Wellbeing - Senior School
2025 St Patrick’s Young Leaders Afternoon Tea
On Thursday 19 February, members of the College Leadership Team hosted the 2025 St Patrick’s Young Leaders Afternoon Tea in the College Hall. Through the bringing together of more than 70 student leaders from various schools in the local Sydney vicinity, the night was abundant in leadership-based insight, and activities that looked to build the bonds between all students present.
The event began with an ‘icebreaker’, where each table of students were required to replicate a Lego model positioned outside of the room. The catch was that just one person per team was able to leave to look at the model, only being able to verbally instruct their teammates on each pieces’ positions and not able to touch any pieces themselves. In addition to settling the early nerves of the room, the activity looked to improve our ability to communicate effectively and teamwork under time constraints with those on our team.
After a break for some refreshments, we returned for a guest appearance from Dr John Kyle Robinson. Having extensive experience as the Marist Schools Australia Regional Director for New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland, we were given thorough insight into the responsibility of leaders, and the steps needed to achieve success in a leadership role. Priority was placed on following the ‘3 Cs’ acronym:
Compassion, for those around you and whom you are responsible for;
Clarity, in your views and path toward your goal; and
Consistency, ensuring your impression and intentions for the future remain stable and constant.
With faith-driven action also at the core of his speech, all present, were enriched by the practical insights shared with us and walked away with a significantly deeper understanding of leadership.
Finally, we finished with a trivia quiz headed by Ben Gainsford and Isaac Tannous. With the fastest person to raise their hand determining who got to answer, the chaos of the room was only intensified, with questions ranging from the naming of famous sports figures to obscure global flags filling the air with friendly competition as the event came to a close.
Overall, the event was an enriching experience, providing the unique opportunity to build bonds with student leaders of the community and enhance our way of thinking in regard to the mechanisms of leadership. On behalf of all involved, I would like to sincerely thank Mrs Santiago for her help in organising the event.
Dominic Short | Learning and Technology Prefect