As we enter week five of the term, we are reminded of the busyness and fullness of life at Damascus College. A community that values relationships, community and partnerships. It has been wonderful to see so many of our students engage in the learning experiences provided here at the College. As we move towards the middle of our term, l encourage families to touch base with your children to see how they are managing their learning tasks and balancing the many upcoming assessments.

This week, there will be no scheduled classes on Friday and Monday in response to our Circuit Breaker Weekend that was proposed by the Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited. This provides students and their families an opportunity to regroup, reassess and reflect on the past six months. It is an opportunity to take a breath, slow down, and recalibrate. I have been speaking to our staff about 2022 being the year to recalibrate to find the new normal and to reset as we move out of the pandemic. I encourage you and your family to recalibrate and to find the gift of one another over this long weekend. I urge you to find time to share a meal together or to do an activity that reconnects you as a family.

Our Indonesian Study Tour 2023 Information Night was held on Tuesday evening, and we welcomed many families and their students to the College to hear about the upcoming trip. Learning and studying a second language is important for our young people as we live in a multicultural, multilingual world. Our learners can only be enriched when they explore and learn about other countries. Importantly, knowing our closest neighbour, Indonesia, promotes greater tolerance, acceptance and world peace.

On the same evening, l had the pleasure of meeting our upcoming rowing teams and families at the Rowing Information Night. At this evening, I spoke of the inclusive nature of our Damascus community and that we are all here 'to be our best.' Rowing, like many sports, relies on each individual player being in unison with their mates on the boat. Each person plays a pivotal role in getting to the winning line. Sport models and teaches our young people the benefits of collaboration and teamwork, essential life skills into adulthood. We, too, discussed that 'we are all made in the Image and likeness of our God,' and therefore, we need to respect one another, celebrate our strengths and challenge our shortcomings in a respectful and dignified manner.

Some of you may know that l grew up in the outer western suburbs of Melbourne – St Albans, and my primary school years were formed by the Sisters of St. Joseph. These women contributed to my faith formation and the Australian Catholic Church. For me, it was a privilege to be educated by these strong, humble women who challenged the status quo and believed in an education for all young people. I have tried to emulate what I learnt from the support I received during that time in my leadership of this community. There was a pervading spirit of energy, mutual care, and value of hard work. Mary MacKillop was a woman who carried out her ministry here in Victoria and SA and supported Australians in need. She provided the support to Australians that Catherine McAuley did in Ireland and that our local Sisters of Mercy continue today. On Monday, we celebrated the Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. We remember those who have gone before us and who established the foundations for the faith-based education systems that exist in this country. For us, that is the Sisters of Mercy. We extend a prayer of gratitude for the religious and lay people who built up our education, health and social justice systems to advance human care and dignity.

This weekend's gospel urged us to be ready for the presence of our God. I challenge each and everyone to see your God in your daily interactions, observations and life. Notice that moment in your day when you have felt the presence of your God, where you have felt the wonder and awe of something greater than yourself. Did you see the face of God in your children, your partner or in colleagues.

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With every blessing

Steven

Personal Search for Meaning Retreat - Sunnystones

On Monday morning I got to go on the ‘Personal Search for Meaning’ retreat, at camp Sunny Stone in Bacchus Marsh. I chose this camp because I wanted to immerse myself in a retreat that focused on having a break from the busy school year and time to reflect on my own challenges and thoughts. I was amazed by the beautiful campgrounds that were surrounded by trees and nature, creating a calming atmosphere for the reflective nature of the retreat. We did many ‘get to know you’ activities through ‘speed dating’, that allowed everyone to strengthen friendships and meet new people that we may not have spoken to before. To further our knowledge of each other, we each wrote down an interesting story and our peers would have to guess which story belonged to who. Surrounding the theme of reflection, our camp leaders Miss Murphy, Jazz and Mr Newman all shared challenges that they have faced I their life, and how they have grown and learn from those experiences. From this discussion, we were able to reflect on our own challenges and learn how to look for the positives and learning moments through the life stresses we all go through. We all participated in a mediative ritual, where we throw our challenges, we had written down into a fire, relieving the weight that these challenges had on each of us. As a group we were able to reflect in a quiet mediation, on what we have learnt from the retreat and what we were thankful for. This gave us time to discover why we chose to go on this retreat specifically, and what our purposeful goals were; whether it was a break from the busy school year or to search for what our morals and purpose was in life, and through God. Taking advantage of the beautiful weather, we went on a calming bush walk to reflect on our gratefulness for the wonderful world we live in and clear our heads for a positive start to the day. Gathering for the last time together in a liturgy, we listened to the word of God and discussed what we were thankful for, and how we can show more gratitude in our daily lives. At the end of the retreat, I gained skills of how to be more thankful for even the little things in life, how challenges can make us grow as people, and how I can express more gratitude in daily life, as well as being able to have a break from the busy school life. Overall, I really enjoyed myself and was very grateful for the experience, making Year 11 Retreat a retreat to remember.

