Principal’s Address
Year 12 Class of 2022 Graduation Dinner, Ainslie Football Club, Tuesday 29 November 2022
As we gather, celebrate and farewell the Year 12 Class of 2022. I welcome our young women, their parents and loved ones, and Merici College staff.
This evening marks a significant moment in the lives of everyone here, especially in the lives of the Class of 2022. Each and every one of us will have a different ‘take’ on this moment, a unique perspective, interpretation, viewpoint or emotional response to this formal farewell of our most senior students. For some, it might be relief, “thank God”, “at last”. “I am free!” For others, it might be sadness, a form of leave taking that aches, a little frisson of fear and trepidation. For others, determination, gratitude and excitement at facing into the new. For many, an incredible mix of all of the above at any given moment and in any given combination!
This is as it should be.
I believe that the Class of 2022 show us that “no two readers read the same book”, moment, experience or situation in the same way. In fact, I feel that one of their greatest characteristics as a group is their ability to draw strength from their diverse ways of being and seeing the world. They know how to find unity in difference. This bodes well for young women moving into a world that features rapid change, variety, multiplicity of choices, shifting realities and unstable truths.
I know their strength lies in their diversity. The Year 12 Class of 2022:
- Have displayed the art of thinking independently together
- They have learnt to appreciate that in difference lies beauty
- They acknowledge that different roads can lead to the same destination
- They have found comfort in finding what is shared
- They make a great team by acknowledging you need diversity to achieve goals
- They know that you can rise above individualistic concerns to work for the good of all
- They know that without difference, uniqueness and diversity, life would be incredibly boring –
The Class of 2022 are anything BUT boring!
Thank God we have a Licorice Allsorts of a Year 12 cohort – they exhibit a myriad of talents, personalities, gifts and achievements. I am especially proud to acknowledge what they have achieved in team. We have been the audience for many sublime musical and dramatic performances; impressed viewers of creative artworks and design innovations, excited fans cheering exceptional efforts in various sporting arenas and, proud educators thrilled to be giving feedback to learners working together to solve real world problems.
This Year 12 have expressed their united ‘voice’ to highlight what they feel is unjust, what could be improved or changed. They have learnt that to express voice also means to take responsibility for the impact of that expression and to act to be the change they want to see. The Class of 2022 understand what it means to have rights AND responsibilities.
Year 12 2022 have not been able to develop strength in diversity without the support and loving nurture of so many.
Thank you parents and loved ones for allowing your daughters to emerge as individuals as well as helping them to connect with their peers so powerfully.
I must recognize the staff of Merici College, many of whom are here this evening. Over many years, they have been inspiring as they partnered with parents and the students themselves to arrive at this wonderful moment in time. You have cared for this cohort with wisdom, intelligence, love, style, creativity and impeccable organization. I must especially recognize and thank Mr Phil Coe, who, over so many years, has walked with our young women to ensure that they succeed and flourish.
To the Class of 2022. Congratulations. You have shown us all what can be achieved when individuals celebrate their uniqueness whilst also celebrating that of others. In doing so, you have created so much that is strong and good.
I am proud of you.
What do I hope for you?
I hope that you take with you the talent for finding unity in diversity into the rest of your lives. I expect you to continue to live the great tradition established by our wisdom women who faced in to a troubled world with faith and courage. They went into that world, unique in their differences and founded, together, an international communities that are still a force for good for so many.
