The NCV Factor: A Night of Entertainment

Over the last five years NCV has developed quite a bit of tradition in the area of music. Starting in 2010 as an evening of primarily classical music, NCV’s Music Night has morphed into a more contemporary talent quest, in the tradition of the X Factor (but without the scathing feedback from the judges!).

This semester we were treated to performances (among others) of the Maroon 5 hit “Harder to Breathe”, Nena’s cold war classic “99 Luftballons”, Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” and Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable”. There was also a shout out to the retiring Federal Member for Kingsford Smith Peter Garrett, with the NCV Band performing Midnight Oil’s classic “Beds Are Burning”.

The NCV Choir went retro with renditions of the ABBA hits “Thank You for the Music” and “Mamma Mia”. The night was great fun, with the NCV Band now turning it’s attention to the Inter Residence Band Night at the Roundhouse in mid September.

The NCV Factor: A Night of Entertainment

NCV Winter Formal Dinner 2013

Three times each year the NCV Community gathers for a Formal Dinner. Formal Dinners are part of a long standing university tradition, and usually include an address by a prominent member of the university or wider community. The meal is a bit more special than your typical college dinner, and includes entrée, main and dessert. Since it opened in 2009 NCV has held 14 Formal Dinners, with the guests drawn from the sciences, the arts, the media, law and the business community.

Dr Terry Percival

For our 2013 Winter Formal Dinner the speaker was Dr Terry Percival. Dr Percival is currently the Director of Broadband and the Digital Economy at NICTA. Dr Percival has had a long and distinguished career in electrical engineering, having worked on radiotelescopes, optical fibre technology and wireless local area networks. As part of the CSIRO team that developed WiFi technology, Dr Percival’s research has had a direct impact on almost everyone’s day to day life. Terry proved to be a very popular speaker, with his presentation prompting a string of interesting questions. At the end of his talk he was practically mobbed by students wanting to get a photo with one of the inventors of WiFi. It was a fantastic night.

During the evening we were also treated to a musical performance by NCV’s Callum Savage. Callum is undertaking studies in chemistry and physics in the university, and also maintains a strong interest in classical guitar. Callum played Stanley Myers’ Cavatina from” The Deer Hunter”. It was a lovely performance.

Above: Posing for group photos after dinner with Dr Quinn

NCV Winter Formal Dinner 2013

NCV Harbour Cruise 2013

On Friday 2nd August, NCV’s Residents put on their best clothes and headed out onto Sydney’s Harbour for NCV’s biggest social event of the year, the NCV Harbour Cruise. This year the boat was again the “Sydney Harbour Ballroom” a stylish paddlesteamer. We set off from Sydney’s King Street Wharf at about 7:30, and enjoyed everything that Sydney’s iconic harbour had to offer. After enjoying some canapés on the top deck, everyone headed downstairs for more food, drinks and dancing. The DJ played everything from Beyonce to Tina Turner, and even a little bit of Stevie Wonder. As always Nutbush City Limits and the Macarena were popular items. After boat docked at 11 pm the cruisers rocked on to some of the local establishments. A great night was had by all.

This is the fourth annual NCV Harbour Cruise, with the event having become an important fixture on the NCV Social Calendar.

NCV Harbour Cruise 2013

Welcome Week 2013

160 new people joined the New College Village (NCV) in the first two months of the year. During the last week of February NCV held its annual ‘Welcome Week’ to celebrate the arrival of the new residents and to help new and returning residents form friendships and have fun. Check out the Welcome Week Photo Gallery to see more photographs.

Sunday

Many new residents had recently arrived in Sydney from overseas and interstate so a tour of the city to see the iconic Opera House and The Rocks made for happy snapping.

Monday

On Monday evening new residents met the Master, Dean, Senior Residents and Frank the Fat Penguin at a formal welcome.

Senior Residents gave the new residents a tour of the University with the helpful yellow-shirts.

A supper-crawl was held and residents went from floor to floor snacking and getting to know one another and the building.

Tuesday

Frank got friendly. The NCV mascot, Frank the Fat Penguin, ran a speed-dating style event for new residents followed by drinks and canapés.

Wednesday

NCV Residents donned dashing suits and cocktail dresses and embarked on the ‘The Classy Crawl’ to discover the fanciest establishments in Sydney.

For those who prefer a hot cup of coffee a group visited Sydney’s bohemian styled cafes.

Thursday

The Dean of NCV, Dr John Quinn, is undoubtedly the quizmaster. On Thursday night NCV residents battled it out to become NCV’s Intellectual Champions.

Friday

The Senior Ministry Residents Jesse and Olivia hosted a welcome to Christian Life at NCV and let the new residents know about local churches, NCV services and bible studies.

There is nothing more Australian than a snag (sausage), steak and chicken on the barbie. The NCV Senior Resident Team cooked up a storm while the NCV bank provided live music.

Above: Three of our Senior Residents enjoying the Karaoke

Later residents had the opportunity to bring out their singing voices for karaoke.

Saturday

Above: One group enjoying the 'Amazing Race' around Sydney

Residents braved a little rain to be amazing. Their map reading and puzzle solving skills were tested in the Sydney CBD as teams battled it out to win the NCV Amazing Race.

PhD, Masters by Research, Honours and ILP students took a break to meet each other over cheese and wine.

Sunday

The courtyard was converted to a badminton arena while in the games room a table tennis competition provided entertainment for those residents sitting back and relaxing with delicious ice-cream and pancakes.

Later that night the NCV courtyard became an open air cinema for a movie night as the final event of Welcome Week.

New NCV residents had a great time getting to know one another in Welcome Week 2013. By the beginning of Week 1 many new friendships had been formed that may well last a lifetime.

Welcome Week 2013

NCV Wedding! Another First

There have been many firsts in our short four year history as a residential community, but surely one of the highlights must be celebrating our first all NCV wedding. By this I mean a wedding between two NCV residents who met when they came to live with us in the community.

Patrick & Viv exchange their wedding vows

On the 12th December 2012 (12.12.12) at 12.00pm, about 30 friends and family gathered to witness and celebrate the wedding of Vivian Shek and Patrick Chan. Both Viv and Patrick joined us in 2009 as foundation residents. Patrick came from the USA to study medicine and Vivian came from Queensland to undertake a PhD in musicology. Both have made significant contributions to the life of the NCV.

There was a video link to the USA to allow other relatives to witness the event. There will also be another celebration in San Diego (at the San Diego Zoo) later in January.

LtoR: Carmen Cairney, Trevor Cairney (Master), Viv & Patrick, Premilla, John Quinn (Dean of Residents)

The wedding took place at the Headquarters of the Lutheran Church of Australia at Rhodes (Sydney). It was a moving service that involved a short formal ceremony, a message, prayer, hymns, the exchange of vows and the signing of the marriage register. It was followed by an afternoon tea that provided the chance to wish Viv and Patrick well, before they left for a short honeymoon and then their return to Sydney where they will live in Kensington (near UNSW).

LtoR: Theresa, Sandra, Viv & Patrick, Karen (& Oliver), David & James (all residents or former residents)

Congratulations Vivian & Patrick!

NCV Wedding! Another First