#macrobfam

[qwedfas]

Hi FAM, I love toilet teasers so much it's actually makes my day. Could you do more with puzzles and riddles pls, I'm a sucker for them. ily guys xxxxxxx

Hey there!

Thank you so much and we’re so glad to hear this! We’ll definitely make sure to add some more puzzles and riddles :)

Love,

FAM xx

[qwedfas]

How can I apply to become a yr 12 FAM leader for 2018?

Hi there,

It’s a 2-step process:

Written application: In late August/early September (so really soon), Mrs Dean will send out an email with the application for any interested Year 11s to fill out - for us it was 4 questions long and really general like why you want to be a FAM leader and what skills you have etc

Interview: In October, Miss Tinney and Gillian (our counsellor) will send out an email with your interview details and you do the interview with 2-4 other applicants. I was initially really nervous for it but when we went into the room I immediately felt at ease, they’re both lovely and it’s a pretty chill interview. They just want to know more about you, what you can do for FAM and there are also scenario-based questions.

It’s not part of the application process but if you’re successful, you’ll have to attend a training day in December - it’s quite fun, you get to bond with your fellow FAM leaders, get to know each other a bit more, plan for the year ahead and also work on your empathy, peer support, teamwork and leadership skills.

Hope this helps and we hope you apply! :)

Love, FAM xx

[qwedfas]

FAM on the letter incident

Hi MacRobbians and everyone who reads this Tumblr,

We’ve been getting a lot of questions about the incident that has occurred over the past few days and we just wanted to write a masterpost about how we feel. We hope you are all feeling okay!

FAM Leader 1: I’m pretty upset about this whole situation myself, especially the effect that it has on lots of people since it has been released into the media. While the way this student protested was not right, I understand the situation that she is in financially and academically; that she wants to do well yet cannot go to tuition due to her circumstances. There are many other measures that are put in place for student voice to filter through to the people who can do something about it, and are doing things about it. If you have any concerns, you can always go to SRC about it, whether that’s to Caitlin and Aiko, or the other members of the SRC Family, or even go to open forums to voice your opinions. Your teachers, Dr Meath, Mr Russell, Ms Akins and Ms Baldock (Gill, our counselor) are also people you can talk to.

This situation has hurt so many people unnecessarily, and the fact that it went to the media who have framed MacRob in a seriously negative light through their articles makes it much worse. Being in school yesterday and seeing the mood was the most uncomfortable day at school ever for me, because it wasn’t just me who was upset, it wasn’t just my class, it was majority of students and also the teachers. I hope that MacRobbians who find the situation humorous or are indifferent to it start to have some consideration, especially for our teachers. I understand that not every single teacher at MacRob is the best you could ask for, but have some respect for them. Just imagine coming into school and putting your heart and soul into the work for students who you care about, and having you and your colleagues getting slammed for this, especially externally. I definitely encourage all of you to continue showing your teachers appreciation in person, even a simple thank you at the end of class as you walk out is good. Let them know that you appreciate their efforts.

My heart was so so warm when I saw the overpass being empty in the morning to quickly being filled with love and appreciation for MacRob and our teachers. I really did think, THIS is what MacRob is really all about. We are supportive of each other, and we unite against adversity. I am so proud of our year level as well as everyone else who contributed, as it made yesterday much easier to get through. I was also super glad when I saw teachers reading comments for them and just feeling appreciated, you could see it in their faces :) I even had texts from people at other schools telling me how inspiring the overpass project is, after my post on social media about it :) so well done MacRobbians!

