JJAMM STUDENT LEADERS PROGRAM

Earlier this month, Athena, Mitchell and Mrs Haley had the wonderful privilege to attend the 4-day JJAMM (Joseph, Julian, and Mary MacKillop) conference in Sydney.

We began the conference at St Mary MacKillop Place, where we were honoured to witness the site of Mary MacKillop’s tomb along with collections of artifacts commemorating her life and impacts on others.

There, we deepened our understanding of the life of Mary MacKillop, including her life’s work dedicated to creating equal opportunities for all children alongside Julian Tenison Woods. We were inspired by how her God-fearing spirit lives on in the schools she pioneered and in our own school, guided by her values. Applying Mary’s principles into our lives, we learned how to become more inclusive and generous leaders, as we step into our school captain roles this year.

That night, we recognised the beauty of the world around us through exploring Sydney’s attractions, such as the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, in an amazing ferry ride.

We were lucky to meet so many likeminded people all from fellow Josephite schools. We heard from members of the community in a panel draw experiences from their own lives, which was inspiring for us all. Later on in the day, being involved in a mass allowed us all to unite together as one under Mary Mackillop’s mission and faith.

We spent the morning afterwards exploring the city and developing our connections with other students through a range of group activities, including a scenic picnic lunch underneath the Harbour Bridge.

Alongside our new friends, we followed in Mary MacKillop’s footsteps, leaving the MacKillop Place in North Sydney in favour of the Mary MacKillop Spirituality Centre in Baulkam Hills, in which we spent the next two days working with each other and a group of serving Sisters of St Joseph to understand how we could bring Mary’s charism into our own communities.

While here, we developed a range of teamwork skills by building on and celebrating one another’s unique talents, in light-hearted group activities such as writing a Josephite song parody, organising a scavenger hunt, and creating rallies to protest issues we are passionate about. The conference finished with a bang in the talent show, where we saw the importance of confidence in leadership, which Mrs Haley demonstrated by blowing the room away with her record-winning talent!

Despite a sad goodbye at the airport, we all left the conference feeling a new understanding of the Josephite mission and confidence in our abilities to bring what we had learnt back to our schools. We are blessed to have attended, and know that we all have lifelong connections nationwide as we walk in the footsteps of Mary MacKillop’s humble leadership.

Athena & Mitchell

2026 School Captains