This year, our Year 12 Leaders from Santa Maria and Aquinas Colleges have been planning a combined event for both Year 12 cohorts. Past events have included such things as netball games and other sporting activities, and this year the idea of a quiz night was agreed upon.

This quiz night was held at Aquinas College on Friday night with Year 12 students from both schools attending the quiz night fundraiser. Given it was a busy time of the year and an optional event, it was amazing to see the support of so many Year 12s from both schools.

The initial purpose of the night was to spend some time with our brother school in the midst of the busyness of our studies and co-curricular commitments. We then considered the possibility of it becoming a fundraising effort between the schools.

We were conscious that many girls and College families have greatly benefitted from bursaries and hospitality support from College ministries like Santa Assist when family circumstances change. The Santa Maria leaders decided to use this fundraiser to support Santa Assist and possibly offer support in purchasing uniforms and school booklist items, providing meals and vouchers for families in need. It seems an appropriate way to contribute in our final year at Santa Maria, in the Year of Hospitality. Aquinas College will contribute their share of the fundraising to a scholarship for a boy in need in the school community.

The night itself went very well! Teams were mixed, and there were several rounds of questions written by the student leaders, broken up by games and pizza dinner. We were very fortunate to have prizes of movie vouchers and fuel vouchers donated, and overall the night was great fun.

As a year group, we are grateful for the times when girls and their families have been supported throughout their time at Santa Maria, and this quiz night was an opportunity to give back to the College community that we are so fortunate to be a part of.

Emma Robinson, Head Girl