I hope all MacRobbians continue to be one with pride, and definitely wear your uniform especially your blazer with pride. The people who started this shouldn’t be allowed to make you feel anything bad about the amazing school we go to - we should be proud to be students here. I hope everyone is feeling alright and not too upset, I promise with time things will heal. I love you all!! <3

FAM Leader #2: I’ll keep this short because ‘FAM Leader #1’ has already outlined the situation beautifully. Walking into the school at 8am on Friday seeing the overpass come to life with notes of appreciation was such an amazing sight. It made me realise how grateful I am to be at a school like MacRob where the community is so supportive and wholesome. The deed has been done, the letter has been published and the articles have been read by all. There is nothing we can do about that - however I believe that it is more important than ever to stay united and move forward from this together. I am so proud to be at a school where the teachers care about you, the staff are looking out for you and the students have got your back. I am so proud to be at a school where I’m given the opportunity to explore my interests and encouraged to be myself. Macrob isn’t perfect and I acknowledge that however moving forward I think that there are better ways to express our opinions and we can rest assured that our voices are being heard. Despite the negative portrayal of our school in news and social media outlets, yesterday we showed everyone true Macrob spirit. We showed everyone that Macrobbians are the most courageous, strong and passionate people on this planet. Who cares what other people say because we know the truth - so don’t let anyone destroy your school spirit and wear that blazer with pride.  Finally, I just wanted to say a huge thank you to past and current students, staff and school leaders for making Macrob what it is today. Special shoutout to the 2017 SRC Presidents and School Captains for handling this situation so well. Continue being awesome Macrob :)

FAM Leader #3: I personally, was not incredibly upset that there was a leak to the media, but rather the effect that followed. Being criticised by the outside community, based on the words of only a minority of students, is something that not any ordinary person can withstand. The target of the letter is just like us - a human. A human with human feelings.

I think we’ve all experienced participating in a group project. Imagine you were in a group where only 1 girl doesn’t like the way you did your section of the PowerPoint. And then she went ahead and wrote a letter posting it around the school saying that you were incompetent in doing your part of the project. Hurts, doesn’t it? Sometimes you don’t really know how your actions will affect people so before doing something, please always remember to be sensitive to other people’s feelings.

Walking into school on Friday, the mood was a bit different, and it wasn’t just the usual end-of-the-week tiredness. It was just a down kind of sad mood. But walking through the overpass at 8AM, and then throughout the day, having more and more sticky notes stuck on the windows completely uplifted the spirits. Although I was disappointed with the girls that felt the need to talk to the media, rather than voice their concerns to our fantastic student leaders (shoutout to our school captains and SRC presidents), I sort of understand why they did it but in no way do I support or condone their actions. They just wanted to be heard so please, if you know who the girls are, don’t give them a hard time. I’m sure they already feel bad enough about it so let’s just use this as an opportunity to grow as a stronger community - if that’s even possible because Macrob is such a wholesome, caring and intelligent group. I hope that this incident shows that there are always outlets for you to get help and give rise to student action within Macrob. To the girl or girls who wrote the original letter, I urge you to come forward and just talk it out with somebody. I understand your frustration and anger, and I’m sure many other girls can relate. You are not alone with your emotions, there are many other girls who are in similar positions. Although the leakage to the news outlets may have made the contents of your letter easier to dismiss, Dr Meath, Mr Russell, Ms Akins and many others are still very concerned for your wellbeing(s) and would really like to help.

Addressing the elephant in the room, yes, there are some “bad” teachers. However, all the “bad” teachers I’ve heard about, I have heard from other students that they’re actually “not that bad” and can actually be very helpful if you just ask them questions. And I think that’s a flaw within Macrob. Many times we’re afraid to ask for help because we feel like that would be admitting we’re failing, but it’s actually the opposite. Those who actively try to improve and engage with their teachers are the ones who I consider the most successful. There is nothing wrong in asking for extra help - something I had a long time coming to terms with. Teaching styles may not coincide with your learning style and that’s just life. We’re not always going to get things that suit us. Just because we go to a selective school, it doesn’t mean we’re entitled to get everything we want and that we deserve the “best” teachers. Everything in life is relative - some teacher you hate might very well be another student’s favourite teacher. Also, teachers don’t become teachers because of the “pay cheque”. They are SERIOUSLY underpaid and to those girls who say “WE PAY YOU”, are incredibly immature. WE DON’T PAY OUR TEACHERS!!! THE GOVERNMENT DOES!!!!!! Teachers became teachers because they love teaching. Anybody would be crazy to go into a teaching position thinking that it’ll be to make easy dollars. Teachers put in so much work behind the scenes and I want to say a huge thank you to every single teacher at Macrob, you guys are absolutely amazing.

