From the Principal

WAVING GOODBYE FOR NOW

Soon we shall wave a fond and loving goodbye to our senior Year 12 students as they depart daily life at St Monica’s College, Epping and embark on the next stage of their lives.  Gone will be the routine, atmosphere, climate and ambience of Epping secondary school life, and many, many moments of discovery will be revealed and opened up for exploration and pursuit.

The entire College community thanks these wonderful Monicans and prays for them as they become Jubilee Year Pilgrims of Hope.  We wish them well, good health, the very best of luck and may what they dream for become reality through their hard work and determination. They are destined to serve this nation with distinction.

No student ever leaves this College without a lasting impression having been made on their heart and mind.  Each knows the meaning and reasons for high behavioural expectations, the power of perseverance, the value of a united community, and the wonder of reaching out to others and welcoming in.  As they mature, becoming adult and eventually into full adult life, Monicans retain much of what they learnt and internally embedded into their psyche. 

These particular Year 12 students have been taught about Kingdom Values in the Decade of Truth, the first half of which has now concluded.  Those inherent, human and divine values are impactful, and they are compassion, forgiveness, generosity, humility, peace, and love of neighbour (especially those hardest to love).  A Monican Education is not just academics and skills and co-curricular, rather it seeks to imbue each Monican with Divine Truth.

The final year can be a struggle for many, onerous in the demands that are placed upon students, fraught with anxiety and stress, tension and pressure. Coping and overcoming these negative aspects of life are what forms and shapes a person, preparing them for later life. Equally, our Year 12 students will have had moments of utter joy, success, pride in accomplishment, loving relationships, and fun.  A well-rounded adult life absolutely needs these emotions too.

Once the costume parade has concluded, breakfast has been eaten and enjoyed, graduation formalised, and examinations concluded, both VCE and VCE Vocational Major students will be released from loving Monicans arms and into a new life and light that will shine.  God will bless all those who believe and have faith.  May that be every graduand of 2025.  Valete.

Brian E. Hanley OAM

Principal