Author: Richard Morgan
St Paul’s College Union AGM – Election of Committee
FOR THE INFORMATION OF MEMBERS OF THE UNION
The St Paul’s College Union Incorporated is holding its 2023 AGM on Tuesday 18 April at 7.30 pm in the Junior Common Room at the College. This meeting is open to residents of the College and Life Members, who make up the membership of the Union.
Members are welcome to attend Evensong at 5.15 pm in the Chapel and stay for formal dinner in the Hall. If you are intending to join the College for these functions please advise the College by emailing Richard Morgan at community@stpauls.edu.au so that we can cater for additional meals.
Click the link below to see the list of nominations that have been received for election to the Management Committee of the St Paul’s College Union Incorporated. A ballot will be conducted at the meeting in accordance with the Union’s constitution. Only those in attendance may vote.
Holy Week and Easter at St Paul’s
Allegri’s “Miserere” – a special performance was included in the Tuesday Evensong during Holy Week. The College Chapel Choir brings together 34 students, and sings every Tuesday during semester and for other special services and events at the College.
On 4 April the St Paul’s College Chapel Choir performed Allegri’s “Miserere”. This iconic piece of 17th Century unaccompanied music for choir is a regular part of the choral repertoire of the great cathedrals of Europe. Composed around 1638, Allegri’s setting of the Miserere was used by the choir of the Sistine Chapel during Holy Week liturgy, a practice dating to at least 1514. The Choir sung the ‘Evolution’ version of the work, developed by The Sixteen. During the Choral Pilgrimage 2013 Harry Christophers and The Sixteen presented a new version of Allegri’s Miserere charting its evolution. The version intends to shed light on the complicated history of this most famous of choral pieces. Listen out for the famous “top C” in the second-half of the 4-voice, sung here by Ariana Ricci, Elsa Susnjara, William Varga and Gabriel Desiderio.
On Friday 31 March we ventured into the labyrinth to discover a very personal path to enlightenment. Anna Fraser (soprano), Thomas Wilson (organ) and the women of St Paul’s College Chapel Choir (Jack Stephens, Director of Music) gave a sumptuous and spiritual journey, guided by College Chaplain, Rev Antony Weiss, showcasing this beautiful and rarely heard French Baroque vocal work. Michel-Richard de Lalande’s “Leçons de Ténèbres” and “Miserere” (1730) is a beautiful, decorative, introvert sacred music of great style and grace and showcased the true baroque tone of the College Chapel’s two-manual Flentrop pipe organ.
Boomalakka March News
Here is a pdf copy of the March Boomalakka which can be viewed on screen or downloaded to your computer and printed.
Click HERE
The latest Rawson/Rosebowl and Other Sports
By Harry Croker, Dean of Undergraduates
Photo Credits: Jason Zhu He and his team
The Rawson Cup and Rosebowl tournaments roll forward with the College giving its all in both competitions. In Rosebowl, the College finished in 5th place for Netball, and 6th place for Swimming.
Rawson Swimming; 3rd place.
Overall Rosebowl standing: 5th place. Overall Rawson standing: 2nd place.
History was made on Monday 13th March when the St Paul’s netball team took the court, marking the College’s maiden undergraduate participation in the history of Rosebowl.
And who else to play our first Rosebowl match against other than the old foe, St Andrew’s.
A formative opponent, no doubt, but the girls in gold and gules showed no sign of backing down.
Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the contest was the sheer amount of support from the rest of the College who headed down in droves to show support. Final score: Andrew’s 61 def Paul’s 34 (Q1 13-8, Q2 30-14, Q3 45-28).
Round 2 (Thurs 16th March): Wesley 52 def Paul’s 35 (Q1 13-12, Q2 25-19, Q3 39-24). Round 3 (Fri 17th March): John’s 41 def Paul’s 26 (Not Listed).
Exactly a week later from the College making history by fielding the first undergraduate Rosebowl team, it happened again on Monday the 20th March with the College’s maiden Rosebowl victory against Sancta. Paul’s 34 def Sancta 16 (Q1 14-7, Q2 24-11, Q3 34-16).
Round 5 (Wed 22nd March): Women’s 49 def Paul’s 38 (Q1 15-8, Q2 29-16, Q3 38-29).
St Andrew’s finished first overall, Wesley second, Women’s third, St John’s fourth, St Paul’s fifth, and Sancta sixth.
Swimming proved to be a challenging event for the College in both Rawson and Rosebowl.
St Andrew’s may have won both tournaments overall, but it was great to see Fresher, Tilly Wittenoom, get the gold in the 50m Rosebowl breaststroke.
