International students, Term 2

by Junling Yang

As the school year progressed to Term 2, we started to have a sense of what Covid-normal school life was like. After a pause of two years, many activities gradually returned to the life of our international students. We commenced the Term with an exciting trip to Monash University Campus (Caufield). It was our VCE international student first trip to a Group of Eight university, and it gave them an overview of what Monash University could offer and a glimpse of what campus life looked like.

The end of Term 2 was highlighted by the return of the Victorian Global Learning Awards. They are awards to celebrate the outstanding achievements and contribution of the International Student Program to the Victorian community. Over the 10-year award history, Kew High School has won multiple awards: 2015 Year 12 Global Citizen Award (Commendation) by Crystal Peng, 2018 Year 12 Academic Excellence Award by Helen Vu and, this year, our homestay Danae McGaw proudly won the Homestay Family of the Year Award-Government School. Danae has been a Kew High School homestay host since 2006, taking in students from China, Vietnam, India, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. She is respectful and open to all cultures, as well as introducing students to Australian life and history. She is a renowned cook and makes sure that she is there for her students, always. The homestay experience is vital to the success of an international student in Australia. We are lucky and grateful to have Danae, and many other homestay hosts like Danae on the program, to support our international students. We want to thank our past students Jingchen Wang and Lingjun Chen for taking time from their busy schedules to come back to Danae’s to assist with the filming of the award. We also welcomed Hoai Thu Nguyen into our Year 10 in Term 2. She is the only international student in Year 10, but she quickly settled in and developed confidence in her language and new subjects. Well done, Thu!

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