“The first person you have to conquer is you. This is because when at last you win over a million
people, the first person to bring you down could be you. Discipline yourself!”
– Israelmore Ayivor, Leaders’ Ladder.
Our Year 11 students participated in a one-day Retreat on Friday July 24. Normally held off campus over two days, this year’s modified arrangement involved a condensed one-day programme, making use of the College’s outstanding facilities in Gateway and the Prendiville Centre.
The Retreat theme of “Servant Leadership”, was a suitable segue from the Leadership Programme Year 11’s have been focusing on during Prendiville Time.
Prior to the retreat day, Mrs Robinson and Mrs Fazzari presented on the Year 12, 2021 Student Council nomination procedure as students commence the discernment process of nominating for formal leadership roles within the College. However, as was consistently reinforced to students throughout the retreat, they are ALL called to be upstanders, role models and leaders of the College and ALL should aspire to Serve with pride, Lead with confidence and Inspire others in a good way; whether they take on a formal leadership portfolio or not.
In summary, the Year 11 Retreat focus was as follows:
- Learning that before leading anyone else you must first lead yourself
- Making your own decisions and understanding the consequences of following the crowd or failing to make good decisions
- Taking responsibility for own choices and plotting your own destiny
- Contextualising Year 11 as a significant period of transitioning towards adulthood and a greater level of independence; understanding that stress will exist, of importance is “how” we learn to deal with it
- Settings short term goals for the remainder of Year 11
Jesus and Pope Francis were both used as examples of “Servant Leaders”, whereby their actions serve a purpose greater than themselves and they are identified as leading through the treatment of others.
To coordinate such a Retreat day requires a large team of people, many who work quietly in the background. A sincere thank you to Karen Rice and Stephanie Davies for ensuring all the essential preparation was done and Tom Gunn, Sam Taylor, Ben Collins, Maria Lynch, Kylee Hernon; together with the following staff members who supervised, shared, participated, prompted engagement and led our students throughout the day:
Allison Robinson
Simon Kanakis
Hayley Wells
Stephen Lynch
Kiri Powell
Luke Healy
Ben Ingram
Rand McCoy
Sarah Fogliani
Rebecca Waters
Anne-Marie Duce
Tom Atkins
Morgan Roberts
The Year 11 students are to be commended for their receptiveness, participation and the confidence they displayed on Retreat. We are proud of the level of respect given to both each other and the presenters. It is hoped that students may now channel some of the messages that were trying to be imparted on the day as they work towards achieving their goals. In turn, we hope some students have been inspired to nominate for the Year 12 Student Council.
The Retreat closed with a final clip from English motivational speaker Jay Shetty. It was an important message to leave our students with as they embark on their final year and a half at the College. It was about creating the life students envisage for themselves in order to ‘write their own story’. Shetty encouraged young people to grow in self-confidence and personal capabilities to make a difference in the lives of others around them.
“Try to create meaningful, purposeful, fulfilling lives for yourselves and learn how to use that to make an impact and difference in the lives of others. That will be true success.”– Jay Shetty
Linda Lombardi
Director of Mission and Identity