CELEBRATING FIRST NATIONS CULTURE 

AIEF Staff and Friends Visit Saints

The Director and Founder of our scholarship partner AIEF (Australian Indigenous Education Foundation), Mrs Michelle Penfold, and a few  AIEF corporate supporters and friends recently visited: Their names are listed below: 

• Nicky Jacobs, Head of Advancement, AIEF
• Antony Shaw, CEO, HSBC Australia
• Alex Shaw, Naturopath
• Stephen Church, Founder, Bant Street Foundation 
• Jacinta Reddan, CEO, Advance Cairns
• Rick Burdett, Mine Supervisor, South32

The group were on their way to the Garma Festival which is held near Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula in the Northern Territory.

Also joining us from St Monica’s was College Principal Ms Leanne Webster, First Nations Officer Ms Kimberly See Kee, six St Monica’s AIEF scholarship students and three St Augustine's AIEF scholarship students. We met in our refurbished First Nations Gathering Place.

After an Acknowledgement of Country by St Monica’s student, Ms Annie Ahmat, and a talk by Mrs Penfold we all had a great time chatting and getting to know one another. The students then took our guests on a tour of the College and saw the newly opened final stage of Lavalla. The visitors were impressed with our students' friendliness and conversation as well as the College and the grounds.

Saints is always happy to have AIEF staff and their friends drop in and say hello. We greatly appreciate the foundation's support of ou students, their families and the College.

We Congratulate our AIEF Graduates

Mr Brett Toombs, Director of Boarding, and I  joined Abu-John Mye and Toby Prasad-Bollen in Sydney last month to celebrate their Year 12 graduation with their AIEF scholarship group. The celebration was held at the Calyx building in the city's Botanic Gardens.

Abu-John hails from the Torres Strait's, Darnley Island and has been a full-time boarder and an AIEF Scholarship student since Year 7. Toby, from Normanton, joined the Saints family as a Year 11 scholarship student in 2022.  

We were all impressed with the evening and thoroughly enjoyed our time in Sydney with AIEF and the other graduating scholarship students from around Australia. It was also great to see our Saints old boys, Kibbim Titasey, now studying medicine, and Kobe See Kee, who is working in Melbourne.

On our last day in Sydney, we visited the AIEF office in Surrey Hills. It was heart-warming to receive such a friendly welcome from the staff. The students presented Mrs Michelle Penfold, CEO and founder of AIEF, with our Saints Gratitude Award, which she gratefully accepted.

Mrs Penfold organised a visit to HSBC head office at Barangaroo. We were invited to the 36th floor and were shown around by Mr Antony Shaw and Ms Charis Martin-Ross. The office overlooks Sydney Harbour and is probably one of the best office window views in Australia. Thanks to HSBC for their time with us.

AIEF has assisted over 35 of our full-time boarding students to graduate. St Augustine's expresses their immense gratitude and acknowledges the support provided by the foundation, especially to past students and their families. The foundation deserves immense thanks and acknowledgement on behalf of St Augustine's and especially past students and their families. Without this assistance, many of these students would have found it financially impossible to attend St Augustine's.