And to those who think Macrob’s reputation is down the drain, I think you’re incorrect. Majority of the girls at Macrob know that our school is more than just a few girls pooping around the school. Macrob has a special something that no other school has, and it’s indescribable. But Macrobbians know what I’m talking about. The fast-action of the year 12’s initiating the overpass project just further proves that. We’re talented in all areas, especially in being kind, and I have no doubt that Macrob can bounce back from this and show everybody that we’re literally the coolest, most hard-working and generous people in the world.

FAM Leader #4: I was kind of similar to FAM leader 3 at first, because I sort of expected the story to leak (at least to the local news) from the start. I was disheartened by it definitely, not only because it cast our school into a negative light but for many other reasons. One was the judgement from the general public that followed, and the impact on our reputation as a school. However, while I sympathised with the wider impact upon the school community, I was mainly concerned about the wellbeing of the student and teacher(s) concerned. As the school stated in their letter to the school, these individuals don’t deserve to have their actions scrutinised by those outside of our school community. First, the teacher does not deserve this kind of attention, nobody does. On the other hand, the student protester is obviously troubled, and it’s easy to dismiss her feelings on the basis of her actions when you aren’t exposed to the high pressure environment that sometimes exists in macrob. And, so many of our students have tutors, so I understand her feeling of helplessness if she isn’t able to afford one. Even she is hurt by the articles, as the public is much less understanding of her plight. In my opinion, publishing the articles did no good for anyone involved and negatively impacted upon everybody. And while I thought the actions and subsequent letter by the student were in every way the wrong way to approach this issue, something I could sympathise with is the frustration they felt. Many at macrob are fortunate enough to have access to tutors, workshops and so on when they are stuck with a bad teacher (as most of us have dealt with at some point). However, some aren’t, and from seeing my friends cry, visit counsellors and rant everyday about teachers that didn’t work for them, I knew this wasn’t a singular incident and feeling. I remember one time when I was in a ¾ class with one of my worst teachers, and one student had a breakdown a few weeks before final exams. She literally dropped the the floor and just stared blankly ahead for 20 minutes, and then cried for 20 minutes after. It’s an image that sometimes haunts me when I get really stressed out, because while I think I’m handling it alright right now, I can understand how overwhelming everything can get. And when you don’t feel supported by the school, that feeling is amplified one hundred times over. I don’t know what happened after that lesson, but since then, I’ve been uncomfortable thinking anyone should just ‘handle’ having a bad teacher and be ok with that. It’s easy to think everything is ok (which I did think last year with my ‘bad’ teacher) when you can handle it, but not every can. I wouldn’t ever want anyone who feels a similar way to the student protester to feel isolated from our community. One of my teachers said it best: “I’m not naive enough to think that only 6-7 people feel this way… and it’s something that needs to be addressed”. However, as he also told us, “this was not the correct way of approaching the situation”. I agree. Although the student may have thought their actions supported their stance, I would argue that it took away from it. It’s far more difficult for people to be sympathetic to someone’s plight when they themselves have negatively impacted the lives of others who are not even the source of their anger. I suppose now, I am trying to stay optimistic. Yes, this was a terrible incident, for students and teachers alike. But already, starting from the teacher appreciation wall the year 12s have made, macrob has begun to take this incident as an opportunity to change for the better. I probably visited that wall at least 5 times yesterday, from 8:20 to 3:00. At first, it had like 50 post its, and I was happy to add my 3. At the end, it had many, many times more. I don’t know if the teachers had enough time to go and read the notes (I hope they did), but the constant presence of students taking time to read the notes (and add their own) inspired me in so many ways. And, it honestly made me feel closer to the teachers than I’ve ever felt, which was a good feeling. In an environment of stress and pressure, it’s easy to forget to look up for a moment and recognise your teachers as they are - human. I’ve been reading my texts for english recently (lol) and one of my favourite lessons from it is that we can’t change what has happened, but we can change our response. We have the opportunity to act differently. So if you know who these people are, whether they are the original protester or are those who informed the news about this incident, just leave them be. I’m sure they now understand the far-reaching consequences of their actions. I’ve felt, since then, a lot of anger and distress from many students and teachers, which is completely understandable so soon after the incident. However, I hope we can take that anger and transform it into tangible change that benefits macrob. Let’s use this opportunity to effect positive change in the school community.

