We entend our congratulations to all our students for their academic achievements throughout Semester 1, 2021.
Today we gathered as a community to congratulate and celebrate students who have a high level of academic achievement across all subjects and students who were recognised by their teachers in individual subjects in Semester 1. Year 7 students received awards for the first time which always bring some extra excitement.
The pinnacle of Merici’s Principles of Powerful Learning is Academic Excellence which assists our girls to build successful futures. Today we recognised students whose efforts have led to personal levels of Academic Excellence, as well as being role models to other students.
Today’s awards fell into two categories:
- Academic Excellence and Outstanding Effort within individual classes. Teachers nominate students for Outstanding Effort awards while Academic Excellence awards in each subject are decided by the top ranked students in each course.
- We also award special certificates of Credit, Distinction and High Distinction to those students whose academic achievement has been excellent across all of their subjects.
Mrs Anna Masters, Principal, addressed our community about the importance of being faithful to ourselves as learners.
"Guy Claxton, a very well respected educational thinker and researcher says: Learning – real learning – isn’t about getting things right the first time…it’s about discovering and being given worthwhile challenges, it’s about working hard with imagination and accepting critique…in the end you come out with something you feel proud of….all need to experience that rush of deep pride and satisfaction.
This sort of learning takes courage. Dare I say, FAITH, the sense of certainty that the invisible, intangible dream that you hold inside CAN become a reality. You can’t always go by what you see…sometimes you have to go by what you BELIEVE on the inside – that you can grow and learn. Fear is the opposite of faith. It is the dreaded expectancy that anything that could go wrong, will go wrong. So, if you are a fearful, you don’t try, you give up, freeze, avoid challenges and critique.
This is so clear when look to the example of others in our world.
There are so many stories emerging as the Olympics plays out on our screens. One of the stories that moved me, and I think exemplifies what it means to have faith in yourself, overcome your fears, face seemingly insurmountable barriers with courage and achieve excellence is Kaylee McKeown’s success as a gold medalist in the 100 backstroke just last week. She swam magnificently to win first place with a time of 57.47, 0.02 seconds off her own world record. Immediately after she touched the pool wall, she blew a kiss. It was to her dad. Her father, Sholto, died last year, having missed cheering for his daughter at the Olympics which were meant to be held in 2020. Kaylee carried her father’s memory with her the throughout the past year as she trained and focused on becoming an Olympian, and a gold medal winning Olympian, at the rescheduled 2021 Olympics in Japan. With courage she “faithed” her fears away and just look at what she has managed to achieve!
With Kaylee in mind, I ask you to humour me a moment. Reflect on your learning so far this year.
When did you believe in the potential that lies in you?
When did you let fear stop you from learning and growing?
How did you work to put your learning fears to death last semester?
Did you:
- Talk to someone
- Change your self-talk
- Seek help or work with others
- Accept feedback and apply it
- Find a role model
- Find new resources or try new ways to approach a challenge?
Did you take time to reflect on and celebrate the incredible things that having faith in yourself helped you achieve this semester? If you didn’t, gift yourself some special moments to do so in the next little while. By doing so, you all will get the chance to experience a rush of deep pride and satisfaction that comes with knowing that you have been really learning!
Today we recognize those who have had the courage to ‘faith their learning fears to death’! We acknowledge their dedication, talent, skills and resilience. Congratulations to all who will receive awards today. You should be very proud. You should also be confident that, with courage and faith in yourself, you will continue to grow and achieve.
Well done."
Anna Masters, Principal
We also welcomed a member of our Alumni, Jenna Fisher, back to Merici as our guest speaker. Jenna is age 27 and graduated from Merici College in 2012. Since graduating she has worked in hospitality, the public service and is currently studying to complete her Bachelor of Education/ Physical Education. Jenna is currently working at Merici as our Staff Relief Officer and spoke to the students about her life since leaving College, the challenges she has faced and her aspirations as a teacher for the future. We would like to thank Jenna for her time today.
Today we also announced the students who have been awarded scholarships and congratulate:
- Sophie Blackburn recipient of the St Ursula Scholarship
- Maria Georgiadis, Raechel McKinnon and Chloe Rushton - Board Scholarships
- Aryana Niyakan-Safy and Matilda Hanley- Full Board Scholarships
- Ruofei Yan - The Pentony Mathematics Scholarship
- Adele Choy - The Melissa Van Poppel Scholarship
- Tara King - The VET Scholarship
Congratulations to all of our awardees today.
Full image gallery here
