Mercy Regional College eNewsletter

Prayer

Principal's Message

Welcome to our last edition of the MRC Newsletter for Term 1, 2022! The past fortnight has seen us rounding off the term living our Mercy Core Value of Community. Our recent work reviewing our guiding documents highlighted the enduring value placed on belonging to our MRC community. Being part of a caring and engaging community does create a sense of belonging. Having a sense of community embraces spirit, character, image and pride. People within our Mercy community genuinely matter to one another. Being a part of our community encourages us to feel as though we are a part of something greater than ourselves. Community matters and is very much loved and nurtured at Mercy Regional College.

I share with you a little community involvement of the last couple of weeks.

Opening the Doors of Mercy

We Opened the Doors of Mercy to prospective students and families at our 2022 Open Day. Our ‘School in Action’ format was well received and provided a glimpse into our school at work. Yesterday we hosted our Hampden Catholic Schools Network (HCSN) Primary Schools for the first of our network days. Students and their teachers from two of our three primary school partners in Years (4) 5 & 6 from St Thomas’ Terang and St Colman’s Mortlake continued their experiential learning and transition program onsite at our O’Keeffe Junior Campus in Noorat. St Patrick’s students and staff were unable to attend and we look forward to them joining us in Term 2. We finished the day with an Open Afternoon for parents and students with tours of our O’Keeffe Campus. These opportunities are much valued and enjoyed by all involved and are an important part of transition to secondary school. Information relating to enrolment at Mercy Regional College in any year level can be found on our website. Everyone is welcome at Mercy!

Open Day 2022

We have a new VET subject in 2022, Active Volunteering. This course sits within the Community Services offering and students will receive a Certificate II in Active Volunteering developing the dispositions, skills and understanding required for volunteering. Providing time and skills for the benefit of other people and worthy causes is an essential and rewarding service within communities such as those our students belong to. MRC students returned to the Camperdown Community Lunch last week, cooking, serving and sharing a meal with those community members attending. A most heart warming and rewarding experience.

Lions Eye Health Program (LEHP)

We welcomed the local team from the Lions Eye Health Program (LEHP) to our O’Keeffe Junior campus last week to conduct free eye testing for our Year 7 & 8 students. It is known that “1 in 5 children have an undiagnosed eye problem” and the Lions LEHP screening assists in detecting these. This is an amazing community service program. Thank you Mrs Claire Walsh for organising this and to the Lions Club team for your work.

Work Experience

Our Year 10 students head out this week for Work Experience. Work Experience is known to provide students with an opportunity to find out more about themselves, how they relate to work and which pathway and learning areas they may continue with in their senior education. Work Experience programs also provide a valuable opportunity for our schools to develop stronger links with our regional communities. We greatly appreciate the generosity of our Work Experience hosts and thank our MRC Work Experience team, led by Ms Kym Penry, for their work in facilitating the program.

Presentation Ball Practice

Practice continues for our Presentation Ball to be celebrated on Friday evening, 8 April. Our Presentation Ball is a much anticipated and cherished event on our school community calendar and provides families with an opportunity to celebrate together with our Year 11 participants. The students have been practising enthusiastically and diligently with trainer Miss Tess Lourey and we thank Mrs Rose Henry and Ms Alison Lourey together with Senior Years Coordinator Mr Jeremy Baker, for their support and organisation. A wonderful way to end the term.

HSSSD Athletics

I had the pleasure of assisting at the HSSSD Athletics Carnival last week. Our students represented their school with pride and determination whilst always displaying a sense of sportspersonship. I congratulate all our Mercy young people who competed on the day and wish those making it to the Greater Western level later in the year all the very best. We are very proud of you all. More details can be found later in the Newsletter.

End of Term Arrangements

I remind families that the last day of school for students will be Thursday 7 April. School will finish at the normal time. Staff will spend Friday working with the team from The MacKillop Institute on ReLATE - a model of trauma informed practice supporting our school to better create the preconditions for improved teaching, learning and wellbeing as identified in our School Improvement Plan.

