Patrick M: This year, we finally saw the return of the MADD festival! I’ll let Alex, our creative arts prefect, explain what MADD is: 

Alex S (Year 12): MADD festival is a celebration of the creative arts at the college. Over the week students had the opportunity to engage in a variety of workshops in Music, Art, Drama, and Dance, leading into Saturday which was filled with workshops and finally a showcase. When COVID hit, the creative arts were one of the most affected areas at the college. With musicals being cancelled (shout out to In the Bag and Sherlock Holmes) and the arts taking a hit, MADD aimed to promote the arts at the college. And we did just that! With a wonderful team of students and teachers, MADD came back better than ever.  

The MADD festival was an amazing opportunity for a range of students in the whole secondary school to get involved. For example, Elliot had a great experience during the week, participating in music activities: 

Elliot T (Year 7): It was my first experience of MADD week and I have to say – I loved it. I was part of the bucket drumming group, run by Mr Lewis. We played lots of fun rhythms and beats. I also got the opportunity to sit with people that I didn’t know beforehand, but after MADD week, I now know them well! On Saturday I was part of Stage Band 1 and SWE! I wasn’t in either of these bands before but the teachers running it were both really welcoming and friendly, also teaching me how to improve my music. Overall, my MADD week experience has been fabulous, and I cannot wait for next year! 

Christian also had a fun experience in the Playbuilding course! 

Christian T (Year 9): I got put into play building, despite having chosen Photography as my first preference and Choir as my second. Contrary to what I was thinking, the workshop turned out to be an absolute blast. We started off with the ‘Chair Game’ where someone in the middle tells a truth about themselves, and if that truth applies to them, they get to swap seats with another person. Whoever is left without a seat tells a truth about themselves, and so on. We finished up with the actual playbuilding, and although we had to IAMprovise on the spot, the audience still enjoyed it very much, and I myself, in the audience, were laughing with the actors “choking” on cookies or “building an escalator instead of an elevator”! 

Janice had a unique experience of the MADD festival, participating in both Dance and Tech Support: 

Janice H (Year 10): My experience in the MADD festival. It was exactly how I remember it, I’m so glad we were able to bring it back after Covid. As for this year’s activity, I chose dance. It was great to move around and do an activity I really enjoy. I was surprised that the dance workshop was like an actual dance school, especially since it was a compulsory activity meaning not everyone would dance, but I couldn’t have asked for anything better. It was refreshing to see how everyone in the class was willing to learn the dance and interact with the teacher, making it a very fun atmosphere.  

I also helped run tech in the MADD festival night. Man, it was so fun being able to watch everyone’s fruitful performances, and I had an amazing time with the crew behind the scenes when we set up lights and cameras. I always participated in the MADD festivals performing music and dance, but this was the first time I was in the back helping run everything and it was so much fun. Would one hundred percent recommend participating. 

The Saturday Afternoon workshops provided a chance for the parents and friends of our talented students to get involved too! 

Christian T: Yet still, the MADD Festival had more to offer. A community choir, where anyone, regardless of talent or experience, came together to “sing a song.” A drama showcase, where members of the “Film Storytelling and Acting” Xplore subject came to showcase their extraordinary (slightly scary!) films, and being a member of SWE myself, became overjoyed among my fellow band mates bursting out “Salute to American Jazz” arranged by Sammy Nestico, after having this piece refused way too many times! 

Finally, after the wide variety of great workshops throughout the week, it finished with the Saturday Night Concert: 

Alex S (Year 12): The Saturday concert was the pinnacle of the week. With it being one of the first paid concerts that the college has put on in a while (not to mention it was a sell-out) it was worth the money. We had many different students perform their HSC pieces, studio 1 dances, bands, and even a sneak peek of Clue. All the HSC performances deserve their own shoutout as they were incredible. We had Josh M (Year 12) perform his music piece, Abi FM (Year 12) performed her monologue “The Prayer”, and Annaliese B and Sienna G (both Year 12) performed their dance piece. Even including myself, performing my monologue “Future Mrs McTerry”. However, it didn’t stop there! We also had the primary musical cast perform “No one understands what it’s like to be a teacher” composed by our very own Mr Tredinnick. Another highlight of the night was the Musical theatre performance of ‘At the End of the Day’ and ‘one day more’ from the Musical Les Misérables. Despite the fact we were only given one 3-period to work on composing a performance-ready show, it delivered! Overall, the Saturday concert was a hit and all students who performed should be super proud of what they achieved. 

It was great to see so many students getting eagerly involved in this wonderful event, and I cannot wait to see what it has in store next week! A special thanks to Elliot, Christian, Janice and Alex for contributing to this article 🙂