Read more to hear about our Interschool Chess Tournament for both Primary and Secondary, our Japanese Exchange students' visit to ACC, and the 'Pi Day' celebrations with Mrs Ganta.
ACC Chess Teams win Interschool Chess Tournament! Written by John Picart
Our ACC Primary and Secondary Chess Teams are through to the Semi-Finals in August after a gruelling 7-round match-up, totalling 4.5 hours of thrilling game time.
Last Wednesday, 30 players (15 from Primary and 15 from Secondary) represented ACC to compete against five other schools. The tournament was well attended with over 100 students and for most of our ACC players, it was their first ever chess tournament.
There were two categories of awards: individual winning players and school team winners for both Primary and Secondary teams. Outstanding performances were shown by both teams and the results speak for themselves. For the Primary individual prizewinners, Samuel Huang (Y5) came in 4th with 5 wins out of 7, Riya Mendez (Y6) came 3rd with also a score of 5/7, and Aaryan Ponnala (Y3) with a perfect score of 7 out of 7. They all received admirable trophies.
In the Primary Qualifying Schools award, our school finished a commanding 21.5 points to snatch 1st place! ACC received a magnificent trophy that could inspire budding chess players.
In the Secondary individual prize winners, Manav Sharda (Y9) came in equal 5th place with a total score of 5 wins and Sahasraamshu Dasari (Y7) who was the sole 2nd place winner with a strong 6 win achievement.
In the Secondary Qualifying Schools award, ACC came 3rd with a respectable total score of 19 points. Our Secondary team also received an excellent trophy.
The names of our Primary players who participated in the chess tournament are as follows: Prakul Boonapally, Ethan Liong, Abel Verghese, Jonathan Kwok, Aaryan Ponnala, Daniel Huang, Jackson Gallagher, Own Heffernan, Orion Aliste-Osmond, Anna Iskander, Riya Mendez, Site Pilivi, Samuel Huang, Xavier Eason and Deepshika Saha.
Our High School players are as follows: Sahasraamshu Dasari, Nathan Tang, Shaurya Chaudhary, Shourya Racha, Divyansh Sharma, Brian Casey, Manav Sharda, Yuval Chawla, Aayan Mishra, Damanpreet Sharma, Gavriel Purnama, Shine Siby, Aarav Bhalerao, William Moulds and Hamish Brady.
The Semi-finals tournament will happen sometime in August and will require only five players each from Primary and Secondary. We are all looking forward to this next exciting tournament.
I would like to thank our parents and caregivers for encouraging our students to be involved in our chess clubs. This is the place where budding chess champions are nurtured. A big thank you to Nancy Hassaraty, Joshua Barton and Sharon Le Grange for doing such a wonderful job in encouraging and supporting our students in their chess journey.
Japanese Exchange Students visit ACC
Last week, from the 28th to 31st March, Australian Christian College had the privilege of hosting Japanese exchange students from Nagasaki High School. It was a fantastic time of intercultural exchange as the Japanese students took part in our daily school life with their buddies while teaching our Year 8 students all about the beautiful culture of Japan during our Japanese classes.
Year 8 students thrived in taking their learning outside the Japanese classroom to communicate with their Japanese friends in the new language they had been studying this term. They also enthusiastically welcomed the Japanese students into the Australian way of life through the sharing of food, gifts, and unforgettable memories.
Our dear friends from Nagasaki High School! Thank you so much for teaching us about the beautiful culture of Japan. We look forward to treasuring and continuing this wonderful friendship in the future! ありがとうございます! (arigatou gozaimasu!)
Pi Day Celebrations with Mrs Ganta
On Friday of Week 9, a group of our young mathematicians gathered at lunchtime in D Block for what was to be an exciting celebration of Pi and students’ memorisation skills.
The celebration of Pi, organised by iPuzzler Maths club, included a story all about mathematical (Pi)π, Pi jokes, a competition where students recited dozens of digits of Pi, and most importantly of course, eating Sir Issac Newton’s favourite pie which is apple pie with ice-cream.
The winner of the competition was Amreen Mohal in Year 8, who was able to recite the value of Pi to 110 digits! Congratulations Amreen! A number of other students were also able to recite Pi to more than 60 digits. A trophy for the reciting competition will be formally presented to Amreen in an assembly next term.
