Dear parents, teachers and students of the Mount Lilydale Mercy College community
New beginnings
At this time of year, it is easy to focus on the many endings that happen around us, and without the right frame of mind it would be easy to find a depressive thought in them.
- I am finishing school — what is next?
- What do I do after exams?
- What if I don’t get into what I want to do?
- Will I ever see my best friend again?
The possible negativity could be endless, and to avoid that we try to talk about endings as new beginnings. I probably write of such things in a cyclical way at this time of year. The concept that every ending is a new beginning is very true, and while we espouse it so very often and the vast opportunities that are yet to be realised, I know that leaving is hard. I know that leaving is sad. I know that despite the bravado, most students would like to stay just a little while longer, and that there is a grieving process. It is important that we ensure that there is also growth and we do this through ritual, ceremony and tradition. Ritual is important in our lives because through it we create meaning. Ritual is the common thread that links us together as a tribe. Ritual is important. Ritual motivates and joins us to build community, families and make traditions. Ritual also provides a rite of passage that we have come to realise is so important in the lives of people, that if not provided, they find their own often through silly or dangerous behaviours.
And, so it is with the MLMC Class of 2018. How proud we can all be of, and for, them. They have finished their formal classes and now prepare themselves for exams and life after school. Many return each day to the place they know they are safe to study. Finishing school is such an important event in the life of a student that it must also provide the sense of tradition and ritual, but also joy as well as a bit of fun.
2019 Prefects
In the last newsletter I published the Prefects for 2019 and last week finished with the Prefect Investiture Ceremony. At this ceremony, each Prefect for 2019 was presented to the College community and given their Prefect badge which is their warrant to serve. The new College Captains, Grace Clinton and Matthew Gamble, spoke to the College Community for the first time as new leaders, all the while being supported by the Captains of 2018, Danielle Virgona and Ethan Wake, of whom we offer a huge vote of thanks. The most significant part of the ceremony to my mind is that each outgoing Prefect writes a letter to the incoming Prefect offering advice. This tradition is as important for the Prefects of 2018 as it is for the incoming Prefects. On the one hand, it provides some closure and permission to relinquish responsibility to focus on study, but it also ensures some continuity in the important work that has been done and the work that is to come. Ceremony, tradition and ritual.
Farewell to our Year 12s
Last Monday, the College held a student-led assembly to farewell the Class of 2018. Again, tradition, ceremony and ritual. The assembly, too, was full of the symbolism of new endings and new beginnings. A highlight of this assembly was the Class Captains from each Year 7 class presenting the Captains of each Year 12 class a gift for their Homeroom. It contained an autograph book for each Year 12 student. The assembly finished with the graduating class leading the College in our school anthem, Omnia Cum Deo, and they were obviously so proud to sing it.
Again, I ask that as our Year 12 group depart the safety of our classroom, that you all keep them in your prayers. This year marks 40 years since I completed Year 12 and I still remember well that empty feeling as I travelled home late in the evening on an empty train. The clickity-clack of the train mirrored the empty feeling in my stomach as I contemplated ‘what next?’ Our students will indeed be in my prayers.
God bless
Philip A Morison
Principal
