Faith and Mission
Last week Year 12 RE students had a guest speaker in Beth Cregan. Beth is a former student of Killester and she spoke to the students about her experiences since leaving school. Beth has been a writer and is working on a book at the moment. She spoke about the impression the school motto of Strength and Kindliness has had in her life. I have included her photo and one of the poetry tasks we undertook. It was an inspirational speech and Beth gave many insights and probing thoughts for the future. One particular question to the students was, “what would you do if you could be guaranteed you would not fail.” We reflected on this in a brainstorming session and the variety of answers was fascinating.
- Become a professional athlete
- Learn how to swim
- Try everything without worrying
- Write scores for movies,TV shows, video games
- Ride a motorbike
- Drive a boat
- Become a doctor
- Travel the world
- Climb Mt Everest
- Learn every language
- Learn every instrument
- Start my own business
- Open a business while dedicating the profits to charity
- Build a house on an island
- Travel to North Korea and kick out the dictator and help the country
- Get a rich husband
- Move to another country on my own
- Move to another country to work
- Travel my whole list of dream places
Students also responded to the talk with some great reflections overall.
“What stood out, to me was when she talked about fulfilling your true passion (If I knew I couldn't fail I would...). It really made me think, about what my life has been leading up too, and what I would do differently, if I knew I wouldn't fail.”
“She was very passionate and enthusiastic about the importance of inner strength and inner kindliness which just emphasises how much it has impacted her life
Her message of how it is ok to make mistakes.”
“That you also need to accept and be kind to yourself on top of being kind to others.”
“Beth reminded me that kindness sprouts from within, thus by being kind to yourself, you are equipping yourself with greater tools to help others. In this bustling world, everyone expects you to be doing something, so it’s difficult to remember that you need to be kind to yourself.”
“Even at my part-time job kindness is so important to show to customers, at school we show kindness to our friends and teachers and create positive, kind relationships with them. Strength is also important to be able to persevere and get through tough situations and events that are normal in our daily lives.”
“When I first came to Killester I had rarely heard the words “Strength and Kindliness”. I would hear it but no one really told me how important it was until I went to this school. I would always assume that it had to do something with going to the church only, but I was wrong. Strength and kindliness aren’t just about religion, but it makes everyone be the best version of themselves. The phrase “Strength and Kindness” have taught me to be aware of the people in my life, responding, reacting or reaching out with empathy and respect when appropriate.”
I found the questions and responses fascinating because it asked them to reveal some of their inner passions. These wonderful people are only four weeks of school away from leaving. Despite the restrictions of COVID they have fantastic hopes and dreams. We hope they get to live them out. We also hope they leave here and take our motto of strength and kindliness to these dreams and live it out in their actions and relationships.
Peter O’Neill
AP Faith and Mission