Easter Celebrations

We have taken time this week to reflect on the tradition, meaning and celebration of Easter with all students and staff. A traditional devotion was enacted in honour of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, The Way of The Cross. In a sense, the Way of the Cross is a mini-pilgrimage through the events that covered the final hours of Jesus’ life on earth. As we move towards Easter, may there be an opportunity for us all to reflect on our tradition, its meaning and significance and how this can be expressed in our lives today. We pray for all those who need our prayer at this time. I leave you with a reflection on Lent by Joan Chittister OSB and a poem by Joyce Rupp.

With kindness

Sharon Gillett
Principal

Learning at MRC

PASS is here!

Our new PASS program started last Monday.

PASS stands for Personally Assisted Study Support. It provides students with an opportunity to complete their school work in a focused study session, with MRC teachers on hand to tutor them and help with homework or other assignments. Students can also choose to study independently so that they don't have have any work to take home. PASS program is going to run every Monday and Wednesday and is open to all senior students.

Please see PAM for a general consent form. PASS is purely voluntary and students can sign up online via Mercy Services. Transport services will drop students at supermarkets in Terang, Mortlake, Derrinallum, Lismore, Cobden, Simpson and Timboon. The upcoming Mid-Semester Reports and Parent Teacher Interviews in early Term 2 may shed some light on whether PASS would be beneficial for your child.

NAPLAN Coordinated Practice Test

Fun fact - last Thursday 75% of Victorian schools participated in this event. Nationally, 5,152 schools participated with 503,895 students logging in during the event. The good news is that we did not break the Internet! Our students were patient while we ironed out some minor technical glitches and then they were off! Early in Term 2 we will inform you of the actual NAPLAN test dates and times. For those parents and students who would like more familiarisation with the online testing platform - please refer to the public demonstration site. No login is required, simply scroll to the bottom of the page and select the year level you wish to access

NAPLAN Public Demonstration

Accessing the Mid-Semester Report Through the Parent Access Module (PAM)

Mid-Semester Reports will be available online through PAM on the afternoon of Friday 8 April. The Mid-Semester Report contains information about your child’s work practices and learning dispositions. Your PAM account requires a valid and current email address to be verified. Without a verified email address, you may be missing communication from your child’s subject teacher. To ensure you are receiving all email communication please logon to PAM and verify your preferred email address. Please contact reception@mercy.vic.edu.au if you have any difficulties.

Work Habits for Mid-Semester Reports and Semester Reports

LEARNING:

Strives for personal best
Meets deadlines
Uses class time constructively
Collaborative in group tasks
Completes homework tasks

SELF-MANAGEMENT:

Punctual to class
Has the appropriate books and equipment
Makes responsible choices

SOCIAL INTERACTION:

Well-mannered and respectful of others
Co-operative
Shows empathy

Parent-Student-Teacher Interviews

Parent-Student-Teacher interviews will be conducted in a mixture of online and face to face. The interviews will take place:

Tuesday 3 May – Online – 4-7pm
Wednesday 4 May – On site at the McAuley Campus in Camperdown - 9am-5pm

You will need to book your interview times through PAM, and this will also be where you will locate your link to join the interview. This link will become ‘live’ at the time your interview is scheduled. Interviews are scheduled for five minutes to allow the maximum number of interviews for staff. A request for an interview by a teacher may be indicated on the report next to the subject listing. If a teacher does not request an interview, parents/ carers are still encouraged to meet with teachers. If you wish to discuss an important matter that requires more time, please contact the teacher to arrange an alternative time.

In summary the key dates are:

Friday 8 April Mid-Semester Reports available on PAM
Tuesday 26 April Parent-Student-Teacher Interview bookings open in PAM
Monday 2 May Parent-Student-Teacher Interview bookings close in PAM
Tuesday 3 May – Online - 4-7pm
Wednesday 4 May – On site at McAuley Campus in Camperdown - 9am-5pm

VET Hospitality Lunch Assessment

Wonderful aromas were travelling through the hallways of the McAuley Campus on Thursday 24 March as our VET Hospitality students prepared for their lunch assessment. Working as a team, they planned the menu, cooked meals, and set up a cosy dining space in one of the hospitality classrooms.

