Student Leadership Group

‘Never see a need without doing something about it’..

It has been a busy few weeks for our Student Leadership Group! Student leaders recently secured on their ‘Social Justice’ hats to raise money for Mercy Hospice Care, an organisation dear to Father O’Reilly which provides assistance to those suffering from incurable illness. Driven by Father O’Reilly’s work and appeal to raise funds, the Student Leadership Group truly embodied Mary Mackillop’s words, ‘never see a need without doing something about it’, and got to work!

The main form of fundraising was through the sale of $5 Mercy Hospice Care Badges via a Badge Drive, as Cluster Leaders visited tutor groups daily to collect names and money. This culminated in ‘Badge Day’ on the Green on Friday 27th May, with Year 11 and 12 Cluster Leaders distributing badges to students and teachers under their Cluster banners. With an atmosphere of community spirit, the lunchtime event was accompanied by a BBQ run by Paul Reed, SLG members and students who purely sought to lend a hand for a good cause – a fact that certainly displays the kind and proactive character of our Catholic Regional College students.

The SLG also ran fairy floss and nacho stalls to continue the fundraising effort. A big ‘thank you’ certainly goes out to Danette and the students at Manna for organising ‘Nacho Day’ and allowing the SLG to infiltrate the kitchen to assist!

Thank you to all students and staff at the College for supporting Mercy Hospice Care through purchasing a badge, purchasing food and even volunteering time to assist in fundraising efforts.

For those who have yet to purchase a badge, they are still available for $5 from Cluster Leaders and myself.

The SLG have also busily worked away at preparing contemporary artistic interpretations of the Stations of the Cross, a project commissioned by the Catholic Education Office which our students have had the privilege to be chosen to complete. To give an example of the hard work undertaken by our SLG, College Sports Captain, Lachlan Searle, explained his piece:

“My art project is a depiction of the first Station of the Cross, ‘Jesus is Condemned to Death’, in the modern world. The message we have derived from this is prejudgment. Every day in the news is a new story persecuting Refugees and Asylum Seekers before they arrive in Australia. My team, with the assistance of Brendan Watson, our aim to capture the corrupt media prejudgment of people seeking refuge and exploit their victimising through a collage. This Collage will show the headings, articles and illustrations that the media use to portray refugees and asylum seekers. Accompanying this will be a picture of Australia with the quote 'For those who've come across the seas, We've boundless plains to share', as well as Mary riding a donkey, who was also a refugee. This project has allowed me to comprehend the importance refugees and asylum seekers have on our community and the importance of protecting the lives of innocent people. I look forward to the completion of my art project.”

Ashleigh Azzopardi

Student Leadership Coordinator