Courage at St. Joseph's College
Through the lens of our Living Justice, Living Peace charter, the theme of Courage has become a lived value and skill for all students and staff at St Joseph’s College.
At the end of 2022, our staff and student leaders began to reflect on the possibilities that the coming year, illuminated by the theme of courage, could mean for them individually and as a collective group.
Together, they explored key ideas around courage and created a visual that consisted of stepping stones. Using our heritage of St. Brigid, Nano Nagle and Daniel Delany to guide them, our leaders focused on the idea that courage can be expressed through small and large actions.
Our College Captains shared this reflection and invitation:
“The idea of ‘little things’ makes me think about how, it's not always the heroic and big actions that make the difference, it’s also the little actions that we do repeatedly that contribute to the outcome. I believe the ‘stepping stones' are a visual representation of the journey and process to achieve your goals and taking one step at a time to benefit the future. I believe growth relates to courage, as growth comes from courage. To grow you must be courageous. For example, I portrayed courage when I did my speech in front of the year levels for my leadership role, and because I showed courage then it meant I grew as a person, as I stepped out of my comfort zone, I was courageous. I invite all of our school community to do the same.”
As the new year began, our students took up this invitation to be courageous, and to speak for those who can’t. In term 1, we celebrated our Foundation Day with a student led reflection. Our students used the portraits of St. Brigid, Daniel Delany and Nano Nagle as inspiration to tell the story of our college. Students decided to use a mix of music, audio visual presentations worked on in class, and oral storytelling, to share the story with the community. We also celebrated our blessings, with a student-run mini market to raise money for Project Compassion.
Courage has underpinned all our work at St Joseph’s College this year, as we bravely stepped into reshaping our identity as a multi campus learning community and with it, the need to share the story of who we are and how we come together in different ways. In particular, our student and staff house leaders have worked incredibly hard to maintain our sense of community and connection to our house's. Students gather in house groups with courage to learn about their house patrons and themselves in multi age groups. House gatherings support our connections to our Catholic faith, as students work together to share in liturgy or Mass, characterised by student written and led prayers and reflections.
The courage to learn with wonder and embrace all this means saw the creation of our labyrinth in 2023. Created by our Year 7 and Hands on Learning students, the purpose of the labyrinth is to inspire our community to further embrace different ways of thinking about and engaging with learning. Whilst very new to our community, the wish is that the labyrinth will provide space and time for discernment and will enable different ways of connecting with our environment and our faith.
Anzac Day is a significant event on the St Joseph’s calendar every year, where we stop and reflect on the many examples of courage that our service men and women have engaged in. Marked by engagement in the community celebrations and our own whole school liturgies, the theme of courage was echoed for all this year, as we read the names and service history of the past students of St Joseph’s who courageously served their country and paid the ultimate price. Our Year 7 choir and senior student singers bravely led the school in reflective music and drama performances that encouraged personal reflection and connection with how we can honour these examples of courage and service in our own lives.
Reconciliation Week this year looked different for our St Joseph’s College community, with students and staff gathering in house groups to engage in learning and reflection via a liturgy. These smaller and more intimate gatherings allowed further student engagement and sharing of responses to how we can be a voice for generations. A feature of these gatherings was the explicit naming of strong indigenous individuals both locally and nationally who have, and continue to be, a voice for past and future generations. Our current and emerging student leaders were lucky enough to spend time with past student Troy Walker. During this session, Troy explored his experience as a young aboriginal boy attending St Joseph’s College. He spoke about his work in the local community and more broadly about the work he is completing regarding Aboriginal Health. He explored the disadvantages that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience and the gap of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in leadership roles and how we can walk alongside them on their journey of healing and reconciliation.
Refugee week is another event that encourages us to act with courage. Our student leaders using the ‘Share a Meal, Share a Story’ resource, organised to cook a meal for members of the community. This meal was about having the courage to listen and share different perspectives from refugee communities. What a joy to see our Year 7 students, sitting amongst our Year 12 students and staff, all reflecting and sharing their own experiences of seeking freedom and how we can have the courage to speak for those who often can’t.
During October this year, we acknowledged the 12 month anniversary of the 2022 flooding event that occurred in our region. Discussions and reflections about that time, remind us all of the power of our community and the courage we can show when faced with challenges. To observe those in our community show enormous resilience, grace and courage in response to the loss and damage of property and houses, missed events and challenging circumstances is a stark reminder for us all that together we can show courage - be brave and let the little things be stepping stones for growth.