information about my individual course for Year 12 and still find that I am that little bit ahead thanks to the preparation we did there; I now have heaps of information on possible University of Melbourne courses; my Facebook friends have gone up significantly and I have already caught up again with mates from the residential program; and the skills and tips for managing all aspects of this year have definitely come in handy. I recommend it to anyone doing VCE, regardless of your plans beyond it.
More information about the Melbourne University Student Union Ltd VCE Summer School