Welcome to 2023

On behalf of all the staff I welcome all members of the College community back to this new year. We are proud of the achievements and successes of 2022 which highlights the positive direction that the College is undertaking. We have a number of new programs in place, have undertaken refurbishments of some of the facilities and looking forward to develop a new Master Plan. I especially acknowledge the year 12’s of 2022 who performed extremely well in their studies with result that are very favourable in comparison to like schools. We look forward to what this year may hold and the opportunities to further the development of our College.

I especially welcome our new Year 7’s and other students new to the school on which we are confident will be the start of a wonderful journey. They are in a position to make use of the many advances over the past years and I know that there will be many other students to lend a helping hand when required. They have been involved in a transition and induction program that has introduced them to the processes and practices at the College.

The Marian Community are blessed with many gifts and by giving witness to our motto of Strength and Kindness we will bring those gifts out for others to share. I wish everyone a most memorable year and best wishes to you all.

Courage - Speaking and acting with integrity

What is Courage? Many of us would answer fearless. But in my opinion the correct answer would be: The ability to take action even if you have fear. We all need the courage to start things we pursue. At the start, if we think about the result, we will go into the fear zone. But courage helps us overcome fear and makes us attempt things we were scared of before. Being courageous in our life gives us the power to chase our dreams and increase our belief in our abilities despite being surrounded by fear.

A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together. He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you.” The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. ”I am going to give each one of you a seed today – one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.”

One woman, named Mary, was there that day and she, like the others, received a seed. She went home and excitedly, told her husband the story. He helped her get a pot, soil and compost and she planted the seed. Every day, she would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Mary kept checking her seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Mary didn’t have a plant and she felt like a failure.

Six months went by—still nothing in Mary’s pot. She just knew she had killed her seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but she had nothing. Mary didn’t say anything to her colleagues, however, she just kept watering and fertilizing the soil — Mary so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection. Mary told her husband that she wasn’t going to take an empty pot. But he asked her to be honest about what happened. Mary felt sick to her stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of her life, but she knew her husband was right. She took her empty pot to the board room. When Mary arrived, she was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful—in all shapes and sizes. Mary put her empty pot on the floor and many of her colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for her!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Mary just tried to hide in the back. ”My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the CEO. ”Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!”

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Mary at the back of the room with her empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring her to the front. Mary was terrified. She thought, “The CEO knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!” When Mary got to the front, the CEO asked her what had happened to her seed—Mary told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Mary. He looked at Mary, and then announced to the young executives, “Behold your next Chief Executive Officer! “Her name is Mary!” Brandon, one of the executives couldn’t believe it. ”Mary couldn’t even grow her seed.” “How could she be the new CEO?” the others said.

Then the CEO said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead – it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Mary, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Mary was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, she is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!” (Anon)

I believe that Mary is a true example of this year’s core value:

Courage – Speaking and acting with Integrity.

Mary made a simple choice and acted with integrity by not replacing that seed and planting a substitute. She also spoke with integrity when she presented to others that she was not able to make the seed grow.

So what can we do? Not all acts of courage need to be known worldwide to be defined as brave. Here are some examples of ways to be courageous in daily life.

Engaging in a new experience.
Doing something that might be a little risky such as a high ropes course or abseiling.
Standing up for a person who is being bullied.
Helping out a person or animal in need, even if it might put you in a little bit of danger.
Making a public presentation about something you believe in.
Standing up against racism or prejudice.
Signing up for a program or class that intimidates you.
Checking out a soup kitchen, volunteer program, etc. to see if they offer any connections in helping to be more courageous.

Engaging in small acts such as the ones mentioned above can eventually lead you down the road toward more global acts of courage. Simply getting involved with a volunteer opportunity at the local level can open doors to bigger projects involving human rights or social justice opportunities.

So like Mary we are aiming to be people of integrity where:

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust

If you plant goodness, you will reap friends

If you plant humility, you will reap greatness

If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment

If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective

If you plant hard work, you will reap success

If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation

So, let us be careful what we plant now as it will determine what we will reap later. To that end I believe that over the course of 2023 we will acknowledge many acts of courage

Raymond Pisani

Principal

Prayer