Principal's Message

Principal's Address - 10 Year Celebrations

Father Bernie, Distinguished Guests, Staff, Parents, Ex-students and Friends of the College,

Thank you for being here this evening. It will be an enjoyable evening thanks to the work of the Organising Committee mainly led by Deb Hurst and supported by Jo Carroll, Narelle Potts, Rebecca Michel and Wayne Kenyon. Also, the behind the scenes work of Nicky Alsemgeest, Nora O’Donoghue and Emma Thomson has also been well received. 

The reason we are gathered here of course, is to celebrate our 10 years as a College. It may be a little late as we turned 10 back on February 2nd of this year. On February 2 in 2004 the College opened its doors to teenagers of Wagga. 10 years later, on February 2, 2014, the College’s first ex-student teacher, Miss Rebecca Harpley who is here with us tonight, was teaching physics to Year 12 students in her second week of teaching.

I cannot hope to sum up 10 years in 3 minutes, so I am not going to try; however, I will say the College has come a long way in its 10 years. In those 10 years, and into our 11th this year, we have been many things to many people. However, in that time there have been some ‘constants’.

The first constant is that we have been Catholic; all day, every day, all year, every year. Our Catholic character has been driven by our College Motto; that is, “LIVE GOD’S MESSAGE”. Our Motto has provided clear links to the example provided by Mary, Mother of God, ‘Mater Dei’. The College has constantly strived to respond the needs of youth for whom we are here to serve in a faith-filled way.

The second ‘constant’ has been our rigorous pursuit of our College Vision. At Mater Dei we strive to be a nurturing community which

·         is founded in Catholic faith, justice and love

·         is inclusive

·         is learner centred

·         seeks excellence and wisdom

And, of course, we celebrate excellence and wisdom when it is evident. We celebrated in 2011 and 2012 when our HSC classes achieved Top 200 Hundred status for the HSC. We enjoyed our sporting successes each and every time they come around and can be pleased that we have won many major sporting trophies in the Combined Wagga Sports Competition. Our Creative Arts are strong and continue to get stronger. We have had Musicals performed to packed houses at the Civic Theatre and here in the PAC, and we cannot forget our Stage Band who, in an Origin-like tradition, won their section in the Wagga Eisteddfod for the 8th time this year.

There have been many more reasons to celebrate, and the video we will see in an hour’s time, the photos on the pin boards in the foyer, the magazines there for you to flick through, are all reminders of great times had at the College.

Of course, not all have been great times and, as a community, we have had to endure some struggles. The first six months of 2012 proved challenging for all when we lost Lachy Burgess in January of that year and Patrick Langfield on April 21. You learn a lot about yourselves when things get tough and what we learnt in that time is that we are a community who comes together to support each other in times of darkness and despair. We know that both Lachy and Patrick are with God and we remember both boys, and their families, as we celebrate this evening.

In conclusion, we all know Mater Dei Catholic College enjoys a fine reputation in the local Wagga community and the wider educational community. The College has established itself as a quality learning environment by way of excellent teaching, dedicated students and supportive parents. Long may this wonderful three way partnership continue and I look forward to seeing you all, and many more others, at the 25 year celebrations in 2029.

Mr Greg Miller

Principal