Recognition for Outstanding Contributions  

We congratulate Mark Waddington, who was presented with the Facere et Docere Award at St Patrick’s College, Ballarat recently. The details about Mark’s award are as follows and we congratulate him on this significant achievement and recognition:

"Former Director of Boarding and Director of Community Development, Mr Mark Waddington was honoured with the staff award in recognition of his incredible achievements at the College between 2002 and 2011. In that time Mark helped rebuild the boarding community after it teetered on the brink of closure, oversaw major capital fundraising programs for projects such as the OCA Pavilion and the Jo Walter Field, managed the re-introduction of scholarship and bequest programs at the College and helped drive enrolment numbers to record levels. Perhaps though his proudest achievement was the development, and ongoing management, of the College’s inaugural Indigenous Education Programme, which commenced with one residential student and quickly grew to incorporate students from many parts of the Nation.

Mark was also instrumental in the rejuvenation of the College’s vaunted football program and ushered in a bright new era for the Old Collegians Association with a renewed focus on engagement, joy and service. Today the College has over 80 boarders in state of the art facilities as well as over 65 boys in its highly esteemed Indigenous Education Program."

So much of the same energy, vision, compassion and wisdom has been deployed at St Virgil’s since Mark became the Director of Development in 2012.  The College has benefited enormously from his input over the past eleven years – so much of the planning of the multiple facets of the progression of the College to a K-12 school is attributable to Mark.  Furthermore, as the SVC-OVA Liaison his contributions have been enormous – he has been the glue holding the Association together over the past few years – a period when its future was all but non-existent. 

We congratulate Mark on his award whereby his time at St Pat’s Ballarat has been recognized and we thank him for his outstanding contributions to St Virgil’s and the Old Virgilians Association.

Pictured

Mark at the Mary Rice Centre in Nairobi, Kenya