By Sophie Busuttil

Exploring Relationships Retreat – Pax Hill

Throughout our Year 11 Retreat at Pax Hill, we learnt to grow as people, as friends and as loved ones. This camp was to learn about relationships. We got to know our peers through sharing our fears, embracing their confidence, and talking honestly. We bonded with others, by relating to their embarrassment about solo singing, which would shortly turn to confidence when people would join in. We all danced as if nobody were watching and had a very intense dance off, the girls won! We came to be more aware of others, and ourselves. All of us felt a sense of pride as we bonded with people we may have never spoken to otherwise. We celebrated life, and the beauty that earth provides us, and comforted each other with a simple embrace. We ate food together as a family would. We shared stories about ourselves and laughed a lot. Even if some of the things were embarrassing, we still loved the presence of our peers, and striving to become more like a big family. It was a new and very fulfilling experience for all of us. We are very grateful and thank all the staff for helping us have this opportunity and especially Chris who lead the sessions. He opened a new way of viewing spirituality and the way we interpret Christianity and can relate it back to our experiences. As well as in the way we care for our Earth and of course our peers, staff, and families.

Bella Attard and Eden Blazko Yr11

Faith and the Physical Challenge Retreat - Daylesford

We were given the opportunity to push our bodies and minds to their limits during the faith and physical challenges retreat. During this experience we went through a variety of activities including yoga with a Buddhist teaching us the skills of respect and peace within each human being. We then ventured to the Boomerang ranch where we set up camp, and headed straight off to Victoria Park, where we participated in different ball sports. We split up into three groups: one group was elected to go horse riding; the other two groups walked back to camp and did a run around Lake Daylesford. The horse ride consisted ofa trail through the bush for an hour. The challenge of completing the entire beep test was next on the agenda followed by a return walk to the bottom of the valley. After dinner it was various ball sports at a local primary school and a night walk. Prayers of gratitude and reflection, while drinking hot Milos, led into bedtime. Morning boot camp at the Daylesford High School preceded breakfast and horse-riding. The retreat concluded with a reflection of the retreat overall. A huge thanks to Mr Lane, Mr O’Loughlin, Ms Phyland, Ms Perkins and Mrs Hexter for looking after us for the overnight experience.

Year 12 student Luke Borg was recently nominated for the City of Ballarat, Youth Awards – in the Personal Growth category.

Luke seizes every opportunity presented to him with a positive attitude and is well on his way of achieving his Foundation VCAL Certificate upon conclusion of his final year of Secondary Education.

Luke has been an active member of the Ballarat Foundation ‘Youth Collective’ over the past 18 months. He has been part of this group who have had an impact on the community and made valuable changes for young people, including a change for Public Transport in Victoria.

Luke, is kind and compassionate to those around him. He is accepting of others and genuinely cares for people. His passion to make a change to the health and nutrition of young people has seen the idea of creating a breakfast program start with a small idea to develop into reality.

Luke has worked tirelessly with the Ballarat Foundation to plan, create, pilot and implement a breakfast program for the students of Damascus College two days a week. He has been involved with meeting with key stakeholders to assist in obtaining a grant to start the program, whilst building positive relationships with local businesses to try and sustain donations and food items. He has met several times with the leadership team to identify key areas for improvement and has developed his skills of understanding policies and procedures. He has had to challenge himself and improve his literacy, numeracy and oracy skills to enable him to convey his message of passion and desire to help young people.

Luke’s dedication to the project is inspirational and will empower those around him to volunteer their time to assist in a long-term project.

Damascus College is very proud of Luke and we are excited to see this initiative take shape. Good luck with the award nomination too Luke.

Reunions are a great way to engage with our alumni, and it gives them the opportunity to remember where they came from, reminisce, to re-connect with old friends and reflect on their life's journey so far.

