Leadership's Letter

It's astonishing how quickly the year is drawing to a close. The senior students have accomplished so much over the past semester bringing about remarkable changes for the entire Mazenod community. I am truly impressed with our Year 12 executive leadership group who have left a legacy that have paved the way for future leaders. These young men left nothing undared and embraced their leadership role enthusiastically taking on every challenge we presented, and they responded with a resounding “yes Mrs Bourne, we can do it”. For this I am eternally grateful.

From the 2023 Student Leaders

Our journey...

Throughout the year, the 6 leaders were given the privilege and honour of having the opportunity to participate in and represent the college in senior leadership. Our journey began at the end of last year with the appointment of our roles as captain, vice captains and head prefects when we were entrusted with the responsibility of being a College leader. Undoubtedly through these experiences we’ve come to grow and learn from some of the successes and challenges which we faced throughout the year, which provided us with newfound and practical knowledge. However, through all the challenges and triumphs the experience has been overwhelmingly rewarding, and we are grateful for having been given the opportunity to contribute and serve the Mazenod College community.

Starting the year, we made the trip to Mazenod College WA to visit the leadership teams from our brother schools across Australia. Throughout the week we collaborated with our fellow leaders, sharing ideas and brainstorming initiatives we would hope to implement in

 the coming year. Following this we began our journey to plan the most challenging event in our school calendar - Mission Action Day. Despite the struggles of organising events

 under time pressure, through our combined efforts we managed to successfully raise  $70,000 in support of the Oblate Missions overseas. Our next big project was the Subject Selection Forum in which we provided the opportunity for younger pupils to speak to Year 12 students about their current VCE studies and learn from their experiences. Finally, our last big project was organising this year’s R U OK Day, which we celebrated on the 8th of September as a College. Raising awareness for men’s mental health, we came together to raise money for the Black Dog Institute and breaking down the stigma around mental health.

Balancing academic work as well as leadership responsibilities is a vocation which takes commitment and dedication, especially in Year 12. However, being part of the Mazenod Executive Team in 2023 has reaped many rewards and enabled the team to achieve greatness across the year. We have planned assemblies, delivered sporting activities to challenge the young men of the college, represented to school at many formal events and supported Dr Shannon in his role as principal. As a community, being leaders in Mazenod has allowed us to form friendships across all year levels, develop our leadership skills and has taught us valuable characteristics, which will lead us into the next chapter of our lives. 

Preparing for events and organising activities, has given us opportunities throughout the year to step away from studies and work collaboratively. We treasure the opportunity to serve Mazenod and to be leaders, developing the Oblate charism of throughout the demands of Year 12.

A few weeks ago, the school engaged in a presentation by Andrew Fuller. Andrew Fuller is a clinical psychologist, family therapist, author, speaker, and creator of Learning Strengths. Andrew has worked with over 4000 students in Australia and New Zealand, Asia, and the UK and with more than 500,000 families on core elements of resilience, building CPR (connect, protect and respect). He is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne and has been a scientific consultant for the ABC and a regular presenter on Radio National.

Below is a link to his website and I highly recommend you browse through it finding information that is suitable to you.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank parents and students for their contributions during the year and wish all the senior students the best for their upcoming exams.

God Bless,

Pier Bourne

Dean of Senior School