Six lucky volunteers from MRC staff were then served a delicious three-course lunch of:

Minestrone soup
Fish and chips with salad on the side
Chocolate pudding with stewed pear and chocolate orange sauce

All dishes looked amazing and were highly praised by the impromptu café guests. We can say with certainty that the hospitality industry will be lucky to have these students when they finish their VET qualification!

Year 12 AKD Excursion

Last week, our Year 12 students visited a nearby plantation run by AKD Softwoods to support their studies of the ‘Change and Innovation’ unit. The excursion gave the students insights into the use of UAV technology and how it applies to forestry.

The operators explained the long game that is the production of forestry timber and how sustainability within the industry has improved. Many products are now being used in the process of timber production which ultimately takes 30 years until harvest. The students were given a first hand demonstration of the app technology which allowed for hundreds of precision photographs to be taken in the air. The photos would later be turned into a map to assist the forester's decision making. This was compared to previous methods prior to the technologies involving manual counting of a series of trees within a grid.

The students and foresters aptly discussed some of the limitations around the UAV technologies as cloud cover initially inhibited connection with the device. A good reminder that these innovative products undoubtedly help us in our everyday lives but they never fully replace a person in the field.

Year 10 Apostle Whey Cheese Excursion

Our Year 10 ‘Paddock to Plate’ students had the opportunity during Week 9 to venture to Apostle Whey Cheese in Cooriemungle for an intensive learning experience following their studies of the dairy industry. During the visit the students focused on a number of topics including how to add value to an existing agricultural product and the balancing act of creating a thriving farm and business.

The owner Julian was happy to show the students around and talk about the past, present and future of the agribusiness. Julian ran through many aspects of the cheese making process and compared them to similar products the students had made earlier in the term such as yogurt and ricotta. He detailed some of the farming pressures that caused them to rethink the family dairy business a few years ago. He pointed out a number of challenges they faced early on and hard work required to overcome these.

Following the tour the students were able to taste test and review the whole range of Apostle Whey Cheese products. Popular products included camembert and brie, blue cheese and chili feta however were outside of the comfort zones of most in the class. Gelato was a must on the return back to school.

Thank you to Mr Tom Kelly and Mr Mark Evans for taking the students on this excursion.

VCAL Students Assisting with Primary School Athletics

Over the last couple of weeks our VCAL students supported local primary schools by helping out at two athletics events - St. Patrick's Primary School Athletics and HSSSD Athletics. The students could be spotted levelling sand in the long jump pit, adjusting the high jump bar, entering results in the database or cheering on the participats. Thank you to all Mercy students who got involved on the day!

Learning@Mercy Leadership Team - Natalie Stephenson, Danae Fraser, Lydia Darcy and Daniel Lee
Science and PE Teacher - Tom Kelly

Community & Wellbeing at MRC

Life Skills & Resilience

Teaching Innate Resilience

It is important to teach young people about their innate resilience. Help students to see the personal power they have to think differently about their lives. For example, you can help them to not take adversity personally in their lives. There are some things they cannot control, like a friend's comments. Help them not to see setbacks as all-encompassing but rather as only one part of their life experience. Help them to be aware of how their thinking - that they are not good enough, smart enough or thin enough - is a barrier to their innate resilience.

Protective Factors

Resilience can generally be regarded as a balance between risk and protective factors. Whilst a supportive school environment can have a positive effect on most students, it can have an even greater effect on students exposed to higher risk. Protective factors, such as quality relationships, are the cornerstone of resilience. Students with strong relational connections generally do better in school.

How Do Students Become More Resilient?

How does a student become more resilient? More importantly, how can a school effectively promote resilience? It can be fostered by strengthening a student's internal feelings of self-worth, as well as their ability to properly interact with their environment. Students should give themselves permission to take positive risks regardless of the outcome. Protective factors can buffer and mitigate risks and stresses, allowing students the opportunity for academic and life successes. Protective factors in the school environment can include caring adults who model good self-esteem and display a good temperament while promoting safe, structured and routine-driven classrooms, thus improving the overall school culture.

School Photos 2022

Annual school photos were taken by Arthur Reed Photos on Monday 28 March.