As we finished up our reunion season on Saturday we wanted to remind everyone that reunion groups are named by their final year, which is the year a student did or would have completed Year 12 or equivalent. For example if you left SHC in Year 10 (Form 4) in 1980, your graduating year would have been 1982 - therefore you are part of the Class of 1982.

The best way for our alumni to stay connected is to make sure we have your current contact details. Please be sure to keep us updated at https://www.damascus.vic.edu.au/community/alumni/stay-connected

Pictured, Sacred Heart College - Ballarat East, Old Collegian's dinner - reunion event C1950's.

Reunions being held in 2023 will be announced before the end of the year.

Surprisingly, it was a warm afternoon when students represented Damascus in the BAS Cross Country at Ballarat High School on Wednesday. Although it was windy, the rain held off, however this didn’t stop the runners getting wet feet on the course that ran through Ballarat High School grounds and the Prince of Wales Park.

Well done to those students who stepped out of their comfort zone and competed in this event. It is so rewarding for those involved that you see fit to represent not only yourself but the school with pride. Congratulations to Lucy Jones who crossed the line in 2nd place in the U14 3km event, with a time of 11:27.

Other top 10 positions include:

U14 Girls 2nd Lucy Jones 11:27

U14 Boys 7th Oaklee Burge 11:18

U14 Boys 10th Oliver Grant 11:37

Open Girls 6th Bindi Crabtree 13:18

Open Girls 8th Tyla Crabtree 13:31

Open Boys 6th Tristan Clonan 17:51 (5km)

Outstanding success at the Royal South Street Society Eisteddfod (South Street) for Year 12 students Gabe Blake, Brady Lucas, Eloise McGifford and Mikayla Montgomery as they took 1st place in the Drama section – Scenes for 3 or more.

South Street’s Speech and Drama competition is renowned for providing competitors with a challenging but relaxed environment in front of outstanding adjudicators. Competitors may enter prepared readings of poetry, recitation, impromptu mime, character performance, prepared readings, poem for two, group sections and improvisation sections.

Brady and Mikayla also took 3rd place in Death in a minute.

Pictures of these talented actors are from Damascus College productions "7 Deadly Sins" and "Clue". Congratulations to these outstanding performers, we look forward to seeing you on stage again soon.

Please see following some information from Federation University around a PD for Young People

Click here to register for this event.

FINALLY, after some very difficult COVID-19 years , Damascus SRT returned to the track!

Despite the many challenges and worries regarding attending the Tailem Bend Race; it is a very big event with a team that hasn’t been able to gain a lot of experience (due to COVID restrictions and guidelines), what a wonderful experience it was for all involved.

The lead-up to participating at this event includes several weeks of preparations, training, packing, planning and crossing of fingers. Members of the Damascus College Sustainable Racing Team ( 18 students from yr7 to yr 12) staff and volunteers left Ballarat at 6 am on Friday morning. They were bussed to the amazing Tailem Bend Motorsport Park, recently voted the best of its kind in the world. After the 7 hour bus trip the attendees set up camp and enjoyed a delicious meal thanks to the wonderful team of volunteers.

The team were up at 5 am and soon set up at the nearby track in time for a 9 am grid with 190 other teams.

The Damascus students were wonderful, riding well, listening to instructions, helping each other and being polite and energetic ambassadors for the team and Damascus College.

Damascus College SRT Coordinators Alan and Rachael weren’t concerned about the final position in the event as participating in this event was in large part to familiarise a relatively new team with the whole Human Powered racing experience. Feedback from the students who participated was positive, thoughtful and enthusiastic. Parents who attended, and other members of the delegation were overwhelmingly proud of the team, and even shared feedback from other attendees “The adults commented that they had been observing our students/SRT team and were most impressed. They noted that they worked as such a great team and it was noticeable that all rose to their individual strengths. They noted that we had older ones giving motivational pep talks to junior riders, some taking on leadership roles, all so well-mannered and all really just plain enjoying themselves.

At the end of a gruelling 8 hours of racing, the teams achieved these impressive outcomes:

The junior team (up to yr 9) driving THING 2 completed 48 laps or 158 kms. Finishing position 37 in class

The senior team (yr 10 -12) driving THING 1 completed 58 laps or 191 kms. Finishing position 41 in class

Congratulations to all who took part, what a wonderful achievement and such a great display of sportsmanship.

#DamascusCollege #DamascusPride #BeMyBest #ImReadyToTakeOnAnything