iServi News | 21 October 2022 | Term 4, Week 2
Principal’s Address: Class of 2022 Graduation Ceremony
Good evening and welcome to special guests, parents, carers, families, staff and most importantly the graduating Class of 2022.
As mentioned at this morning’s College Graduation Assembly, today we see the babies born in 2004 and 2005, the Kindy students of 2007 and Year 7 students of 2017 become the Year 12 graduates of 2022.
Today marks the culmination of six years of high school! Year 12s, I hope when you reflect on your journey at Servite College that you are filled with pride and awe at your efforts and your success. You have earned this graduation and you have earned this celebration.
To the parents and families here tonight, I completely understand the mixed emotions of pride and sadness, joy and nostalgia. For some of you this is your oldest child and your family is experiencing this milestone for the first time. For others this may be your baby, and this is your last visit as a current parent to our College. With my own daughter graduating last night, I share your mixed emotions.
Congratulations to you all, you have successfully helped your child through school. I am sure you can recall hearing the words “I need help with my HASS assignment” or “I don’t understand my Maths homework”, or my personal favourite (not), “Can you read my English essay for me?’. Well, no more!
For those who were not at the Graduation Assembly this morning I would like to repeat some of my remarks in tribute to our Year 12 students. Graduating Year 12 is not an easy feat, but this group have done it tough. This cohort has completed their entire senior school education in some trying times. In 2020 when they were in their first year of senior school, we were all hit with a global pandemic. Their very first event as the Class of 2022, the Year 12s Ball, was in jeopardy before the year commenced. I think the positive way in which our students handled the rapid change of plans to the Ball was an indication of the grace they would bring into Year 12. I must tell you that I am humbled, delighted and, most of all, extremely impressed by their collective achievements this year.
To our Year 12 students this evening, through hard work and determination all of you have achieved something remarkable. Today, you and your families and friends can celebrate and reflect on those achievements. I am sure you will agree with me that typically in life, you only ever get out what you put in, and in all your cases, you have each put in a huge amount and richly deserve everything that you get out!
Parents, in my address to the Year 12s this morning I thanked our students for choosing to be part of our learning community each day and I thanked the staff that have guided them. I thanked the incredible student leadership team and I especially thanked Sam Lufumpa and Kailee Young for being an outstanding Head Boy and Head Girl in 2022. I thanked God for walking alongside our students and always guiding them to serve and now I would like to thank you.
Parenting does not come with a manual. All we know as parents is that we want the best for our children and that we should brace ourselves for their teenage years. Parents, I would like to humbly thank you for trusting Servite to walk with you on this journey to form these amazing young men and women before us – in their teenage years!
This would not be a Principal’s Graduation Address if I did not include some quotes or add in an analogy. Therefore, I would like to speak for a minute about Service. We are all fortunate to be part of Servite College with its core focus on Community, Service and Marian Identity. I want to share one of my favourite stories about Pope Francis and his work on service and community.
As the Archbishop of Buenos Aires in the late 1990s Father Jorge Mario Borgolio, now Pope Francis, would insist his seminarians needed to understand the importance of service and giving to community. He believed strongly that they should all understand the suffering and challenges of others and be there in service to them. Therefore, he used to send his seminarians to the villages to seek out those needing help and then ask them to report back to him. He once said that he would check the dust on their shoes to see how far they had gone and how much they had walked. And if there was no dust, they’d have some explaining to do. Year 12s, I tell you this story as I would like you to continue getting your shoes dusty after school. Don’t let the charism of service and community end at graduation! It is who we are as Servites and hopefully who you will be as Alumni. Once a Servite, always a Servite. Continue getting dust on your shoes!
Now it’s time for you to move on to what’s next. But you must not let anything deter you from taking those first steps. You’re going to find pessimists in every turn that you make. Don’t listen. Set your goal, know exactly where you want to go. Trust yourself. Don’t spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity. Recognise that there will be disappointments and acknowledge that there will be obstacles. But you will learn from your mistakes, for there is very little learning that comes from immediate success.
May your years ahead continue to be characterised by empathy, compassion, love of God and a willingness to take risks. May you always lead by example and work hard. May your successes be many, and your troubles be few. We wish you everything that you so richly deserve in the years ahead – it has been an honour and a privilege watching your progress and success!
And I finish with a timeless quote from a Dr Seuss classic, Oh, the Places you will Go:
“You’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So… get on your way!”
Ms Silvana Vicoli
Principal