To view the images of your child and order photos, you will need to first register online.

Go to https://order.arphotos.com.au and enter the 2022 image code for your child (from their personalized flyer)
Tap on ‘Add another child’ to enter the image codes of any siblings
Fill in your email and mobile details and then review all details before confirming your registration

That’s it! When 2022 photos are ready, you will be notified by email and SMS.

Even if you registered last year, it’s important that you do it again each year using your child’s new image code to link their photos for the current year with your contact details.

To ensure you are ordering school photos for the current year, please wait for notifications that 2022 images are online before placing orders.

In the web shop you can view photos and customize your photo package; Choose ANY layout, ANY image and purchase multiple digital image downloads.

All photo orders will be sent directly to the address you provide when ordering.

Register online now to be notified when 2022 school photos can be viewed and ordered.

I CAN Program

Mercy Regional College is excited and proud to be running the I CAN program at both the O’Keeffe and McAuley Campuses in 2022, starting Term 2!

Please email Mrs Cla ire Walsh for expressions of interest for your child to participate in the program.

I CAN South West is the regional network of the I CAN network, offering strength-based mentoring to young people with varying learning and social differences.

Mentoring programs are designed to increase confidence, develop leadership skills, improve emotional regulation and facilitate social connection. I CAN mentors bring an authentic lived experience to their programs and love connecting and helping young people in the community.

Thermomix Raffle 2022

We have sold all the tickets in the MRC Thermomix Raffle 2022! We sincerely thank all members of the Mercy community who purchased a ticket to support our students. All the profits from the raffle will be used to assist our VCAL class with the purchase of a coffee trailer to expand their 'Grind & Grow' business.

The raffle will be drawn at the end on the MRC Presentation Ball on Friday 8 April.

Wellbeing Team - Berni Sinnott, Sharon Suhan, Matthew Crane
O'Keeffe Community Leader - Emily Stephens
Learning Diversity Leader - Claire Walsh

Public Speaking and Debating 2022

Public Speaking Competitions

In the coming months there are a number of fantastic public speaking opportunities for Junior, Middle and Senior School students with a variety of great experiences and prizes available. Public speaking is a central part of the curriculum at Mercy, especially in regards to the annual Oratory Competition for Year 7-10 students and VCE Unit 1 and 4 English students.

All competitions detailed in the document below require students to put together a presentation that either responds to a set topic or a topic of their choice, usually on the condition that is persuasive in nature. This links closely with our Oratory Competition and its associated teaching unit, whose focus is to ‘persuade, inform and or entertain an audience.’

Some competitions are in person; and others are online - very similar to how many classes run the Oratory Competition last year. The two major competitions are underway - Rostrum Voice of Youth and the DAV Public Speaking Competition.

Registration and submissions for Rostrum and DAV competitions must be completed by 1 May.

FOR SENIOR STUDENTS: The Frayne Speech Festival will be hosted by Emmanuel College in August and will be a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate your talents. The Plain English Speaking Award is also open for Year 10-12 students. See the document at the end of this article for more details.

Debating

Two MRC debating teams have been formed, composed of students from Years 9-12 who will be competing in the DAV (Debaters Association of Victoria) Geelong Regional Competition starting in late May at Geelong Grammar School. In early Term 2, these teams will start preparing for the competition with both MRC coaches and external support from the DAV. They will also have the opportunity to compete in the upcoming Frayne Speech Festival.

The Junior School debating program of training and competition will start in Term 3 and will likely see several teams from Years 7 and 8 joining their peers in the DAV Ballarat Region at St Patrick’s College.

Email Mr Daniel Lee or speak to your English teacher if you are interested or would like more details.

Daniel Lee
Domain Leader of English

Public Speaking Opportuities 2022.pdf

Faith at MRC

Diocese of Lismore 2022 Flood Appeal

Our school community kicked off our campaign to support of Catholic Primary School Our Lady Help of Christians PS South Lismore with a casual clothes day. Our community raised over $500 on the day for this very worthy cause and we thank everyone for their support.