FAM Leader #5: since you’ve made it down this far I’ll keep myself brief. I think it was horrible, selfish and very un-macrob- like to be releasing matters which should have stayed within the boundaries of our school into the public, into the media, and internationally. I will not make comment on the student protester as I believe there are complexities and layers to what they did and why they did it, but I stand firm on my position in saying that the act of releasing this into the public was uncalled for and undeserved. It places a negative shadow upon Mac.Rob’s image and reputation, as well as the students within it and it makes me so very angry that excellent, reputable, hardworking, dedicated, fun, all around awesome sauce 100% cool teachers are now being generalised as ‘shit’, and that the student population at Mac.Rob has become the brunt of sensationalist journalism and cruel internet jokes; generalised, stereotyped and objectified.

But I do love what happened yesterday with our tunnel of appreciative sticky notes. I love that it was wholesome and genuine and appreciative. And I love that OUR teachers, our tireless, friendly and HUMAN (just like us) teachers, responded just as enthusiastically, establishing a mutual understanding, and recognising a commonality between us. For anything to come out of this, especially something so positive, really puts my faith in the real culture of our school, and makes me appreciate my place so much more and recognise that we are strong and understanding, and loving, and we rise above adversity, and we are united, and we are full of silver linings, and I couldn’t be prouder of us.

So there you have it! This is what us FAM Leaders think of the situation at hand.

If you ever have anything or any concerns you want to talk about, please send us a question or find us on Chatstep. We’re always here for you!! :)

Love,

FAM xx.

[qwedfas]

Hi Fam, I'm yr11 and really want to try out for Fam next year, but I'm deathly unpopular (btw any tips on how to be less unliked?). Even though I'm not super outgoing or popular, I genuinely care about other people and know what it's like to have worries, which I can't say the same for lots of popular people. Do I have a chance? I'm pretty busy atm so please be honest because I can't afford to waste my time if I have no chance. If yes, any advice for applying? Thank you xx

Hey,

We understand where you’re coming from and we’re sorry that popularity dictates leadership positions in the way that it does sometimes.

We can’t tell you for sure what the probability is like for any person to be selected for any position – whether ‘popular’ or not – but regardless of that, we think that if this is something you really care about then it is absolutely worth trying out for. Sure if many people apply, not all of them will be selected but not trying at all means that you would have never gotten the chance to be selected no matter how much you may have wanted it. Don’t let the fear of not getting what you want stop you from going for it altogether. Be confident and put yourself out there.

If you don’t believe you will have the time to commit to FAM then, in that sense, FAM may not be the best portfolio for you to apply for because being a FAM member requires constant and maximal effort. As we are a collective, we need to be able to rely on each other and support each other, so if there are people who are unable to commit to their role and maintain their share of the work, it takes a toll on every other team member and affects the quality of the work that FAM does.

