Education in Faith

Guest Speaker – Preston Centuolo, New Jersey, USA.

In association with Compass Community Care, Preseton Centuolo form the Youth Alliance, USA, visited St Bede’s College to share a message of hope and inspiration with our students. Below is a message from Preston, followed by three reflections written by students who attended the address by Preston.

Preston Centuolo: “Today’s youth are bombarded by messages of what it takes to be cool. For some, cool is being in a gang, for others, it’s drugs, alcohol, or sex.

I believe that teenagers need to find out who they are before they can make sound choices on their future. They need to know what they believe in, what they are good at, and what their goals and dreams are.

My message is aimed at helping kids figure out what their dreams are, giving them the inspiration to go after those goals, and then encouraging them to be true to themselves instead of sacrificing their goals to peer pressure, violence or victimization.

My hunger is to help youth overcome adversity. I excel at working with troubled youth, because I show them acceptance, love, and respect. The more troubled they are, the more success I seem to have in relating to them and empowering the message of hope.

My goal is to inspire the leaders of tomorrow to overcome, whether there are problems in their home, their school, or their neighborhood. I want to make the world a better place to live for all of us. ” – Preston

On Tuesday 22 May, the Year 12 cohort were fortunate enough to have guest speaker Preston Centuolo come all the way from the United States, to speak about the challenges of growing up and the difficult choices we face as teenagers. His message centred around finding our ‘true selves’ in the increasingly chaotic, information-overloaded age where we are often pressured into acting like someone we aren’t. He spoke of his own emotional troubles in school and how impacting even the smallest demonstrations of kindness were in his life. Preston believes that every young person has immeasurable purpose no matter what their past or present circumstances are and encouraged us to believe in our own abilities. We greatly appreciate Preston’s insight into living life positively and teaching us how to interact with our peers so that everyone in our community is made to feel welcome.

Year 12 – Martin Haycroft (TG32)

On Tuesday the 22nd of May, Preston Centuolo, came and spoke to the year 8’s as our guest speaker. From the get go, Preston kept us involved and we got the vibe that we were going to have just as much fun as we were about to learn. He shared his tough childhood with us, how he had to handle going to school with a disability. His life at home was not the best either, he lived with a sibling, his mum and dad but his mum has Multiple Sclerosis, which made it hard for him. He told us about how the medication his Mum took caused her to have major mood swings, as such, home was not a good place for him. Preston’s dad was not home a lot, so he never found out that his wife was hurting Preston until Preston was in his twenties. He loved going to school, even though the kids were not always kind to him, because he loved the feeling of safety and belonging around the teachers. He did anything he could to get to school earlier or stay at school after hours. Preston’s main message to us was to consider how we treat people and to understand how the things we say and do have an effect on other people. He wants everyone to look for the good qualities in people, not to bring people down because of some of their weaker qualities. Preston has helped us understand how we can be better people and it made an impact on our year level.

Jakob Anderson (8.6) and Harry Griffin (8.8)

On the 22nd of May, Preston spoke to the Year Seven’s about how he was bullied as a kid because he had special needs. He spoke to us about how we can change our futures and other people, he said the teachers would always say “ I’m glad you’re here it wouldn’t be the same without you. ” There would be this moment when all parents from his school would go and bring food and met up with each other but his mum and dad wouldn’t go so he went by himself and sat with the teachers that where there. His mum had to take special medication and the pills would make her go crazy and scream at Preston, he carved his name near his window and it said “I want to die.” He talked about how 5,000 kids in America want to end their lives each day. He started this campaign called ten/ten which meant you say ten nice things to ten different people. When his son was born he was diagnosed with Autism and Preston felt it was his fault that his son had Autism when it wasn’t, the son would go up to people and say a nice thing about the person even if they would say something bad to him.

Year 7 - Ryan Burleigh (7.8) and Samuel Harris (7.8)

Education in Faith

Year of Youth Forum – Monday 21 May – Southern Region Gathering at St John’s College Dandenong

A delegation of students represented St Bede’s College at the Year of Youth Forum, hosted by St John’s College Dandenong.

The event featured Bishop Mark Edwards and international musician Steve Angrisano. It was an opportunity for students across the Southern Region of the Archdiocese to engage with Church leadership and reflect on the Year of Youth.

James D’Abate (TG14) offered the following reflection:

On 21 May 2018 Myself and a group of 14 boys from Years 10, 11 and 12 went to St Johns Dandenong, a fellow Lasallian school and heard Bishop Mark Edwards and international musician Steve Angrisano; both spoke about the Catholic faith and the Church and what we can do to improve it - as we are the current and next generation. The day consisted of three main parts; Speakers at the beginning, group activity for discussion of what the Catholic Church meant to the students as well as how the Church could draw more young men and women in to supporting the faith. Then finally, a Q & A session in which any of the attendants could ask the Bishop about any concerns they had to do with the Church and its integration of the younger people.

The Beda Boys were extremely respectful as well as attentive to the speakers, they also asked good questions and formulated educated responses. A stand out was Massimo Vignali, when posed the question :“Why can’t women acquire positions of power or influence such as; Priesthood, Bishop or even being ordained the Pope.” Bishop Mark responded stating that, “to be a Catholic it does not matter what you are called, only your relationship and kindness towards others is what matters in the eyes of God.” This response received a round of applause and cemented the fact that we as a community understand and can truly make a difference, whoever we are.

On the day, we were accompanied by Ria Greene (Deputy Principal) and Br Tony Cummins, who ran a small group and facilitated the entire day out. Overall, the day was a success as we communicated openly and without judgement. I feel as though we were able to make a difference to the outlook of the Church on our generation and begin the change that needs to happen for us to thrive.

ACC

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