RELIGIOUS 
STUDIES
Why do you think you care about 
others? Is it biologically driven or a 
moral obligation. Morality is affected 
by many different things but Patricia 
Churchland, a female Canadian 
American philosopher, has researched 
the biological side to morality. She 
founded the idea of ‘neurophilosophy’ 
in the late 70s to early 80s driven by 
the idea that understand the nature of 
the mind requires understanding the 
nature of the brain. Her belief is that 
morality and ethics are influenced by 
biological features in the brain such 
as care-giving behaviours. Her prolific 
work has paved the way for people 
to understand the complex topic of 
morality and for people to understand 
the human brain more fully, making her 
6 awards and honours be very justified. 
Even today she still works in the field 
of neuroscience, working to develop 
a better understanding of morality 
and the brain at the age of 82 who is 
going to remembered as a pioneer in 
neuroscience and understanding the 
brain, a figure who redefined moral 
philosophy and more.
Risikesh Biswas, Year 9
MATHEMATICS
John Forbes Nash Jr (American 
1928-2015) was one of the most 
influential mathematics of the 
20th century known for reshaping 
economics, game theory and 
mathematics itself. He also created 
the Nash Equilibrium. This idea is 
widely used in economics, politics 
and evolutionary biology. He received 
the Nobel memorial prize in economic 
sciences in 1994 for his work 
on non-cooperative 
games. In 2015 he 
also received the Abel 
prize for his work on 
the nonlinear partial 
differential equation.
Eesaa 
Plummer, 
Year 9
ENGLISH
Mark Twain was a school dropout who became one of 
USA’s most famous writers. HHis eal name was Samuel 
Clemens and he drove riverboats and much of his time 
was taken up with avoiding debt. His book Huckleberry 
Finn in 1884 gained the attention of the country, along 
with his most famous novel Tom Sawyer which shows 
how real kids misbehaved back then. His most famous 
quotes are, ‘If you think you can, you will,’ and ‘Youth is 
wasted on the young.’
Daniel Chintala, Year 9
WHAT
HAVE  NORTH 
AMERICANS
done for us?
Citizens of Mexico, the United States and Canada have made enormous contributions to 
every curriculum area. Students from Year 9 choose some of their favourite examples.
PHOTO: VERA DE KOK, CC BY-SA 4.0, 
via Wikimedia Commons
PHOTO: 
PETER BADGE 
CC BY-SA 3.0 
via Wikimedia 
Commons
Abraham Zapruder was just an ordinary 
clothing manufacturer. He wasn’t a 
journalist or a spy, but just a man who 
brought a home camera to film President 
Kennedy passing through Dallas. Then, 
a plot of mystery and murder unveiled 
itself. The assassination of John F. 
Kennedy happened right in front of him, 
but he continued filming. This 20 second 
clip revolutionized not just American 
history, but global history. That short 
film, now called the “Zapruder Film”, 
became the most famous footage of the 
assassination, and has been analyzed for 
decades by investigators, historians 
and conspiracy theorists. This 
footage caused him to go 
from a clothing manufacturer 
to the man who filmed the 
assassination of President John 
F. Kennedy, highlighting his name 
and establishing a legacy for 
hundreds of years to come.
Aayan Pirani, Year 9
HISTORY
PHOTO: FBI, 
Public domain, 
via Wikimedia 
Commons
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