Mission

The last few weeks of Year 12 is always a time of mixed emotions for our young men and their families. This year is no different. The Gospel Reading chosen for their Graduation Assembly reads, ‘Peace be with you’, a message from Jesus to the disciples then and to us now. We respond to this in the same way as well with, ‘joy so great that they still could not believe it.’ 

Graduation 2020 is unique, but no less significant. Our theme for 2020 has been one wild and precious life and there is no doubt that it has been wild in so many ways, but it is no less precious. A special wish to the parents of our graduating students. We want to acknowledge how significant this time is for you as well and we pray that your joy is also celebrated.

We have been most fortunate as a community to have David De Vecchis as our College Captain. He has demonstrated honesty, reliability and wisdom well beyond his years. I thank him personally and on behalf of the Year 12 gentlemen and the College community for his work and his commitment and with his permission I share with you his final speech to the College community. I also congratulate the team of leaders who have supported him and all the fine young men of Year 12.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard airbus SGC2020. 

Please fasten your seat belts and remain in your seats, we seem to be experiencing a little turbulence in the year of 2020.

As we can all agree, 2020 has proven to be one wild and precious year. Although our course has deviated since February and we are now in uncharted territory, I think this experience has truly enabled us to earn the courage we have developed, the belief that we have manifested, the character we have built and the people we have become. 

Mr MacMaster, members of the College Leadership Team, members of the Marist Brothers’ Community, parents, family and friends joining us online, staff, students of St Gregory’s College and my brothers of Year 12. It is for the last time that I say good morning to you all and welcome to Graduation Day, 2020. As I stand up here today, we can all agree that graduation looks different; graduation sounds different; graduation feels different. That’s because graduation is different. 

In my opening address earlier this year back in February, I said and I quote: “This year will be one, long, arduous journey for all of us”. Now of course I didn’t mean this literally, but from bushfires to droughts, to flash flooding and a pandemic, 2020 has proven to be one long, arduous and challenging year for all of us. I think it’s in these challenging times that we stop and reflect. Today, is the perfect opportunity to stop and reflect on what St Greg’s really means to us. 

The college motto is “What you sow, so shall you reap”. And I’ve got to admit, I think it hits the nail on the head. “What you sow, so shall you reap”. I think it’s a phrase that is thrown around here sometimes without the true meaning of these seven words being fully embraced.

You see ladies and gentlemen, these seven words are a formula, a blueprint, a game plan, preparing us for an even bigger and better world that lies ahead. In the past six years, we’ve been in training for that world ahead. I think the past twelve months have been a test, a snap shot of that world. A world of unknowns.To me, St Greg’s has been a period of training stretched out over six years. Here’s what we have discovered that happens to you during your six years here at St Greg’s. You will go through things and while you’re going through them, you can’t understand why it’s happening to you. But after you go through it and you get to that final day of Year 12 and you look back, that’s when you say, now I get. 

So, here are the lessons we’ve learnt and if you haven’t learnt them already, you will.

Every day during training at St Greg’s, we are provided with countless opportunities. Opportunities designed to test our character and help us succeed, as we all want to strive to go in a certain direction.

But if you fall – because you will get bruises along the way – if your habit is to get back up again your life, your destiny will be one of success. By constantly having a go and getting back up again, you create a character destined for upliftment, a character destined for success. If I look at how far I have come and all the opportunities I’ve had a go at, such as soccer, the musical or debating, did I fall at times, you bet I did. We all do. But we get back up because of our training. It starts with you and you only.

Year 12, the world is filled with opportunities. You will not know what to do. You will be tested to your very core. It will be intimidating. It will be tough.

But you got to believe in yourself, in your abilities and in your training.

So if you want to reap what you sow, just keep swimming. 

During our training, not a day goes by where we are not pushed to reach our fullest potential.  It is only when we let go of our self-doubt, our negativity, our toxic habits, our excuses, trying to please everyone, caring what other people think and staying in our comfort zone, unless we let go of all that, we will not be able to grow into our fullest potential and ignite the St Greg’s spirit that we all know and love. 

I think there is no better example than the spirit of the 123 men graduating here today.

Our great capacity to reach out to one another and work together when there is a common challenge. 

Our great capacity to step up when times are tough. 

Our essential decency and openness. 

Our sense of humour. 

Our gratitude, our passion, our resilience… yes, our resilience. 

Our willingness to have a go. 

Our willingness to look after those in the community who are in genuine need of help. 

And equally, to require of everyone that we all do our bit for the College. 

And I have an unshakeable belief, that we will see our way through the HSC in October and beyond, we will see it through because of that spirit. I believe that if we were able to get through the past twelve months, we will be able to get through anything. 

It starts with you and you only.

So if we want to reap what we sow, dream big to infinity and beyond. 

Above all, one of the most important and simplest lessons in our training is our capacity to say thank you.

By saying thank you gentlemen, it reinforces the fact that the little things in life matter.

If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right. 

To all our parents, caregivers and guardians who are joining us online, thank you for showing us what love really means; for showing us what sacrifice really means. 

Through all the tough times, you have been the light to our days and the oxygen in the air. When we breathe, you ignite us to strive in becoming a better person. And so we say thank you. 

The famous American author, William Ward once said that “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires”. 

Today, we are leaving here, counting all the incredible members of staff as more than just teachers, but as friends. As friends, they will forever continue to bring out the best in us and inspire us, as they always have. 

To Mr Newell and the Year 12 Homeroom Team, you have empowered us to lead through service. 

And so we say thank you.

Year 12, the last twelve months have been an occasion of immense privilege and pride for me and to the members of my team, because it has been and always will be a team. I would like to thank Jerry, Michael, the Year 12 Leadership Team, but equally, all the young men of Year 12. You have always been by my side, you’ve been my partners in crime, my keeper of secrets, my believer of dreams, but more importantly, my brothers. I hope I’ve made you all proud.

In particular, I would like to congratulate the College Captain for 2021, Lachlan McInerney and his team all the very best, and I have no doubt that they will do a sensational job in upholding the very fundamental values and traditions that this College proudly stands on. 

In this uncertain and changing world, we will all face unusual difficulties. 

If we feel like we can't make it through the tough times, remember that we will always have a brother to count on, because brotherhood means never walk alone.

Don’t be afraid to come back and attend the masses or the reunions or the footy games. Be proud to be an Old Boy of St Greg’s. To any of the students out there who cannot wait to get out of this place, I’ve got two words for you - bad luck. It is harder to leave this place than to get into it. 

It starts with you and you only.

So if you want to reap what you sow, just remember that you will always have a friend in me. 

As we leave this red-brick sanctuary on the hill, and pass through those gates for the last time, we go on to enter a bigger world. A bigger world of bigger unknowns. 

No matter the distance, no matter the circumstances, no matter the time passed. 

Let us never forget where we have come from. 

Let us never forget about sky blue and maroon. 

Let us never forget the true meaning of that motto, Quae Seminaveris Metes, 

What you sow, sow shall you reap. The challenge is, what will you sow, what will you reap. 

That is your choice gentlemen, the challenge is over to you. 

With that I only have two more words to say, Hakuna Matata.

David De Vecchis, College Captain 2020

Best wishes Class of 2020.  

May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun, shine warm upon your face 

and the rains fall soft upon your fields

and until we meet again

May God hold you in the hollow of his hand

May God hold you in the hollow of his hand

May you always feel the peace of Christ and the joy of the Resurrection as he accompanies you on your journey. 

Mrs Cathie Clarke

Director of Mission