Year 10: we are now getting right to the very end of my schooling journey. The last three years actually. I think this was the last enjoyable year before many things started going sour in my life, but as I like to say, you can still find enjoyable things out of the most troublesome years in your life. Year 10 was a great year to stamp my mark on the schoolyard, and the netball court, of someone you shouldn’t mess with.
Our compulsory subjects of English, Maths, Humanities and Science split off into different subjects, based on your skill level. Foundation was basic and for those who struggled in a subject, Core was for the average and typical knowledge of a 15-16 year old in that subject and Advanced was for smart kids in that subject. I wanted to challenge myself and not have the label of taking a foundation subject, so I did every subject at the Year 10 Core level except for Humanities, where I studied at the advanced level.
I had my Year 8 English Teacher for Year 10 once again, Ms. Tucker. But she was now known as Ms. Hudson for she was married. We studied one of the most significant books I’ve ever read in my life: George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”. Year 10 English was the awakening to my interest in writing and I believe it was Ms. Hudson’s firm yet fair attitude to teaching the subject that helped me on my way to being the writer I am today.
Year 10 Maths was a confusing end to my long struggle with mathematics, as we had multiple teachers. Our original teacher never took his teaching job and even his original replacement couldn’t take our class. Four more teachers would take our Maths class that year in the form of Mr. Gin, Ms. Prygodycz, Ms. Elchikh and Ms. Tay. You can tell I had multiple teachers based on the different style of notes I have in my workbook that year. We also had the very annoying CAS electronic calculators that year which had to be charged each night. I never charged mine, oops!
Advanced Humanities was taught by Mr. Young, one of my favourite teachers of all time. I would later become one of his favourite students, as he taught my favourite part of global history quite well – the 20th Century. We focused on Hitler’s rise to power, the Second World War and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s – both of African Americans in the USA and Indigenous Aboriginals here in Australia.
Science was taught by Ms. Blaney, whom was quite strict yet also quite quirky and fun. The most annoying part of science was having to do pre-lessons, where we were assigned videos and notes to study and read before every lesson. You got a detention if you didn’t do them, and that was enough to make you do them, even if they weren’t that pleasant!
My electives for that year were sport, fitness, an economics/accounting class known as Money Matters and a class called Conspiracy Theories. Mr. Callan was the perfect man to teach that class and taught us about all sorts of crazy conspiracies out there including UFOs, proxy wars, controversy surrounding JFK’s assassination and the moon landings. I remember impressing him when I wrote a strong essay about the Greek Civil War and the controversy still felt today in Egejska Makedonija.
Year 10 had a formal that year, but I never attended for I was too invested in the care of my mother. Again, I have no regrets on any part of my life journey for I would attend the even better Year 12 Formal two years later when I really needed such an event. 2017 would be my last time to New Zealand as well, before things well and truly changed forever. This was an enjoyable prelude to the years that would truly test me as a human being.