Love,FAM xx

[qwedfas]

Hi FAM! Just wondering when FAM Leader shortlists will come out :)

Hey there,

We really, really wanted to send them out at the end of last term, and Annie and I (Yianna) have shortlisted pretty much, but Ms Tinney and Gillian (our supervising teachers) also wanted to read all of your amazing applications so we are just waiting for them to let us know their thoughts as well. Shouldn’t be too long!!

Sorry about the wait!

Love,

2018 FAM LEADERS

[qwedfas]

Hey I just wanted to thank you guys for holding such an amazing are you okay day. I had so much fun doing all the wonderful things you guys planned out. It was also really great to see how happy people were when they were jamming out in the undercroft. You should be proud of yourselves because you definitely made my day 10 times better.

Hey,

We are so glad you enjoyed R U OK Day and that you got involved in so many of the activities we planned!

We really appreciate hearing comments like this and it makes all the hard work we put into planning R U OK Day, pay off.

So from all of us, thank you for making our day 10 times better as well!

Love,

FAMxx

[qwedfas]

do fam leaders get embroidery on blazer or colours? not applying for the role just wanted to know.

Hi there,

Both FAM leaders will get ‘FAM Leader’ embroidered on their blazers. However, being a FAM Leader or holding any leadership role doesn’t guarantee half or full colours. There is still the possibility though, depending on your commitment to the school in a certain category (in this case Leadership).

For half colours you must have contributed to the respective category for a minimum of 1 ½ years and for full colours it is a minimum of 2 years. There are also other criteria that the student must meet.

Hope this helps!

Love,FAM xx

[qwedfas]

Hey FAM just a follow up question from the application for FAM leadership, I was wondering if I am required to have any specific experiences to apply. Thanks

Hey there,

The only thing you really need to apply for FAM is a good heart, organisation and time management skills, a passion for raising awareness on mental health issues and helping others in the community!

If you’ve done any type of volunteering in the past, that may help, as well as any kind of working/interacting with people. Other than that, just bring yourself and really highlight all your good qualities that you can bring to FAM 2019!

Good luck!

FAM xx

[qwedfas]

Hey guys, when is RUOK day?

Hey!

RUOK Day 2018 is next week on Thursday (13/9)! We have plenty of things planned for the week so keep an eye out on your emails as we’ll be sending out more info soon.

GET HYPED!

FAM xx

[qwedfas]

hi fam! Have any of you have applied for or been involved in the Kwong lee dow young scholars program and if so, what was the experience like? Thanks :)

Hi there,

None of FAM have been involved in the program so unfortunately, we can’t share any experiences about it. Unlike with the Monash Scholars program, where the school lets anyone choose to apply and then will approve them from there), because a large number of students want to apply for the Kwong lee dow young scholars program, and the school is only allowed to recommend up to 5 (i think), they decide to shortlist a set of students, interview them and pick who they think are the best candidates for the program. Picking them doesn’t guarantee they will get in, it just means these are the students they approve to submit an application. Though we aren’t entirely sure how the school decides to shortlist students to be nominated for the program, we assume it depends on how well you do in class/ school involvement from which your teachers choose.

We can get you in touch with the recipients of the Kwong Lee Dow scholarship if you contact one of us directly :)

Love,

FAM xx

[qwedfas]

just wanted to thank u guys for the vce fam talk on thursday (i think it was then) it was very informative and helped a lot!

Hey!

Thanks for coming! We’re glad to hear that it helped you out. If you have any more questions don’t be afraid to contact us :)

Love,

FAM xx

[qwedfas]

hey im thinking of applying to be a fam leader for next year so can you give me a short rundown of what you guys do like behind the scenes and like what the application process is. is there like a 'main' co-captain of the whole of fam and then 20 other subleaders type thing? thanks :)

Hey there,

So this year was the first year that Friends At Mac.Rob was considered a portfolio – meaning that yes there were two co-leaders and a team of around 20 students.

Here’s a bit of a summary of the application process we went through:

First, applications for FAM co-leaders opened

The requirement was a 1-2 page document with a couple questions asking why you want to be FAM leader and what you would bring to the table etc.

