Boarding News

As I reflect on National Boarding Week which has just concluded, I feel blessed to be leading the Marist College Ashgrove boarding community. The boys who live on campus bring so much to the life of the school and their connection to the school and its traditions are very strong because they spend 38 weeks a year living on site – it is very much their second home. In the short time I have been at Marist, I have found our boarders to be genuine, friendly and grateful for the wonderful opportunities they have been given to attend the school. They hale from all parts of Queensland, interstate and also overseas and this adds so much to the culture and diversity which is part of the fabric of Marist College Ashgrove. 

As well as the boys, there are many staff members who provide great support and contribute to the wonderful boarding community at Marist College Ashgrove. I am very grateful to the excellent Boarding Coordinators and all the Boarding Staff, the nurses, the counsellors, the catering team, the laundry staff, the cleaners, the grounds staff and many more. It is absolutely a team effort to provide the very best care for all our boarders and I extend my thanks to everyone who assists them.

National Boarding Week was an opportunity to celebrate the unique and special boys, staff and families who make up our Marist College Ashgrove boarding community and on Saturday we launched a new event to help bring everyone together. The Boarding Family Day was an idea put forward by members of our Boarder Parent Network and it was great to host it for the first time. Despite the wet weather, we had around 100 boarding parents, grandparents and siblings join us under a marquee to meet other boarding families and enjoy each other’s company. Reggie McMillan, Sam Miller and Harry Masel entertained guests with their musical talents and did an outstanding job. Everyone enjoyed a BBQ lunch provided by our Boarding Chef and it was also great to have all the boarders come down and be with everyone at this occasion. The event seemed to be well received and it will definitely be held each year going forward. Hopefully, with fine weather and a full round of home rugby and soccer games, we would see even more of our boarding community join in this great occasion. Special thanks to Bethany Halpin, Renae Lewis, Sophie Tuffley, Erin Livingstone and our Services Team who helped pull this event together.

There were a couple of other highlights last Saturday. Our 1st XV Rugby team worked hard and recorded a great win in atrocious wet conditions over Padua College. Congratulations to the following boarders who took the field on Saturday: Harry Condon, Connor Lyons, Gilbert Donaldson, James O’Connor, Bailey Caplick, Leon Karena, Jack Billing, Daniel Witt and Cody O’May. It was also the Indigenous Round on the weekend and it was fantastic to see our First Nation boys perform a traditional dance as part of a ceremony before the 1st XV game. The boys put a lot of effort into their practice for this special occasion and we are very proud of the great job they did of representing their culture.

Another great week in boarding and we look forward to a busy last few weeks of Term 2.

Around the Grounds

La Valla Residence

This week in La Valla saw many special moments, particularly for our First Nations boys. They worked with Mel Orcher on Thursday to create a dance that reflected their culture and pride in their heritage. It was wonderful to see the younger students learning from the boys and ultimately having the confidence to perform in front of a crowd. There is no crowd more intimidating than a football crowd at Suncorp Stadium and our Indigenous boys not only performed their traditional dance but played an exhibition match of touch football against Nudgee College. Sylis and Darius were lucky enough to have their mums there to witness this very special event.

Unfortunately, the rain is still playing havoc with our recreation plans with the cancellation of sport and Clean up Australia Day. The one benefit of rainy days is the opportunity to sleep in and the boys took full advantage of this situation with some not waking up until after 9:00am! We were so grateful that so many of our families could join us for the Boarding Family Day at the 1st XV Rugby match which gave our First Nations boys another opportunity to showcase their culture in front of our home crowd. We are so very proud of the diverse group of young men in La Valla and all that they have to offer. The big focus for the coming week is assignment drafting and hopefully getting on the fields to train for our sports!!

Montagne Residence written by Noah Beck

As we enter the halfway point of the term, there are a lot of things that are starting to ramp up for all boys in Montagne Residence. These include the start of exams and assignments for many boys – all tasks have now been handed out. With the end of sports just around the bend, it was unfortunate that the boys have only got to play a couple of games due to wet weather. Hopefully, we all get on the pitch this week! Congratulations to Braydon Creek on being a well-deserved winner of the Montagne Boarder of the Week. He has shown outstanding behaviour and is well-respected by his peers. 

On Friday night the boys went to the Reds vs Moana Pasifika rugby game along which saw the Reds winning. On Saturday, a boarding family meetup was arranged for families to socialize, alongside the 1st XV rugby game in which we were victorious winning by a vast amount over Padua. Due to wet weather, Sunday's clean up Australia day was cancelled, which meant it was a good time for the boys to just chill out, and study if needed. Also due to the wet weather, there haven’t been as many out days as usual, in which the boys would usually play touch or basketball. Shoutout to Ewan Wood, James Bradford, Liam Shay, and George Philp for helping the 1st XV Rugby by being the ball boys for the game. 

