As part of the Independent Schools Victoria – Student Poetry Competition, Derek has won the Years 11-12 section for his poem, Summer Longings.
The competition, part of the Arts Learning Festival, was open to students from all school sectors, and attracted more than 300 entries.
This is what the judges said about Derek’s poem:
‘well-built lines with smooth transitions capture and contrast the colourful carefree days of childhood with the sombre consciousness of ageing’.
The Deputy Premier and Minister for Education James Merlino also recorded a message of congratulations:
Summer Longings, by Derek Villaceran
Those rubies falling from the sky
Glistening deep scarlet all around
Bright orange, vibrant like topaz
And yellows as bright as pure gold
Fall once again taking its place
Trees breaking down in the coming cold
Becoming stripped to the bare bones,
Yet they wait for their soon rebirth.
Those wintry days full of loneliness.
An endless sense of incompletion
An endless sense of listlessness.
All around us are clear diamonds
Tear dropped diamonds that pitter patter
in an endless soft rhythm.
With my coloured world so far away.
Peering into the grey void sky.
My adventures, but a distant dream,
as I await the first call of life.
The murmurings of creatures.
The birdsong all around us.
The frozen scenery awakens.
With ice in my heart thawed out.
Let the warmth of sunlight take me.
Let the gentle light rest on my face,
As I dream of those mirages
A dream of a long gone past.
That summer of my childhood.
The endless echoes of joy.
And the beckoning of companions.
All are but fragments of my memory.
Must I age ever so quickly?
This never-ending cycle of seasons.
Forever I am lost in the past.
Seeking a way to go back
A way back to that Summer.
But I continue walking.
Step by step.
Seeking that childhood in the sunset,
No matter the piling changes in life.
No matter the stinging pain,
no matter the longing in my heart.
Forever looking behind my shoulder
Picking up those pieces of me.
Piece by piece.
“Towards a new future”, I say.
But I can still hear the cicadas from that day.
Bake Sale
R 
Face Painting
A canvas for students to sign, to pledge to check in with their significant people
