Principal
With 129 years of history, Nudgee College has a big story. Within that larger story is entwined the smaller, personal stories of the 10,000 brothers who call the College ‘their school’. Three of these stories have been shared at Assemblies over the past week. A fourth story from someone beyond the College was also shared with a small group of Year 11 students after school one afternoon this week. I hope that your son has shared at least one of the stories with you. If not, ask him yourself just what he can recall from what he has heard.
Last Friday more than 2,000 students, staff and family members gathered in the Conference Centre for the 2020 Commencement Mass and Senior Investiture. I have received countless comments on how exceptional the occasion was for many people. My focus here is story but in a future article I will share my reflection on just why this was the case.
During the Mass we heard two powerful personal stories of both Bishop of Townsville Tim Harris (NC 1976-80) and this year’s College Captain Injarra Harbour. A day student from the 1970s era. A boarder born in the new millennium. Both expressed a deep connection and passion for the College. It was also a delight to see Bishop Harris respond so warmly when he became aware that Injarra was from his Archdiocese because his home was in Winton.
Injarra has made three outstanding speeches in these first weeks of the school year. On each occasion he has told all of us part of his family story and his journey here at Nudgee College. Beyond that, however, he has also shared his own thoughts and feelings as well as a vision for the College. Truly inspirational. Below, I share with you Injarra’s speech from last Friday.
When preparing this speech, I struggled. Not with the content or formalities of it. Rather, it demanded that I reflect on who I am, where I come from, and also what's to come. I become quite passionate about this, due to internal reflection; who am I without this place? Who am I now, because of Nudgee College? I can't answer this yet, and perhaps will never be able to, but I know what it means to me now. As a paradigm shift occurs in society in terms of secular spirituality, Nudgee College is first and foremost a Catholic school with a belief in the power of the spirit. Underpinning our Edmund Rice tradition is an intangible, transcendental ideology. We often find ourselves identifying as Nudgee Spirit. Nudgee Spirit is all who have come before and all yet to come. Nudgee Spirit is me, Nudgee Spirit is you.
And understanding this, as a leadership team and Senior cohort, we have built our own culture from this fundamental philosophy; the idea that you can be you, and this environment will nourish you and empower you. With this notion, we have created our Senior motto. In the past, mottos have often been about what you can be or do differently or better, but ours, ‘strength in the stripes’, is about you. You as an individual and what you can do and contribute. The ‘stripes’ refers, of course, to our iconic ‘blue and white’. The idea of butcher’s stripes being different colours perfectly summarises what we are as a community. Made up of different people, with different stories, with different philosophies. This makes us Nudgee. The ‘strength’ refers to our power as a collective unit of unique individuals.
The beauty about ‘strength in the stripes’, is that it's about Nudgee. It summarises who we are. A people of comradery, a people of principle, a people of reason. And at its core, a people of diversity.
The wider community sees our success on the sporting field and this is synonymous with the blue and white stripes. However, they may not understand who we really are. They may see the stripes and not understand the strength behind them. We have a rich history of sporting success and we are very proud of that. But we cannot allow that to eclipse the spectrum that is our great College. The simple act of putting on the blue and white stripes showcases solidarity and, most importantly, it showcases that you are the school. That you are the strength in the stripes.
Friday's Mass was followed by Tuesday’s Academic Assembly at which we presented and congratulated all those boys who received academic awards from Semester 2, 2019. A total of 255 boys achieved 93 gold, 77 silver and 85 bronze. Pleasingly, there was another large crowd of parents and family members present.
At that Assembly we also acknowledged the Top 10 achievers from last year’s Senior class and 2019 College Dux, Vidur Sehgal, shared his story – the third of the four referred to earlier. An honest and engaging account of how he succeeded, but also how he overcame his ‘own goals’. In essence, he focussed on four points; the importance of perseverance, the need to be organised and to understand through asking questions, as well as the benefits and challenge of being fully involved in school life. Vidur’s speech will be published in the Semester 1 edition of Behind the Stripes.
The final personal story was shared by Mr Paul Stanley on Monday afternoon with a small group of Year 11 students. This session is one part of our coordinated and ongoing response to the incident in Kalinga Park late last year. Paul’s teenage son, Matthew, was tragically killed in a ‘one punch’ assault more than 10 years ago and he now tells his story with young men and schoolboys around the country. No PowerPoint. No technology. No AV aids. Just a father talking from the heart about the devastating effect on many people of losing a son, a brother and a mate to a violent act perpetrated by another young man in a rage. The impact of this story will remain on all of us who were present for a very long time.
In conclusion, this week we were delighted to welcome back to class those boys whose return to school was affected by the quarantine measures put in place to deal with the possibility of carrying the Coronavirus. Thanks to the various members of staff who cared for those boys who stayed here in confined quarters for the past two weeks. We hope and pray that the health measures put in place around the world soon have this epidemic under control.
Mr Peter Fullagar
Principal