The next event on the sporting calendar is Rawson Rugby on the 26th April (Week 9), which will run until 17th May (Week 12). Rosebowl Hockey will run throughout Weeks 11 and 12, starting on Monday 8th May. Rowing for both tournaments will wrap up the semester on Tuesday 23rd May (Week 13).
News of other achievements in sport:
- National Athletics: Connor Whitely won the NSW State Championship 5000m event and has gone on to represent NSW at nationals coming 5th.
- National Rowing: Henry Blackwell rowing for UTS achieved a first and second in events in the March 2023 championships in Perth.
Surreal Sounds, a Roaring Success!
Intercol students’ events kicked-off with Surreal Sounds at Paul’s on 15 March. This annual ‘dance’ brought the 165 year old Quad roaring to life with entertainment from DJs Caleb Jackson, Room 53, Mincy, and Jordan Brando, with the headline act Kettama.
Room 53, Roni Chapman and Callan Adams, hailing from Auckland were at Paul’s 2019-21 both doing BComm/BAdvStud. Caleb Jackson is an up and coming DJ star in Australia who is a regular at Lost Sundays, Mincy has been an international success over the past few years and she is a regular in both the club and festival scenes. Jordan Brando has solidified his name in the dance music community and today is one of Australia’s most promising dance music exports.
The ‘headline act’ at Paul’s was Kettama, arguably the biggest name we have ever had at Surreal. Kettama is a very well known international DJ who is originally from Ireland. He was on tour to NZ and Australia performing at numerous festivals when he was secured to perform at Surreal.
This event usually attracts about 1,500 and this year the SClub was not disappointed with the interest and ticket sales. It is a huge event for the College and all credit to Zac Lerner (convener) and his committee for the planning, execution and clean-up of an outstanding event in the Students’ Club social calendar.
Palladian Solo Vocal & Solo Instrumental
“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.
Rawson and Rosebowl
From the Dean of Undergraduates, Harry Croker
The 2023 Rawson Cup campaign is underway at 9 City Road. The College cricketers were hard at work for a number of weeks leading into the opening Rawson tournament. The first opponent; Wesley, Monday 27th Feb. Played on a beautiful sunny day at the College Oval, Wes won the toss and elected to bat. All out for 83. Paul’s went on to win the match 4/84, aided by an outstanding batting display from second year, Jack Matthews. (Matthews 53, Lynch 14, Stuart* 4, Munro* 4, Bowman 0, Donaldson 0).
Round 2 vs St John’s, Thursday 2nd March. Overcast and drizzly. The good guys won the toss, and elected to bat. Again, the College Oval was the venue, but the conditions not as desirable. Nevertheless, a second victory was notched in the cricket campaign, with a poor battler’s rear windshield the only other casualty of the day besides the SJC XI. St Paul’s 7/318 (Bowman 73, Craig* 63, Donaldson 61, Stuart 30, Matthews 17, O’Connor 13, Lynch 10, Bennett* 9, Munro 3). St John’s all out for 180 (Collins 66, Smith 53, Colgan 10, Kelly 8, Fogarty 7, Madigan 7, Southon 6, Lane 5, Woolnough 5, Rizzo* 4, Dunlop 1).
Round 3 vs our old foes. Wednesday 8th March; warm and sunny; the hallowed turf, No. 1 Oval. Despite a large fan base, the men in the gold and gules were unable to get the chocolates against a strong St Andrew’s outfit, who won the toss and elected to bat. St Andrew’s 8/236 (Snyman* 62, McNamara 37, Fredriksson 36, Lynch 27, Hayman* 19, Jones 13, Walker 8, Wines 6, Wright-Smith 5, Hope 1, Hartnell* 0). St Paul’s all out for 124 (Bowman 29, Hodge* 28, Stuart 16, Munro 16, Bennett 6, Donaldson 4, Craig 3, O’Connor 2, Matthews 0, Lynch 0, Brownie 0). A valiant effort no doubt, and as always, our men were gracious in defeat.
Currently the College is placed second overall in Rawson Cup standings on three points, with Drew’s in first place on five points, Wesley third place on one, and John’s fourth on zero.
Our next chance for a victory comes in Week 6 at the swimming.
History will be made next week as the College’s maiden Rosebowl campaign gets underway on Monday 13th March against St Andrew’s at Bryden’s Show Court (SUSAC) at 1pm. Our young women have been training very hard for this outing, and they could not have more support from everyone at the College. We know they will do us proud.
Academic Life – a great end to 2022 and a fantastic start to 2023!
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!
Graduate House – the best place for good medicine
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!