From the Head of College

Mr Michael Newman

With God in the Picture

This week is always a special one in the life of our school. It is a time where we graduate our wonderful Year 12 boys from the gates of Marist College Ashgrove. The boys experience a range of emotions over the week. They begin feeling joyous and relieved at completing their final classes, ATAR exams and/or competencies. We enjoy listening to the boys’ exciting plans for the future and sense their feelings of anticipation and sometimes nervousness at leaving the College as they enter into a new and exciting chapter of their lives. On graduation day, there is joy and laughter, but also tears as they farewell their teachers and classmates. Finally, we see the boys’ gratitude and appreciation of their parents for their wonderful education. It is certainly an amazing week full of blessings and a rollercoaster of emotions, that, in some ways, reflects what life is really about. To live life fully is to experience the ups and downs, starts and ends, farewells and new beginnings, all mixed in, to what is the endless and abounding emotions of life. As a Catholic school in the Marist ethos, we hope and pray that our boys will leave the gates of Marist College Ashgrove on the last occasion with a sense of the spiritual, or a place for their God in their full and exciting lives to come.

Sunday’s readings remind us of the full range of emotions in life. (Malachi 3:19-20; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19) These readings speak of the difficult occurrences like destruction, evildoers, burning, slaving and straining, and even the terrifying prospects of earthquakes, famines, plagues and persecution. However, in the middle of these readings is Psalm 97 which connects the ups and downs of life with the hope of what life can be like when God is included and present, shown by music, trumpets, clapping, joy, justice and fairness.

We keep in our thoughts the Senior class of 2022 as they prepare to depart the gates of Marist College Ashgrove for the last time and we pray that their lives will be lived fully each day, and with God in the picture.

God of the Journey, with Mary our good mother and St Marcellin Champagnat, we pray for your kind and gentle loving blessing on each of our Year 12 graduands for 2022. Amen.

Year 12 Graduation

Recognition of our outgoing Year 12 boys commences on Thursday evening, 17th November with the Boarding Parents Dinner in the Champagnat Centre from 5:30pm. This is followed by the Graduation Mass to be held in the Champagnat Centre on Friday 18th November from 10:00 am. After the Mass, the boys and their families will be treated to a guard of honour down to McMahon Oval, followed by an official graduation celebration. These events will occur between 11:30am-1:00pm. The final graduation ceremony will be the Year 12 Graduation Dinner to be held at the Brisbane Convention Centre from 6:00pm. These events just don’t happen without thoughtful planning and preparation, so I express my sincere gratitude to the following staff – Ms Jen McNamara, Ms Bethany Halpin, Mr Bruce McPhee, Renae Lewis, Anthony Mathison, Ty Casey, Pierce Hardy, Matthew Tarlinton and all of the maintenance, grounds and services staff, Nathan Ayre and the hospitality staff, Luke McMahon, Fr Alatini, Mena McLean, Jack Johnson, Dylan Gower and their teams, Scott Minogue, Julia Wilken, The Music Department lead by Dr Andrew Butt, Kelly Byrnes, Madeleine Tong, Michael Connolly, Deb Maddox, Donna Spillane, Brendan Jansons, Antonia Svenson, Damien Zoomers, the Old Boys’ Association, Year 11 Boarders and Heads of House. These are wonderful and timeless events which I am sure will graciously acknowledge and thank the graduating class of 2022 and their families. Our sincere best wishes.

Examinations Commence

I extend my best wishes to all boys in Years 7-11 who have either started or will commence their exams this week and into next. This is an important time of the year when many subjects culminate with their end of year examinations. Boys should be studying hard for these exams which will then lead into a much-deserved long Christmas break. I thank all teaching and administration staff who are organising, writing and correcting these exams, and completing full reports until the end of the school year for your sons. Good luck, gentlemen.

End of Term

A reminder that all boys are expected to attend school until the last day of term – Friday 25th November 2022. The final week of term requires boys to complete any outstanding assessment, final exams, literacy and numeracy activities, extension activities, reward activities and an analysis of feedback from their assessments and exams. I thank all parents for your cooperation in ensuring your son is present and learning for his final week of school in 2022.

LMYELN

The Lord Mayor’s Young Environmental Leadership Network (LMYELN) supports students and schools by empowering young leaders to create real environmental change in their school community. Its aim is to create cleaner and greener schools. There were 30 Brisbane schools that came together at the Brisbane Town Hall in the Ithaca Auditorium last Wednesday, to present their environmental projects for 2022. Our 3 Year 10 Marist representatives – Jake Edye, Ash Bishop and Jack Lowe, together with parents and Ms Elizabeth Kenny, presented our Bee Hive Project. These stingless native bee hives, which arrived on our environmental free dress day, are now hidden throughout our school environment. These native bees are important pollinators of the many beautiful wildflowers and native plants in our local area and pleasantly create honey. I congratulate our environmental group of students, staff and parent supporters who continue to undertake sophisticated activities within the College to improve our environmental footprint. Congratulations!