Clubhouse News

New Look Website!
Thanks to the efforts of Mentor Dan Bronsema and his friends at Stripe Media, The Computer Clubhouse has a new site design.
Check it out at www.fitzroylearningnetwork.org.au/cclub
There will be new and exciting updates and projects being shown soon!

Clubhouse starts again!
Computer Clubhouse resumed on Tuesday 29th January 2008. This was Girls Day where members wasted no time beginning new challenges and learning new technology. This time it was Lego Mindstorms being used to create robots. Lego Mindstorms teaches participants elements of programming and engineering, coinciding this with Girls day which creates a safe and encouraging environment for females to experiment with activities which are traditionally male dominated.

Music Studio
At the end of 2007 we were lucky enough to have a Keyboard and stand, Mixer, Microphone and stand donated to the clubhouse to start our very first music studio! Members have already embraced this new addition creating harmonies, beatboxing, rapping and experimenting with the beat creating software to make some great sounds.

Showreel
2007 was an incredibly successful year with clubhouse members continuing to learn and experiment. A sample of member’s project were shown at the end of year certificate night which was well attended. Please view our showreel below.

Click to play our showreel for 2007 that was shown at our Certificate Night in December. You will need quicktime to view. It can be downloaded here.

End of Term Certificate Night
This celebration was held on Thursday 14th December to celebrate the achievements of clubhouse members and to acknowledge the assistance of our volunteers throughout 2007. We were very pleased to have some of our supporters attend to help us celebrate, namely Genevive from Portland house, Andrew and Katherine from Edsoft, Fitzroy Learning Network staff, steering committee members and family who have joined us today to celebrate a great year.

Several important events during 2007 were remembered and celebrated, namely-

• The opening of our new clubhouse facilities. Since moving into the back room we can now fit in more computers as well as having the space for project work off the computer such as claymation, lego robotics and more. The opening was great fun and was opened by Cr. Jenny Farrar, Mayor of the City of Yarra. It was a fantastic day that was attended by the members, teachers, and representatives from educational institutions around the state.

• Attendance of ELH conference. In August 10 members, Clubhouse Coordinator Tara and Steering Committee member Josie Hopkins got in a mini-bus with 6 laptops, lego and picocrickets and headed down to Lorne for the ELH conference. With the laptops we set up a mini clubhouse and created and got to show our projects off. We had a great time meeting industry professionals and learning about cutting edge technology. Computelec were kind enough to look after us while we were there and the weather was brilliant. We look forward to doing it next year!

• Girls Only Careers Day held during term 4 with 10 speakers coming from professions such as Hairdressing, Financial Advisor, Pyschologist, Optometrist, Filmmaker and more coming to talk about their careers to the members. It was a great day and we look forward to holding more for all the members in the new year.

The peer-selected Clubhouse Committee helped with the organisation of the Certificate Night. In Term 4 they took some group building activities with Fatem from Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues and decided that some of the things they wanted to do was to organise activities and have fun. After the certificate presentations there was a halal BBQ cooked by clubhouse members and mentors and some games chosen and organised by the members as well.

It was a very successful afternoon and we look forward to continuing the enthusiasm and fun in the clubhouse in 2008!

Wishlist
The computer clubhouse continues to strive to provide high-end software and technology for its members. If you would like to support the clubhouse, please consider contributing towards the purchase (or donation) of the following items.
Scanner- colour, A4 or larger, compatible with XP and vista (300dpi)
Digital Camera
High Quality Headphones (for sound studio – making music)
Headphone Amp (for four or more headphones)
Graphics Tablet
Digital SLR camera with standard, zoom and macro lenses.

Coming Events

Thurs 25th Sept 6:00 for 6:30 movie Fundraiser, Caramel

Caramel revolves around the intersecting lives of five Lebanese women. Layale (Nadine Labaki) works in a beauty salon in Beirut along with two other women, Nisrine (Yasmine Al Masri) and Rima (Joanna Moukarzel). Each one has a problem: Layale is stuck in a dead-end relationship with a married man; Nisrine is no longer a virgin but is set to be married to a Muslim; Rima is attracted to women; Jamale (Gisèle Aouad), a regular customer and wannabe actress, is worried about getting old; Rose (Sihame Haddad), a tailor with a shop next to the salon, is an old woman who had devoted her life to taking care of her mentally unbalanced older sister Lili (Aziza Semaan), but has found her first love. The film doesn’t refer to any of the political problems or recent warfare that has troubled Lebanon. Rather, Labaki’s tale paints everyday people with everyday problems. More on the movie at: http://www.caramelmovie.co.uk/ The movie starts at 6:30pm but join us in the lobby for drinks and nibbles from 6pm. Tickets at $20 or $15 for vols & concession. We hope to see you there. Please RSVP by Mon 22nd Sept to admin@fitzroylearningnetwork.org.au or 94172897.

Tuesday, 14th October 12:00-5:00 Youth Services Expo

FLN is holding a Youth Services Expo to help connect the young people of Fitzroy with the youth services and employment opportunities available to them both locally and nationwide. If you are able to help us with the event or would like to be involved, please contact Tara at tara@fitzroylearningnetwork.org.au or call 94172897

The World Around Us, Thurs Oct 30th

A night of high quality musical entertainment organised by Robbie Raymond, 2nd year Australian Contemporary Music Student at NMIT. Tickets at $25.00 or $20.00 concession including dinner and entertainment. BYO alcohol. The event will be held at the Northcote Uniting Church, 251 High St Northcote. All proceeds from the evening will go to the Fitzroy Learning Network.
Performers include accomplished Australian Jazz Singer, songwriter, Ruth Rogers Wright as well as one of Melbourne’s best pianists, Mark Fitzgibon. The classics cover band Wonder will perform as well as opera and contemporary vocalist, Lorie Iannotti. Groove to the Latin rhythms of Claudia Osegueda as well as upcoming band Raven.
More details here

Jumble Sale, Sun November 23rd

We’ll be selling anything we can get our hands on to raise funds for the Network. We’ll have a sausage sizzle as well as live performers on the day so it should be fun for all. We’ll be starting here at the Network at 11:00 and we hope to see many of you there. Please get as many people as you know to come along. We are also asking for good quality donations for the event so if you have anything to donate, please call 9417 2897 to arrange a drop off time.

FLN AGM & Back to FLN, Celebrate the End of TPV’s Party, Weds 26th November

We will be holding our annual AGM with special guest speakers to be announced, followed by a celebration to commemorate the end of TPV’s! We’ll be starting the AGM at 6 and the festivities from 6:30 where we’ll welcome back many of our friends for whom FLN was first “home” in Australia. We hope to see many of you there. Please RSVP to admin@fitzroylearningnetwork.org.au or 9417 2897 by Nov 24th.

Certificate Night and End of Term Party, Fri 12 Dec

Our annual Certificate Night for students and volunteers takes place on the 12th of Dec from 4:00 this year. Join us for the ceremony then a big BBQ and party in the FLN courtyard where we can say Thank You for a great year.