Samantha Is Off For Anzac Experience

BY JOHN MCLAURIN

MERICI College Year 10 student, Samantha Elise Trafford is off to France after being selected as the 2018 Simpson Prize winner for the Australian Capital Territory.

She will be accompanied on the tour to the ‘Western Front’ between April 16 and 29 by Merici teacher, Liza Laird.

Together they will attend the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Villers-Bretonneux alongside other students and teachers.

The Simpson Prize is a history competition which has a focus on the legacy of ANZAC, open to all Year 9 and 10 students in Australia.

Students were required respond to a quote and question provided using both the Simpson Prize Australian War Memorial Source Selection and one’s own research.

The 2018 Essay Question was “Some historians have described 1917 as “the worst year of the Great War” for Australia and Australians. To what extent is this assessment accurate?”.

Students are encouraged to agree, debate with or challenge the statement from a variety of perspectives – individual, national and global – and to use sources in a variety of forms.