St Angela Merici Day and Christian Service Awards 2020

May we all continue to be inspired by the words and actions of St Angela Merici, to “challenge people to love life, have hope, be faithful and build futures more wondrous than you dare to dream”.

Today Merici College staff and students celebrated the Feast Day of Saint Angela Merici, an important celebration in recognition of our Patron Saint Angela Merici, our Founding Orders and our College Houses. 

St Angela Merici Day this year is like no other. Actually, 2020 is a year like no other. But it will always be a year in our lives that has contributed to its formation. It plays an important role in our theme of Building Futures. Due to COVID restrictions, we were unable to gather together as one community for a College Mass, however, the day began with liturgies in Houses, celebrating the life of St Angela as an educator of women from all classes of society. Students reflected on St Angela’s love and sensitivity in serving others and her deep understanding of God’s love for all which continues to influence Merici students as they follow her vision.

We have learnt much this year about resilience, faithfulness, compassion and our ability to support each other as a community.

It has been hard. St Angela Merici  and the Ursuline sisters in her time must also have been going through a hard time when she said to the women her community: “Do not lose heart… in the work to which you are called… God will not desert you, but will stretch out a saving hand the moment you are in need” – 500 years later, these words still apply to us.

The students enjoyed a full program of activities which included school trivia, school walkathon, House stalls, sport games, running relay and bubble soccer.  We would like to thank our House Captains and Vice Captains for organising these stalls.

May we all continue to be inspired by the words and actions of St Angela Merici, to “challenge people to love life, have hope, be faithful and build futures more wondrous than you dare to dream”.

We also celebrated our young women who have gone above and beyond to contribute to our community, who have put our values of faith, hope and love into action.

Our Christian Service Learning Program aims to provide students with an increased awareness of justice in the world and encourages them to seek to transform our society for the better.

Today’s ceremony was livestreamed to a number of different venues across the College to our staff and students, as well as our  parents, carers, family members and friends who joined us online.

Girls today who have completed 50 hours of service received their Blue Angel Award, 100 hours their Red Angel award and 150 hours their Gold Angel award. Shreya Bhatnagar of Year 12 Tullow House, was also presented with the St Angela Merici Award; the sixth recipient of this award since the program’s inception. To be considered for this award, a student must have achieved a combined total of 150 points across 2 categories – from the following 4 areas of the College; Sport, Co-curricular, Cultural and Academic, in addition to their Gold Angel Award of 150 hours of Christian Service. The recipient must also have attended all major Liturgical events and community days. Shreya exemplifies the values and spirit of St Angela Merici; she is an amazing role model for younger students of the College and embodies what it means to work hard, put others first and be humble. We congratulate Shreya and all our award recipients on their achievements.

May we all continue to be inspired by the words and actions of St Angela Merici, to “challenge people to love life, have hope, be faithful and build futures more wondrous than you dare to dream”.

 

Mrs Loretta Wholley

Principal

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