Caritas - Project Compassion and Lenten Drive

A reminder to all in our community that throughout the Lenten period (between now and the end of term) the Social Justice Group is asking homeroom groups to consider bringing along 40 items which can be shared / recycled to groups in our community.

There are labelled boxes in the Library at McAuley and in the MPA at O’Keeffe campus for you to contribute to. It is fantastic to see the boxes starting to fill up with donations:

Some ideas for things to bring along include:

Clothes and other items for our local St Vinnies and Lifeline
Socks (including odd socks) and other textiles otherwise destined for landfill for donation to Upparel
Running shoes and sporting apparel to be donated to Rebel stores for the “Nike reuse a shoe program - Australia”
E-waste (printers, cartridges, mobile phones, pens etc) for Officeworks recycling program

Icy-Poles at the O’Keeffe Campus

For the last week of term the Social Justic Group will also be selling icy poles on Wednesday and Thursday for 50c each. All proceeds from this will also be donated to Caritas as part of their Project Compassion.

Uniting Church Community Lunch

On Wednesday 23 March, our Year 12 VCAL students along with Mrs Wendy Gleeson and Mrs Rose Henry hosted a community lunch at the Camperdown Uniting Church.

A once-a-term community lunch is one of the many community-focused initiatives that our students participate in throughout the year. Community lunches are special occasions for MRC students and staff as they provide a great opportunity to meet people of all ages and backgrounds and listen to their stories. Everyone is welcome to attend these lunches.

Delicious lasagne and salad, followed by rhubarb and apple crumble were warmly received by the 42 community members who attended on Wednesday. Special thanks to Mrs Danae Fraser and the Year 11 VCAL students for preparing the meals.

Year 7 Faith Day

Our Year 7 cohort participated in their first Faith Day on Thursday 31 March. This Faith Day connects to the unit they have been studying in Religious Education “Sacred Stories”. The group came together to learn about the history of the school and the Noorat township. We looked at the importance of Gospel values in the beginnings of Mercy Regional College (then Catholic Regional College). The founders of our school were inspired and dedicated women and men who forged the history of our school, and in whose footsteps we walk. We stand on their shoulders and continue to create the story of our school.

Students walked around the township of Noorat and discovered key places of interest, reading the plaques, and learning about the history of the town and the key people in its growth, including Alan Marshall and his family.

Throughout the day, students were encouraged to reflect on their learning and note their thoughts in their journals. It is hoped that students will value the sacred stories of our school, and endeavour to contribute to its growth.

Kellie Wilson
Catholic Identity, Mission and Ethos Leader

Sports Report

On 29 March 72 students from all age groups represented the College at the 2022 HSSSD Athletics. The day was marked by some outstanding performances from our team members. A lot of them will be competing at the next stage, the GWR Athletics, to be held later this year.

MRC athletes were overall winners on the day with 1488.5, nearly doubling over the closest team. Congratulations to everyone who competed and to all those students who won a ribbon in their event. We would like to give a special mention to the age group champions:

12-13 Girls - Piper S.
14 Girls - Indiana C.
15 Girls - Ruby D.
16 Girls - Sophie C.
18 Girls - Rosie P.
18 Boys - Gryff D.

What a stunning achievement by Mercy students!

Premiers’ Reading Challenge

The Premiers’ Reading Challenge is open! The Challenge encourages students to read a set number of books across the year and record their efforts online. Sign up sessions will occur at recess in the library at the O’Keeffe Campus for the first three Tuesdays of Term 2.

To read the Premier’s letter to parents, view the booklist and for more information about the Victorian Premiers’ Reading Challenge, visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/premiers-reading-challenge.

Book Club

Our first Book Club gathered in the McAuley Library on Monday evening to discuss our selected book ‘The Dictionary of Lost Words’ by Pip Williams. Lively debate ensued as we compared notes on what we liked and disliked. Thank you to all who attended and shared their love of reading. We look forward to our next meeting:

DATE: Monday, June 6
BOOK: ‘The Power of the Dog’ by Thomas Savage

GRIP Leadership Conference

Twenty two MRC student leaders from Years 8 to 12 participated in the GRIP Student Leaders Conference at Federation University in Ballarat on Monday 21 March.

