Captains reflect on leadership

Our College Captains and Faith Captains were recently featured in the leaders in Schools feature in the Bendigo Advertiser. In case you missed it, here is a snapshot of what they said.

COLLEGE CAPTAINS

As our college becomes Catherine McAuley College, we are looking forward to the opportunity of helping to shape our new identity.

We hope to achieve an even greater level of student participation and representation as we work in collaboration to improve our school and community.

As college captains, there are many expectations on us. From speaking at school events, organising whole college gatherings and upholding the values of our college.

Our opening mass is one of the highlights so far. Addressing over 2000 members of our community was a really exciting experience! More recently, we had our school swimming sports; it was so much fun to see the whole school, from year 7 to 12, get dressed up in their house colours and jump in the pool.

Working to please everyone is something we’ve found to be a difficult hurdle to jump, but the more we understand about the needs and wants of our community, the better we are becoming at facing those challenges.

As college captains we look to the foundress of the Sisters of Mercy, Catherine McAuley, for inspiration. Her teachings and way of life help us to strive to fulfil our role to the best of our ability. We are also inspired by the dedicated teachers at our school, who constantly endeavour to give us so many opportunities.

Harrison Skinner & Thalia Thirunavukarasu

FAITH CAPTAINS

I received the leadership with such awe and utter surprise! It has been something I have wanted to do all throughout my schooling but never thought I’d be able to, because of nerves or lack of self-confidence; but now that I’m actually in the position, it makes me so proud and a lot more confident in myself.

I want to give students a voice and get everyone as involved as they can be. There are issues in the school and around the world we can look at and make difference.

The challenge for me will be public speaking and the juggling of schoolwork and captain duties. Trust me; the best way to survive is definitely organisation. Writing down even the smallest bits of homework as soon as you get them, because there’s nothing worse than leaving something to the last minute or even forgetting about it altogether.

Grab every opportunity that comes your way with both hands, jump right in and don’t be afraid to give it a go. The things you’ll regret the most are the things you didn’t do or didn’t have the courage to do.

Abbey Milligan

It is an absolute privilege to be chosen as a faith captain this year. We are so lucky with the leadership team we have and I’m really looking forward to working with all of them. This is a chance to create new events and programs that hopefully become lasting traditions of the school.

I believe it is important to know about the challenges and issues that face us in our world today, educating ourselves and each other. I really want bring together everyone’s ideas to create new and engaging ways to fundraise and raise awareness.

Abbey and I lead the Faith and Justice team. This is the most exciting aspect of my role, leading a team of like-minded people who really want to make a change in our community.

My advice for younger students, despite how clichéd it may sound, is to never take your education for granted. I know at times we all do, but always remember how privileged we are with where we live and the opportunities and support that we have.

Olivia Turner