Boarding News

The College campus looked picturesque last weekend as we celebrated 'Super Saturday,' which combined a number of different events to bring our community together. It was a particularly significant day for our senior boarders who played their last game of rugby or football for the school. Congratulations to these boys who have led our winter sporting program particularly well.

There was also the second annual Boarding Family Day held under a marquee overlooking McMahon Oval. After experiencing torrential rain last year, we were very fortunate to have great weather this time around. Throughout the day, around 200 boarders, boarding parents, siblings, and relatives enjoyed lunch and the chance to meet and mingle with other families. Special thanks to Hamish Wilson (Year 12 boarder) who provided some great musical entertainment. The kids present also enjoyed colouring in, face painting, and the Qld Reds pass the ball challenge. It was really lovely to catch up with so many parents and guardians of our boarders at the Boarding Family Day, and I'm grateful for the effort so many made to travel to the school for this event.

The boarders also had another great weekend of recreational activities, including a trip to the Pro Bull Riding State of Origin, ice skating with a number of other boarding schools, a Sunday morning visit to the Milton Markets, and a dodgeball activity with the St Margaret's boarders. Our boys are so lucky to have all these opportunities, and thanks so much to our Boarding Recreation Officer, Blair Whitlock, for his dedication in this important role.

In the upcoming school holidays, my wife and I are looking forward to seeing several of our boarding families as we embark on a western trip. We will be visiting Quilpie, Charleville, Augathella, Bollon, Dirranbandi, and Miles on a road trip where we are planning some home visits to see the properties where the boys live and also some functions to meet up with past, present, and future Marist boarding families. One of the things I love the most about boarding at Marist Ashgrove is that all the boys come from such varied backgrounds. It's a real privilege to be able to learn where they come from and what they love to do at home. We feel lucky to have this opportunity and look forward to seeing many Marist boarding families on our journey.

Boarding Recreation - Mr Blair Whitlock

Friday night was a quiet one in boarding with many boys heading out on leave ahead of the Boarding Family Day on Saturday. The final round of Term 2 sport was a special occasion for many with the teams competing against St Edmunds College here at Marist. It was a successful day for the majority of teams with the 1st XI and 1st XV both getting wins to round out their seasons. The season seems to have flown by and it was a special occasion for many of the Year 12 boarders to play their final game at Marist in front of their families.

Later that evening a group of boys headed over to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre for the Professional Bull Riding: State of Origin event. There was a brilliant atmosphere in the arena and the schedule was packed with over three hours of rides and entertainment. The New South Wales team got off to a cracking start and led by over 200 points at one stage before a rousing QLD comeback took the chocs on the second-to-last ride of the night. It’s great to have so many events on in Brisbane and the boys certainly enjoyed this one! We’ll keep an eye on the PBR schedule for the next event in our neck of the woods. 

It was a slow morning on Sunday with the young lads heading down to the Milton Markets for an hour or so. It’s a nice spot down at Milton and the most popular purchase were mango, passionfruit and lemon iced teas! We rounded out the weekend with a trip over to St Margarets for the Year 6-9 boys. It’s always good heading over to Margaret’s and it’s great to see the boys making some real friendships over the last couple of years. After a couple of hours of volleyball, badminton, netball and swimming we headed to Ashgrove for Sunday Mass to finish off another busy weekend.