Hermitage Residence

Another busy week has passed and we find ourselves having arrived just past the halfway mark of the term. There has been plenty of assessment drafting and formative assessment preparation across both Year 9 and 10 as boys continue to ensure they are diligently applying themselves for the upcoming exam block period. The boys also cheerfully celebrated National boarding week, sharing in a range of diverse activities that highlighted the wonderful opportunities boarding has to offer. The highlight being the gathering and socialising of so many of our boarding families at our inaugural Boarding Family Fun Day on Saturday. Many families braved the weather, enjoyed music from our senior boarders, and made the most to catch up with friends new and old. It has been great to see the lads immerse themselves in war cry practice, and this was once again on display for our 1st XV game (the only game played) on Saturday. Thank you once again to the Baker’s (Kym and Lance - Hugo’s parents) for their kind donation of sensational citrus fruit, it has certainly been a hit in the dorm.

The weekend was full of hope for sporting fixtures, however, the weather once again quickly halted these plans. We are hopefully all good for fixtures against Iona to go ahead as many boys are getting itchy feet not running around the rugby and football field during the week and on Saturdays. Hats off though to Luca Martinuzzi who continues his undefeated run as a member of the College chess team!

Thank you to Mr Shane Ward, (La Valla Senior Supervisor and Day School teacher) who kindly ran a Year 10 RE assignment masterclass throughout the week to ensure the lads had a thorough understanding. Those boys who attended commented how beneficial it was. Finally, Happy Birthday for last Friday to Zek Anderson and EJ Bowen. Both celebrating birthdays on the same day. Many thanks to Kate and Clayton who had a GYG surprise sorted for the lads of Hermitage.

Fourviere Residence

The Year 11 lads have finished up their first unit of ATAR studies with a solid week of study and exams. With the exam block schedule relatively spread out a productive week ensued, allowing most boys ample time to prepare for their final assessment tasks of Unit 1. Whilst the bonus study sessions were welcome, so to was the extra downtime, which included a group trip to ‘Cold Rock’, the first gathering of ‘Tea Club’, ‘card games’ and ‘popcorn & footy night’. The Year 10’s had one last chance to brush up on their dancing skills before the big finale on Tuesday night.

Despite the dreary weather and the cancellation of all matches bar the 1sts teams, Saturday was a great success, it was pleasing to see a number of the Fourvière contingent get up early to catch the supporters bus across town and cheer on the 1st XI Football team. This was followed by the wonderful atmosphere of the Boarding family day and rounded out with debutants Cody O’May and Leon Karena making some good contributions alongside fellow Fourvière 1st XV representatives Harry Condon and Bailey Caplick in their first win of the season over Padua.

Br Terence Residence

With another week of consistent rain and most sport being cancelled, the boys were once again forced to find indoor activities to use up their energy. Jimmy Boland and Tom Doyle spent some time constructing a new BBQ for the residence, which was utilised on Friday evening. Our Year 12 boarders hosted the Year 8 boarders for dinner with James O’Connor and Gilbert Donaldson cooking the BBQ while Harry Masel and Archie Forbes put some finishing touches on the construction of the BBQ for the dorm. A number of our boys were fortunate to attend the Champagnat Trust Sports lunch earlier in the day to assist with the fundraising activities at the event. On Saturday, the College hosted the Boarding Family Fun Day with a marquee overlooking McMahon Oval. It was pleasing to see many of our families travel to Brisbane for the weekend and a special thanks goes to Reggie McMillan, Sam Miller and Harry Masel who entertained our visiting families with their musical talents. While the wet weather continued throughout the weekend, the boys were fortunate to be able to get out of the dorm for a while to cheer on the 1st XV in a wet and muddy fixture against Padua College. Special mentions this week go to Charlie Thompson who toiled away during the week to construct the banner the for the 1st XV to run through while the pre-match acknowledgement saw Year 12 boarders Chastyn Creek and Cadell Hendrikse play prominent roles.

Recreation Report - Mr Blair Whitlock

It was another frustrating weekend with rain scuppering the majority of our pre-planned activities. A good plan is a flexible plan and we kept the boys busy regardless. The final Reds home game took place against Moana Pasifika on Friday for Indigenous Round. A small group of our Year 7-8 Indigenous boarders were lucky enough to play on the field at Suncorp during the halftime break against a Nudgee team. An unforgettable experience for the boys and there were plenty of nerves as the halftime whistle approached! It was also an exciting match with the Reds coming away 34-22 winners. We stuck around after the game for autographs and were lucky enough to score a range of merch including worn socks (congrats Peter and Jack), drink holders, signed hats and a Reds balls signed by the whole squad! Meanwhile back at school, the Year 8s joined the seniors for a BBQ in the Br Terence Courtyard before an hour of basketball and dodgeball in the gym to close out Friday.

Saturday morning came with more rain and the cancellation of all sport matches except for the premier teams. The 1st XI Footballers came away with a 2-2 draw against Padua and the 1st XV Rugby had a strong win in front of many boarding families to kick start their season. Well done lads! We had planned to attend the Clean Up Australia Day at Nudgee Beach on Sunday morning but this was another victim of the weather. Instead, we let the boys have a sleep-in which made for a very quiet morning around the dorms. We loaded the bus for a Brookside trip late morning before finishing the weekend off with a visit to X Golf in Enoggera with a small group of Year 9-10 boys.