The remarkable 18 year old has risen to the elite of the sport from the humble beginnings of Ice Hockey SA’s ‘Ice Factor’ program, which supports disadvantaged kids.

“With eight sisters in the family I could never have afforded to experience playing”, she said of the program.

“It has helped me improve my grades at school.  I made my involvement in the Ice Factor program the subject of my Year 12 research project and received an A grade for it.”

Michelle never wanted to be a goal-tender, but only took up the job after her goalie team-mate didn’t show up for the Ice Factor tournament.

“I found there was a lot more involved in the position than I had imagined,” she said.

“There’s a lot of pressure and it’s really mentally challenging but I enjoyed the thrill of being the last defenceman, so I stuck with it.”

Her rise to Australian ranks has come at an incredible rate, but Michelle isn’t happy with just making up the numbers.

“It would mean the world to me if all my hard work pays off and I can be a part of team Australia,” she said.

Article from The Sunday Mail 10 February 2013

The Valley View Vipers have experienced great success in Ice Factor both on the ice and off. Multiple students have used Ice Factor to motivate their school aspirations, but their success has filtered from the program to social competitions all the way to National success.

Sisters, Karly and Michelle Coonan, have achieved great success through the program. We wish them the very best in their future endeavours and we look forward to hearing about their future success.

Some very exciting news – Michelle Coonan has been selected as third Goalie for team Australia.

She will play in a warm up game in Newcastle in late March. From there she will travel to New Zealand to play in the World Championships.

She is the first player from Ice Factor to play for Australia. What a fantastic achievement!!

• Helping families with the payment of every day bills like energy, gas, phone and water
• Paying overdue accounts like council rates, car repairs, rental and mortgage assistance
• Sadly, last financial year we paid for 22 funerals, and we have so far assisted in the payment of 10 funerals since July last year
• Payment of wigs for children currently undergoing Chemotherapy
•  Childcare fees for children whilst their sibling undergoes treatment
• Payment of hospice fees for end-of-life respite.

 Your kindness enables us to help struggling families of kids with cancer. Should you wish to continue your help on a regular basis, you may join in our $80,000 Art Union winner’s choice draw held just 3 times a year or make a direct donation where 100% of your donation goes to the kids by phoning free-call 1800 255 522.

 Thank you for your generous support, you are a hero to us and to the kids and their families that we help.

 Darryl has raised $420 so far.  If you would like to donate please go to:

http://www.everydayhero.com.au/darryl_standish

It was a HOT start to the camp & the cool water was appreciated by ALL.  Students were able to be involved in a variety of fun aquatic activities.  Most students surfed for the first time and thought it was a great and fantastic experience.  Many new friendships were formed over the three days. 

A great bunch of students!!

Well done to all Year 8’s and a special thank you to all staff who attended the 2013 Year 8 Surf Aquatics Camp.

Kevin Layugan and Samantha Hopkins are both off to study Pharmacy;

Anthony Cooper has a place at Flinders Uni to study Paramedical Science;

Josh Maloney, the VVSS 2012 Dux, is going to study Civil Engineering; Stephanie Forte has achieved her goal of being able to study Social Work, and Ricky Sallemi is off to study Architecture;

Nathan Griffith, Matt Finch, Harry Beresford and Jason Moore have all received offers to study a range of sciences and Michelle Coonan has an offer to study Nursing; Aryan Jellil has a place in the Oral Health degree at Adelaide University and Alex Poplawski is also off to Adelaide Uni to study Music.  Eleven students have been offered places in Foundation Studies at UniSA including Business, Health, Arts and Education.

Ben Fleet is off to TAFE to study Commercial Cookery (we are all looking forward to the future café);  Aaron Felusch, Daniel Mulheron and Alex Wojciechowski are into a range of Information Technology.

There are other students who have got into a range of other courses and we would love to hear about them. Please email us at  info@valleyview.sa.edu.au if you have any more information.  These are the offers and the young people may make different decisions about their futures but we are proud because they have graduated from Valley View Secondary School with a great start.

I would invite anyone who is interested in participating in the Governing Council that meets on Wednesdays, twice a term.

The official opening of the Trade Training Centre was held in term four, with teachers and students showcasing work in Science and Technology as part of the celebrations.

In 2013 this work will be expanded into A Makers Space above the Middle School Learning Hub, where students and Makers have the opportunity to work together.

Thanks to the efforts of Leanne Armstrong, Carmen Wilson and Frances Bedford MP we have been granted $100,000 to replace the broken air conditioners in the gym.

The development of the Home Economics Centre has been put out to tender and will commence towards the end of this term.

We have developed a new trade training centre for Children’s Services in the old Flex building.