One of the most asked questions that boarders are asked is, ‘what do you do on the weekends?’ Well, apart from fun movie nights, eventful courtyard sports games and going home to our families, we also have barding house outings. Sometimes these consist of shopping trips to Civic or Woden, but other times the staff organise some special activities for us. This term, these activities included a beauty night with CGS, the Brumbies vs Blues rugby game, raising funds for the Salvation Army and a trip to the ice skating rink. These outings show the many faces of boarding – the social, the caring and the recreational. So here’s an inside scoop into the going on of boarding house life on the weekends!
Grammar Beauty Night
An extravaganza of food, games and skincare was hosted at the CGGS boarding house on the 14th of May, for a beauty night with the CGS girls. Year elevens and twelves decked out the borders sitting room – a common room for all boarders to hang out together – with decorations, and set up lots of different stations full of fun activities. There was a jewellery station, equipped with all the materials needed to create fashionable friendship bracelets, which were a hit across all years. The hair station was visited by a number of staff, with Bonnie McKean as hairstylist. A foot-soaking station was situated outside in the courtyard, underneath the string lights, however, it may have been a bit too chilly for the girls. An array of nail polish colours and embellishments were at the nail station, and the girls enjoyed painting some crazy patterns before taking them off for school on Monday. And finally, different face masks were available at the beauty station. Once introductions had been made, the girls chatted, ate some snacks and cracked open cold cans of soft drinks. ‘Guess the song’ videos played on youtube, and the whole house was singing along and yelling out their answers – all claiming they were first. After a while, everyone migrated to the CGGS oval for a game of spotlight, that got heartbeats raised and excitement high. Some CGS girls were even heard saying that they would be moving to CGGS! Once the game came to an end, the CGS girls begrudgingly got back on their bus and went home, however many CGGS girls were seen racing to the fridge for another can of soft drink.
Brumbies vs Blues Rugby Game
The 21st of May brought excitement to the boarding house for the night’s upcoming rugby match. 10 girls set off with Ms Heath to watch the Brumbies play the Blues. Per any bus ride with the boarders, the bus was filled with karaoke on the way and back. We all went into the game thinking that the Blues were the Waratahs until some people recognized some players from the All Blacks. That’s when we decided we should probably search them up and found out that they were actually a New Zealand team. Consisting of mostly Brumbies fans, we enjoyed cheering on the Brumbies and booing the Blues. In the game’s last minutes, the Brumbies were in the lead, but the Blues were getting precariously close to their try line. We all were out of our seats, cheering on the Brumbies and waiting for the time to be up. But unfortunately in the last seconds of the game, the Blues kicked a field goal and the Brumbies were narrowly defeated. Although not everyone was a Brumbies supporter or even knew much about the game, it was a fun and social experience for everyone to come together and have fun watching something as a group.
Salvation Army
Every year, the boarding house and its residents uphold the tradition of supporting the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal. The Appeal is the Salvation Army’s yearly fundraiser, where the Australian community steps in to help them fund their organisation and procedures. This year, representatives from the Salvation Army came the Monday beforehand to talk over procedure, answer any questions the students might have and sit down to a lovely meal provided by Chartwells. On Sunday the 22nd of May, the students were put into groups of three or four and given maps of their areas. Each group receives a specific area of Deakin or Forrest and sticks to their area to avoid asking the same people twice. The whole process takes around two to three hours, and although it can be tiring and a bit hot, the girls enjoy helping out where they can. Students can connect with their community and talk to numerous families with daughters, mothers and grandmothers who’ve attended CGGS. The Deakin community are all very generous, and with their help, the CGGS boarding house raised over two thousand dollars for the Red Shield Appeal. Overall, the experience is very rewarding and only takes a small portion of the weekend.
Ice Skating
On Sunday the 19th of June, a number of girls went on a trip to Woden and then the Phillip Ice Skating Centre. Upon walking in, the girls got a shock of cold but quickly acclimated when they saw the rink. Despite being a giant slab of ice, the girls became increasingly excited at the sight of people skating around. There was a rush to hire a pair of skates, a dash to find a seat to put them on, followed by some waddling to get onto the actual ice. The ice skating abilities range from experienced to as new as Bambi at the CGGS boarding house, but it was a fun time anyway. There were a few falls and lots of hugging the rail, but all of the girls became confident enough to skate in the middle by the end of the session. Boarding staff cheering from the sides encouraged the girls to throw caution to the wind and give it their best, even if they were terrified at the prospect of falling. While a bit scary, ice skating was a wonderful experience for everyone involved, and got the girls moving and grooving on the ice!
Overall, weekends at the boarding house this term have been pretty exciting, and there’s been lots of participation from all of the girls. And so, as you can see, boarders are allowed to leave the house – they’re not in jail!
