Boarding News

As I write this newsletter article, we are very much at the business end of the term with boys in Years 7, 8, 10 and 11 sitting exams. The Year 12s and 9s had exams last week and the Year 9s have recently departed on camp and will be away for the next few days. The end is in sight with holidays less than a fortnight away and it has been pleasing to witness the boys knuckling down with their academic work at this time. School finishes at 3:10pm on Thursday 15 September and we ask for the support of all parents and guardians in supporting their son to finish the term at this time.

Congratulations to the boarders who have represented the school in AIC basketball, tennis or rugby league this term and also to those who are currently training for the upcoming AIC Track and Field Championships. I am also impressed with many other boarders who have proactively participated in a Boarding Club, or have continued to play sport with an external club or association. It is so important for teenage boys to remain active physically and they learn many lessons through these activities which are not so easily taught in a classroom.

Over the weekend I was reminded of just how wonderful our boarders are when help is required. Many would know that the College had a very large event on Saturday, the Marist Long Lunch and there was a call put out to see if any of the boys could help with setting up on Saturday morning. The La Valla boarders led by House Parent, Tim Sedgwick went straight down to Hayden Oval to help set up hundreds of chairs and tables, as well as countless other tasks that needed to be done before the starting time. Despite some uncertainty around the weather the boarders remained patient and did everything that was asked of them. And then on Sunday morning all boarders on campus assisted with packing away all the chairs and tables, and then an old-fashioned emu parade made sure that all rubbish was picked up off the oval. This assistance saved the organisers a great deal of time and money and I’m so proud of the way our boarders step up whenever someone needs a hand.

I’d also like to congratulate one of our boarders who has answered a call to help recently. All this year our boarding community has been without someone suitably qualified to play the pipe organ in the Chapel when we meet for Singing Practice each Thursday and Boarders Mass each Sunday. Boarding has been very fortunate to have a young Old Boy come back and play the organ each week over the last few years, but unfortunately, he has not been available due to other commitments this year. Alex Masel in Year 11 is a talented musician and he has been practising on the pipe organ this year so that he can step in and play each Thursday and Sunday for us. Alex made his debut recently and the boys gave him a stirring round of applause which indicated how much they have missed hearing the organ and how grateful they are to Alex for stepping up. Well done young man!

I am looking forward to visiting Darwin and Katherine at the start of the upcoming September school holidays and seeing our Northern Territory families whilst up there. This concludes our regional visits for this year. It has been a great privilege to visit a number of regional centres where our boarders come from and to help out with many local events as part of our visit. Please let me know if you have any feedback on where Marist boarding should be visiting in 2023.

Marist Long Lunch

It was wonderful to see some of our Boarding families at the Marist Long Lunch on Saturday. The day was a great success, and the rain even managed to clear just in time.

Boarding Recreation - Mr Blair Whitlock

It was a fairly quiet weekend on the rec front with many boys heading out for the long weekend. On Friday the Years 9 and 10 Go-Karting teams were off to Champions Way in Ipswich for the Challenge Day against several other Brisbane schools. Team Shell (Lachlan McMillan, Jayden Cole, George Philp, Tim Tully and Ignatius Hallman) and Team Red Bull (Braith Crossingham, George Bell, Royden Maelaua, Max Reibelt and Marley Chan) had been working on their go-karts since Term 1 under the expert guidance of Andrew Devoy and Matt Dempsey. Despite a few mechanical issues on the day, both karts were up and running at a good pace in practice and qualifying. The weather forecast had looked ominous all week and we were fortunate that everyone had a good run before the rain set in. There had been enough racing to determine winning teams and both Marist teams did well to get a spot on the podium (1st: Marist Red Bull, 2nd: Marist Shell and 3rd: Sandgate SHS). Marley Chan was also the fastest driver on the day with a lightning-quick 38-second lap. The boys are very fortunate to have such dedicated staff in Mr Devoy and  Mr Dempsey that make opportunities like this possible.

The rugby league boys had a bye on Saturday so we headed over to St Peters to support the 1st V basketball team. There was a cracking atmosphere at the game with our boys going down narrowly to a big Peter’s side. Many of the Year 12s will be playing their final fixture for Marist in what will be a special weekend against St Pats in Round 7. We had a small group of boys head down to Southbank for a couple of hours in the afternoon and saw the fighter jets flying overhead on the way back to Ashgrove. We rounded the evening off with our usual ice skating trip which is a great opportunity to catch up with friends from other boarding schools and get some rec activities planned ahead of term four!

We did Mass on Sunday morning this week and followed this with a BBQ on the Cyprian Balcony overlooking McMahon Oval. The boys did a great job over the weekend in helping with setting up and packing down the Marist Long Lunch which was a great success by all accounts. The final rec activity of the weekend was a short drive down to Bardon Bowls Club for a few games of barefoot bowls. The boys were sceptical but had a great time once we were down there. It’s all go this week with camps and exam blocks taking place which will certainly keep the boys busy heading into the end of term.