From these applicants, a shortlist of worthy candidates is compiled and invited to sit an interview with Miss Tinney and Gillian

The interview was a group interview so if you were shortlisted, you and around 2 others who are also shortlisted will go into the interview together and each get the chance to respond to a couple of questions

The FAM co-leaders are then chosen by Miss Tinney and Gillian after careful consideration. (Also anyone who is shortlisted for FAM leader but who does not get it is automatically offered a role on the team.)

Applications for FAM team are then opened

The process is similar to that of the co-leader applications whereby a document of questions is required to be filled out and then followed by an interview

Hopefully after all that you are selected to be a part of this wonderful group that is all for helping the community :)

Please remember to be doing it for the right reasons and not for a status or a badge. Being a part of FAM requires a lot of effort, passion, and dedication, and it’s all about supporting one another so we can support everyone in our community together.

If you have any more questions, feel free to contact us (details listed on the Meet the FAM page) or come up to us in person too!

Love,

FAM xx

[qwedfas]

So no offence but you guys take a long time to answer questions. I understand you’re in year 12 and super busy but a lot of questions that are urgent are answered late and some that aren’t are answered first. I assume you might be answering questions in order of when you received them? Just a suggestion, maybe the more urgent questions should be answered first. Thank you!

Hey,

We’re very sorry about this, and we’re totally aware that we’ve been a tad slow. Being in Year 12 is tough, but we understand that this isn’t a valid excuse to use. We’ll take your suggestion onboard and we hope that we’ll get to your question and more urgent questions faster in the future.

Thanks for the feedback,

FAM xx

[qwedfas]

hi is it possible to be a fam leader with another badge position???

Hi,

This is the answer from one of our other recent questions:

From 2018, FAM is officially a portfolio at MacRob, which means that there are two co-leaders, as well as the FAM team (approx 20 students, similar to how we have two SRC presidents and an SRC committee that works under the presidents). As one of the two FAM leaders who looks after the rest of FAM team, you can only hold this one position as it is a portfolio position just like, for example, SRC president. However, if you are not a leader but a member of the FAM team, you can also apply for and be part of any other committee including SRC, enviro rep, etc. but not any portfolio positions such as SRC president or house captain.

Hope this has answered your question.

Love,

FAM xx

[qwedfas]

Hey FAM! I've always wanted to be a FAM leader since like Year 9, but if I was to become a FAM leader, does that mean that I can't hold another portfolio position? (e.g. SRC pres, house captain etc.)

Hey!

From 2018, FAM is officially a portfolio at MacRob, which means that there are two co-leaders, as well as the FAM team (approx 20 students, similar to how we have two SRC presidents and an SRC committee that works under the presidents). As one of the two FAM leaders who looks after the rest of FAM team, you can only hold this one position as it is a portfolio position just like, for example, SRC president. However, if you are not a leader but a member of the FAM team, you can also apply for and be part of any other committee including SRC, enviro rep, etc. but not any portfolio positions such as SRC president or house captain.

Love,

FAM xx

[qwedfas]

hi! im super bored right now so i was wondering what sort of music you guys listen to? any pop bands or artists would be nice, thanks <3

Hey,

FAM Member 1: Music from pop artists that I've really been into include Camilla Cabello's new album, Sam Smith, Lorde and Khalid.  I am also into indie pop, not sure if it's your style, but I highly recommend checking out Billie Eilish, Mallrat and Rex Orange County.If you're looking for a bit of a throwback, search for a year in spotify (if you use it) and check out the playlist for that year. Shameless plug for some whip-able music: https://open.spotify.com/user/lizzzy._/playlist/2VKehu8Ef9dCzEOlZjquUK If you're looking for something new, the Discover Weekly and Release Radar playlists are always good, as they are tailored just for you! (based on what you already listen to)Soundcloud is also good for finding some upcoming artists. 

Love, 

FAM xx