Champagnat Week Celebrations

During our Assembly last week we had the chance to award Max Partridge the Junior Champagnat Award for his positive contributions to the College in a variety of ways including sport and the College Band.

The Staff Champagnat Award was previously presented to Ms Rochelle Eggins. Rochelle has worked tirelessly over the years to support many College initiatives. Her contributions to College hospitality and to the immersion dinners was noted as was her willingness to undertake additional roles within the leadership of the College.

Riley Sanders who is our Senior Champagnat Award winner addressed the assembly. Riley spoke of Champagnat’s own life and of his qualities which are ones we seek to follow.

130 Year Pins

Last week we issued every student and teacher with our 130 Year Commemorative pins. In 1888 the Jesuit Parish Priest, Fr Kelly, of St Mary’s Parish asked the Marist Brothers to begin a school to educate the poor children of the Lower North Shore. The founding Principal was Br Walter Moore. Br Walter and two other Marists began the school on 2 July 1888 and by the end of that year had an enrolment of 100 students.

This great relationship between the local Jesuits and the Marist Brothers began that year and has held strong ever since. Nearly every Mass said for our College over these years has been led by one of the Jesuit priests.

Symposium 27 June

Sydney Catholic Schools will be holding an Information Symposium at 7.00-8.30pm on Wednesday 27 June in La Valla Hall. The purpose of this meeting is to inform our community of the plans for the development of the College and in particular the enrolment of the first group of girls in 2021. If you have any neighbours with children in Year 4 or younger they may be interested in attending this meeting. All are welcome. It should be an interesting evening and one that marks a change in the direction of the College.

Events in the next few weeks

Please consider attending some or all of the following school events:

• Paul Dillon, drug and alcohol educator, Wednesday, 20 June 2018 from 6.30 to 7.30pm in the Academic Resource Centre (library)
• College Production, The Real Inspector Hound, Friday 22 June at 7pm and Saturday 23 June 2018 at 6.30pm in LaValla Hall 
• P&F Trivia Night, Saturday Evening 30 June at 6.45pm in La Valla Hall. Click here for further information 

Tony Duncan
Headmaster

The Champagnat House Spirit Awards are presented at the College Champagnat assembly following the Feast of St Marcellin. The recipients are those students who stand out in the way they live out Marist charism in their daily dealings within their Houses and tutor groups.

These young men are always willing to step up and lend a hand, share of their talents and give of themselves in ways that foster and add to the spirit of the College houses. They take great pride in all aspects of their College life, pride in their uniform, pride in their learning, pride in their House and pride in all that is Marist College North Shore. They demonstrate a genuine leadership through the strong example they set for other members of the house and are proud Marist men.

On Wednesday June 6 the College Community gathered in St Mary’s Church, North Sydney, to celebrate Mass for the Feast of St Marcellin Champagnat. We welcomed many special guests to our celebration, including Dr Frank Malloy, National Director of Marist Schools Australia and Mr John Robinson, Regional Director of Marist Schools Australia. From Sydney Catholic Schools we welcomed Ms Cheryl Fernandez, Youth Ministry Coordinator for the Eastern Region and from our North Sydney Marist Brothers Community we were pleased to have join us Br Peter Rodney, the Community Leader.

We are first and foremost Christians, who live out our Catholic faith with a Marist flavour. We are reminded through the Five Characteristics of the Marist Charism to have a Love of Work, to have Simplicity, to be Present to others, to have a Family Spirit and to do all of this in the Way of Mary. Our College is indeed a community where you can see these five characteristics of the Charism at work on any given day.

The Feast of St Marcellin Champagnat is one of the most important days in our calendar. A charism is a wonderful gift and it is right that we celebrate it with such enthusiasm. We had a beautiful liturgy, enhanced by the singing from the boys. I would like to thank Mr Herbert, Mr McDonnell and their respective students in the Vocal group for leading this very important Ministry. Our thanks are also extended to Mr Pedicini who acts as our Acolyte, assisting Fr Daven in preparing the Altar and training and supporting our students who are Altar Servers.

Every year, we present a number of awards at our Mass. Congratulations to our many members of staff who were recognised for 10, 20 and 25 years of service to Marist Education and to Ms Rochelle Eggins, who received the Staff Champagnat Award. Riley Sanders of Year 12 received the Senior Champagnat Award and Maxwell Partridge received the Junior Champagnat Award. Congratulations boys!
Click here to view photos.

Yet Mr Duncan’s words are more relevant and indeed more urgent than those posed by earlier Headmasters.

Young men of this fine College, you are extremely lucky to have such extraordinary English teachers as Ms Durand and Mr Watts. Their love of the spoken and written word imbues in all of us a love of books and the importance of reading. Recently Ms Durand lent me The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes while Mr Watts encouraged me to read The Sympathiser by the Vietnamese-American author Viet Thanh Nguyen. Both of these novels made me think and challenged my perspective of the world. They did so, not in a didactic or proselytising manner but by the development of empathy, a concern for a shared humanity and the value of mercy and compassion. Reading is a mirror in which you get to know yourself and your place in the world. I challenge you young men of this fine College to develop a reading habit and to discover yourself through the voice of the written word. I commend the promptings of Mr Duncan to reinvigorate reading at the College and urge staff and students to support this most urgent and worthwhile initiative.

As part of the Champagnat week celebrations the College celebrates the diverse cultural backgrounds that make up our Marist family at North Shore. Students from all years got involved in putting on a feast with different nationalities represented. All money raised will go to Marist Asia Pacific Solidarity to help make education a reality for some of the poorest people in the world.  To view gallery click here.

Gabriel Rulewski, Kathleen McGrath & Milena Vuckovic
Multicultural Lunch Committee

At the Champagnat Assembly last week Mr Paul Harris presented to our students on the work of Marist Asia Pacific Solidarity (MAPS). He spoke about how the organisation is continuing to fulfil St Marcellin's vision of education for all children, especially those on the margins of society. MAPS has projects in 19 countries within the Asia Pacific region and Marist College North Shore contributes to these through our fundraising efforts each year. Mr Tony Duncan presented Mr Harris with a cheque for $3,099 which was raised by our community Multicultural Lunch. An excellent effort and thanks must go to the College community for their support.

So if you have demonstrated experience in communications across multiple channels, you’re passionate about empowering poor and vulnerable communities overseas to transform their own lives, and are interested in joining a passionate and energetic team, please contact Carlene Albronda on (02) 8918 4135 or email carlene.albronda@jesuitmission.org.au for more information.

Congratulations to Thomas Fay, Kyle Devine, Salvatori Agostino and Max Patridge, who represented MCC in the recent CCC football tournament.  The boys played against various regional teams and won 3 games out of 4.  It was a great experience for all competitors.