I hope that you use your diverse talents to form effective teams in whatever field of endeavor you pursue, be it at the most personal level as family or globally with the United Nations or a multi-national NGO or corporation. I want you to be confident, to have faith in your capacity to work with different people to achieve goals, overcome challenges and change the world for the better. We need you to be champions of the power of diversity. The research is in, women, like you, should be included in teams ‘out there’ in the world. We know that having women in leadership teams in the corporate world is simply good business. Organisations that have at least one female board member yield higher returns than those that do not have women on their boards.(HBR)
We know that non-homogenous teams are simply smarter – you know this is the case! You have shown that working with people who are different to you challenges your brain to overcome stale ways of thinking, encourages creativity and improves performance. Working with people that are different to you forces you to focus on facts, remain objective and encourages you to be aware of your own potential biases. Diverse teams make wise decisions and are more innovative. You know that working, playing and learning with individuals who do not talk, look or think like you can help all dodge the pitfalls of conformity, which, in turn, frees up creativity.
I call on you, challenge you, to take the skills and understandings you have exhibited as a cohort into the world. Be confident in using them. You are adept at negotiating difference; you show mature inter-personal and trans-cultural ways of being and doing. As a group, you know how to find strength in diversity, unity in difference. What a life skill!
You will help shape our future as collaborators, connectors, communicators and, as unique souls. You are ready to enter a world that is defined by fluidity and challenge. Know that you go into life beyond Merici College as a Child of God, deeply loved and with a solid foundation of care, tradition and compassion as your support.
Go, knowing that we are all immensely proud of what you have achieved, of who you are and of who you will evolve to become.
Go with our very deep blessing:
Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.
As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity be lightened by grace.
Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth,
May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.
As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you will become.
As silence smiles on the other side of what is said,
May your sense of irony bring perspective.
As time remains free of all that it frames,
May your mind stay clear of all it names.
May your prayer of listening deepen enough,
To hear in the depths the laughter of God.
John O’Donohue
Mrs Anna Masters, Principal
SPECIFIC ACADEMIC AWARD RECIPIENTS
We would like to congratulate all Year 12 students on their outstanding academic achievements.
Congratulations to the following students who have received specific academic awards:
Freya Spring – Merici College 2022 DUX
Colette Paterson – Merici College 2022 Proxime Accessit
Serena Cremen Farrington – ANU Psychology Award
Freya Spring – Australian Mathematics Trust Award
Erin Gately – Australian Institute of Physics
Georgia Tonkin – ADFA Future Innovators Award
Jessica Morris – Long Tan Leadership Award
Laura Harris – Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award
2022 BSSS RECOGNITION OF EXCELLENCE CEREMONY
Mariah Brody – Award of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Chloe Kelly – Award for Vocational Studies
Alyssia Borgia – Award for Community Services
Colette Paterson – Award of Academic Excellence
Award for Academic Achievement – to be advised at the BSSS Recognition of Excellence Ceremony on Friday 9 December.
We would also like to acknowledged recipients of the Christian Service Learning Program Angel Awards.
Blue Angel Award:
Isabelle Bauer, Iona Bayliss, Sara Celestino, Tasma-Jean Derham, Meagan Leahy, Amber Stedman, Kunisha Singh
Red Angel Award:
Maria Baledrokadroka, Matilda Coffee, Paige Douglass, Maddison Hall, Tallara Howard, Amber Stedman, Leah Thewlis, Sally Williams, Tiana Wright
Gold Angel Award:
Niamh Ahern, Maria Baledrokadroka, Matilda Coffee, Serena Cremen Farrington, Tallara Howard, Elizabeth Ryan, Autumn Starbird, Amber Stedman, Sally Williams, Tiana Wright
St Angela Merici Awards – The St Angela Merici Award is the pinnacle of the Christian Service Learning Program at Merici. It requires the girls to contribute at least 150 hours of service within the College or their local communities. In addition, they are required to achieve at least 150 points across three out of four categories across the school. The four categories are: cultural, academic, sport and co-curricular. Congratulations to:
Niamh Blake
Alyssia Borgia
Serena Cremen Farrington
Charlotte Green
Colette Paterson
Georgia Tonkin
Elizabeth Ween
To conclude the evening’s ceremony, parents and carers presented their daughters with their Merici rose and alumni pin signifying their graduation and transition to the next phase of their lives.
Full gallery of images here.