GRIP Leadership is Australia’s premier student leadership training organisation, reaching over 25,000 students across Australia each year. The style, topics, and content of this conference all focus on the students ‘Raising the Standards’ of their leadership in our school community.

Our leaders participated in a number of workshops on the day including:

Tips for House Captains
Raising the Standard of Fundraising
Raising the Standard of Your Public Speaking
How to Find New Opportunities for Your Team
How to Work Effectively as a Team

Here are some words from our student leaders about their experience:

“It was very good and we would like to attend again. The sessions were very informative and educational.” – Flynn and Joseph

“It was a very interactive experience that taught us many new skills, and we all believe it will be very beneficial for our journey and skillset as leaders. It’s given us a new outlook on our positions.” -Sarah, Jess and Lucy

“We learnt a lot of strategies and gained many ideas on how to be a good leader. It was a fun day and we all enjoyed participating in the activities. It was a great way to gain new opportunities.” – Bella and Greta

“It was a great way to meet new people and hear others’ ideas. It is also an experience that we will always remember and work on making this school and community a better place.” – Trent

“We built new ideas on how to approach leading our school with honesty and integrity and developed pride in our leadership skills, not only to lead but to make a difference in our school and find opportunities to do things that have never been done before.” – Rosie and Matilda

“Today we learnt a lot of leadership advice and tips to help us in the future. It was a great opportunity for us all to experience and learn new skills. This workshop was good because it gave us a general idea about leadership.” - Layla

“This workshop was good because it helped us with different areas, we felt we needed to work on for example confidence with public speaking.” - Olivia

“The Grip Leadership Team gave us a different perspective on what it means to be a leader and taught us the importance of leading with integrity.” – Sonny and Jacko

“I think the GRIP workshop was a great opportunity for all the leadership team to learn and grow as leaders of the school. They help to teach us to lead with confidence and integrity.” – Jock, Mason and Henry

“We thought that the GRIP leaders day was great and we learnt many skills that will be valuable for the future. We will be able to create a better environment. We learnt how important leaders are and that there are many different approaches and ways that you can go about leading.” - Molly and Elsie

The students learnt that Leadership is not a position, but it is an action. Thank You to Ms Jenkins and Mr Baker for organising the students to participate in this event.

Tina Jenkins
Student Leadership Coordinator

VCAL Indigenous Garden

Our VCAL students have been working on the Indigenous Garden project at the Wombeetch Puyuun Reconciliation Park in Camperdown. This is a year-long project which is designed to assist the Corangamite Shire Council with the maintenance of the park, eventually turning it into an inclusive public space with artistic and cultural content that will enrich the life of our rural community.

The students are still at the initial stage of clearing and weeding the garden, but the results of their work are already noticeable. We look forward to seeing the space when more plants and artwork are put in later in the year!

Alumni News

Our College values its ties with the past students and takes sincere pride in their achievements. Regardless, of the number of years spent at the College - Catholic Regional College or Mercy Regional College - our alumni are dearly remembered as part of our Mercy family.

We are always happy to see our past students come back to school to share their knowledge with the younger generations or reconnect with their former classmates. In light of the upcoming class reunions, we would like to take a moment to remind our alumni community where the mysterious word 'alumni' comes from, why we call them so and what 'Class of...' they belong to.

Who are Alumni?

The word ‘alumni’ means past students. If you attended Catholic Regional College or Mercy Regional College for any part of your education, you belong to MRC alumni.

There is no requirement for a minimum number of years to attend the school or complete Year 12, to be considered MRC alumni. You belong to alumni if you were a student at the school at any point of your life.

A single female student is referred to as 'alumna', a single male student is an 'alumnus', whereas an 'alum' is the gender-neutral term.

What is Class Year?

The class year determines each year level of students. For example, the Class of 1995 or the Class of 2025.

The class year is based on the year that the year level graduated from secondary school. If a student leaves school before Year 12, their class year is still determined by the year their classmates finish Year 12. This rule applies to any last year of school, which might have been called HSC or Matriculation year, depending on the era.

