Director of Mission
Welcome to Mission news for Week 9!
Since my last article we have commenced having class liturgies with our Chaplain, Fr Paul, in the College Chapel. This offers students a beautiful opportunity to participate in mass with their peers. These masses occur during students' Religion lessons and will continue into next term, with the hope that we may eventually be also able to have year groups and whole College masses sometime soon.
Also this week, together with Sanita Lole, our Cultural Liaison Officer, we recorded two of the items that were supposed to be performed on Harmony Day, which was unfortunately cancelled with COVID restrictions. We thank Sanita for organising and preparing these amazing students and look forward to sharing these videos in coming weeks.
Sue Hone, our Pastoral Care Worker, has been busy organising CAT team activities along with some other fantastic initiatives, which you can read about in her regular news section. In particular, the “Show us Your Skills” competition concludes next week and staff and students are encouraged to continue sending in their entries describing what new skills they acquired over the COVID-19 isolation break. There are great prizes for this competition!
Continuing with the House Saint celebrations, Tony Abou-Nasr, House Leader of Marcellin, has an article below outlining the winners of the competitions that were held to celebrate the Marcellin House Saint Day. I would like to thank Tony for his work coordinating these activities.
Next week our College will acknowledge NAIDOC week. Due to COVID restrictions national celebrations will be held on 8th -15th Nov; however, we will continue to celebrate our College NAIDOC week with the original dates. Together with our Aboriginal Schools and Community Worker, Lorelei Wray, we have organised a few different activities that will assist our community to gain a better understanding of NAIDOC. The first activity was a whole school competition where students were asked to design their own NAIDOC poster based on the 2020 theme “Always Was, Always Will Be”. The winning entry, shown below, was from Mariam Syeda in Year 7. Congratulations Mariam, we hope you enjoy your pizza voucher and thank you to everyone who participated in this competition. This poster will be placed around the College next week.
During our APC time next Wednesday each Homeroom will play a Kahoot game based on the history of NAIDOC and the Wiradjuri and Torres Strait Islander people. This will be an informative and fun activity for all. A special Reconciliation prayer has also been placed into our College prayer calendar for each day next week. Lastly, throughout the week students from Year 7-10 will be watching a documentary titled, “In my Blood it Runs”. It follows a 10 year old Arrernte Aboriginal boy named Dujuan as he grows up in Alice Springs. The documentary outlines the struggles he and his family face as they strive to give him the best education possible despite the challenges. For anyone wishing to watch this, it also premieres on Sunday, July 5, 9.30pm on ABC and ABC iview. Thank you to Lorelei for her organisation and support of our NAIDOC festivities.
To conclude, I would like to thank the College Leadership team for their support and for providing me with the opportunity to take on the role of Director of Mission for the four weeks while Mr Neville has been on paternity leave. Thank you also to the Mission team, Miss Polimeni, Ms Lole, Ms Wray & Ms Hone, for their assistance and support.
On behalf of the Mission team, Mr Neville and myself, we would like to offer everyone the following blessing for the last week of term and upcoming holidays -
May the God who created a world of diversity and vibrancy,
Go with us as we embrace life in all its fullness;
May the Son who teaches us to care for strangers and foreigners,
Go with us as we try to be good neighbours in our communities; and
May the Spirit who breaks down our barriers and celebrate community,
Go with us as we find the courage to create a place of welcome for all.
Belinda Aventi
Acting Director of Mission
Marcellin Feast Day Drawing Competition:
As Henri Matisse put it, “Creativity takes courage” and doesn’t Marian have creativity and courage in abundance. Such was shown through Marcellin Feast Day which took place on the 6th of June, celebrating the many achievements and mission of Saint Marcellin Champagnat. In commemoration of this, Marcellin House ran the Marcellin Feast Day Drawing Competition, whereby students were given the opportunity to flex their creative muscles, by drawing their favourite red character. It goes without saying that many of the entries were nothing short of amazing. The sheer breadth of creative energy and artistic talent was something to truly marvel at; with Mariam Syeda’s first place drawing of Ariel, Joanne Sebastian’s second place drawing of Mushu The Dragon and Allira Aventi’s third place entry off the Angry Emotion from the Pixar film ‘Inside Out’ was a testament to this. Choosing three winners was an extremely difficult task as every entry showed their own flare of artistic passion and vision. I’d like to thank all participants and to congratulate the winning students. It is always a breath of fresh air being able to allow students to stretch their creative wings and I’m looking forward to next year’s entries.
Marcellin Feast Day Dodgeball Competition
On Wednesday, the 17th Of June, Marcellin House ran and participated in the Marcellin Feast Day Dodgeball Competition held on the Basketball courts at Marian Catholic College. The day itself was filled with fierce competition, with houses being pitted against each other, only flaring the existing rivalries even further. The first game took place at Lunch One, seeing the leading house Marcellin going head to head with Patrick. Mr. Keady stood on the sideline, his whistle poised at his lips, hand raised, the shrill of the whistle pierced the air and they were off. From the very second the whistle blew, players from each side sprinted towards the line, their arms outstretched, reaching for the balls placed on the line, others took a more cautious approach, falling back in order to gauge their opponents, sizing them up. The entire game was well fought, with flashes of colour as the balls whizzed back and forth, the scraping and squeaking of shoes against the basketball court. What felt like an eternity, came to an end with the final player being eliminated, and as it stood: Patrick won the first game.
The second game, held at lunch Two, saw McAuley house facing the underdogs, the Brendan Lions. From the very beginning this was an intense, fast paced and electric match with both sides unleashing a relentless onslaught of dodgeballs. With both teams firing at both cylinders, with neither side letting up, it was Brendan house who came out victorious. The crowd went wild, the underdogs had made it to the grand final.
It seemed that spectators couldn’t wait for the clock to strike 2, which signalled the beginning of recess, the beginning of the Marcellin Feast Day Dodgeball Competition Grand Final. Two teams, two houses, Brendan and Patrick--it was on. As soon as the whistle blew, it was a blur of ducking, diving and dodging. The vollying of dodgeballs was rivalled only by the ferocity and house spirit in which they were thrown. The novelty of the day, the Mascot Of Brendan also got involved, showing heart and leadership. The battle roared on, but like many great battles, there was only one winner. Patrick.
Stood victorious, and as it were, they were crowned as the 2020 Marcellin Feast Day Dodgeball Competition champions.
All in all, all the houses and players involved showed tremendous heart, sportsmanship and team spirit. It was a true testament to the values and teachings that Marian as a school and family hold true. A big thank you to all those involved, and I’m excited to see such passion being exhibited in next year’s Dodgeball Competition.
Mr Abou-Nasr