For example, if you left school in Year 10 in 1993 to do an apprenticeship, you would belong to the Class of 1995. This is because most of your classmates finished school in 1995 and you are part of the same group. In the same way, students starting Year 7 in 2022 belong to the Class of 2027 as this is the year when their year level will finish Year 12.

Students who repeated a year of their schooling belong to more than one class year.

Class of 1987 - 35th Reunion

Saturday 15 October 2022

The Class of 1987 are excited to get together and remember all the good times at their 35th reunion on Saturday 15 October. If you were part of that class, save the date and update your details on our Alumni database at the link below to receive news about the upcoming event.

Join MRC Alumni Association

Please let us know if you are planning a reunion for your class at alumni@mercy.edu.vic.au, and we will help promote your event and organise a campus tour for you.

Community Profiles

Have you been following our Facebook or Instagram Stories recently? Did you solve the Who Am I last week?

Stay tuned for more Who Am I features on our stories coming up and make sure to message us with your guesses to earn bragging rights for being first to pick our special guests.

Caitlin Rix

Caitlin joined the staff of Mercy Regional College as a Graduate Teacher back in 2016 after gaining a Bachelor of Arts and Education from Federation University in Ballarat. As an alumna of MRC, Caitlin has a unique insight into life as both student and staff member at the College. As a child, Caitlin wanted to be an artist or a ballerina, but recognising neither of those were her strengths, her heart became set on teaching after being inspired by her teachers and past staff members, Lachie Lee and Sophie Carr. In turn, Caitlin is now passing on the same passion and enthusiasm for her subjects of Australian History and Psychology to another generation of students at MRC.

Caitlin is our current Middle School Community Leader, and her favourite part of the role is working with and learning from the young people in our community and supporting them in their school journey. Her favourite school event is Work Experience, as she finds it rewarding to see students step out of their comfort zones, discover what they’re passionate about, and with a goal in mind, they can determine their future pathways.

When asked what our 2022 school theme, Opening the Doors of Mercy, meant to her, she said, “it means being welcoming and creating a space for everyone”. Caitlin is inspired by people who stand up for equality and equity, such as feminist Clementine Ford, Indigenous activists who champion closing the gap, Adam Goodes and Amy Thunig, and female leaders such as Sarah Hanson-Young, Penny Wong and Linda Burney.

Outside of school, Caitlin loves being social with family and friends, of both the two and four-legged variety. She is looking forward to spending more time with her young nephews and her two Whippets, Rosie and Ellie, now that she has more spare time after planning her recent wedding. If Caitlin had three wishes, she’d use them to create equality for all, gain the ability to know what her dogs are thinking, and control the weather!

Career News

Topics in the Career News this week:

Year 12 students

ADF Gap Year – applications now open
University - early entry programs now open
Applying for medicine or dentistry?
Australia National University – Tuckwell Scholarship

All students

Book a university campus tour for you and your family
Information technology – websites
Apprenticeships and traineeships – resources
Career planning and job seeker program
Updates from Monash University
Focus on the Skills Road website
Motorsports courses
Information on studying in the UK
William Angliss specialist institute (food, events, tourism, hospitality etc.)
Filmmaking competition
Ocean Youth Program – ocean and marine conservation
Upcoming career events

Kym Penry
Career Advisor

Career News, 23 March 2022

Upcoming Dates and Events

Monday, 4 April - Friday, 8 April - Year 10 Work Experience

Tuesday, 5 April - Wednesday, 6 April - Unit 1 ODE Camp

Tuesday, 5 April - Thursday, 7 April - Y9 Camp - POSTPONED

Wednesday, 6 April- Presentation Ball Practice

Thursday, 7 April - End of Term Assembly
TIS Tour

Friday, 8 April - ReLATE PD - Student Free Day
Presentation Ball - MRC Stadium
MRC Thermomix Raffle Drawn

College dates for 2022 can be viewed through the Parent Access Module (PAM), including all term dates, student free days, camps and retreats.

Community Notices

St Joseph’s Catholic Church Derrinallum was sold at auction last weekend. A final celebratory Mass will be held on Sunday 24 April at 11.00am. All are welcome to attend.

MRC Newsletter - Issue 5 - 5 April 2022