A New Millennium

from Brisbane Adventist College - A Short History

The Nervous Nineties

The new millennium was viewed with some degree of trepidation. Warnings had been issued that suggested computer systems would crash and some degree of chaos would follow. Late 1999 the BAC Board instituted a review of its internal systems, evaluated what might happen were they to fail, and made contingency plans to avert disaster. Fortunately the prophecy of massive computer failures was not fulfilled and the new millennium dawned with optimism and hope. This new day included a new principal. Following ten years as principal of Auckland Adventist High School, New Zealand, Mr Gavin Williams assumed the leadership role at Brisbane Adventist College. The process of appointing Williams was a departure from the usual method used by the Church to appoint teaching and administrative staff. Traditionally the staffing of Adventist schools was managed from Church headquarters in Sydney. However, under urging from the BAC Board chairman, Dr Ross Cuthbert, the South Queensland Conference agreed that the position be advertised and applicants be interviewed. The final recommendation would be endorsed by the Board and then forwarded to the Conference for confirmation and processing. This worked well, some quality applications were received and three were interviewed. Gavin Williams was the successful applicant. Thus BAC led the way in greater local input to the staffing process. When Williams arrived on campus the first thing that struck him was both the size and the attractiveness of the campus and the considerable distance between the primary and secondary buildings. In particular the efforts by the groundsman, Mr Geoff Lorensen, were a credit to his creativity and work ethic. During the growing summer months Lorensen was assisted in lawn mowing by his wife, Jenny, otherwise he carried the load alone. The value of the Lorensen’s contribution to BAC cannot be quantified, but the principal of a NSW state high school upon visiting BAC in 1999 commented that a comparable campus in his state system would require three groundsmen. In Geoff Lorensen BAC had the proverbial Singers ‘three-in-one’ good oil. When Williams took over in 2000, the combined campus BAC was but one year old. Williams recalls that the South Queensland Conference Education Director, Dr Grant Watson, had an early conversation with him in which Watson stressed the need to continue the process begun in 1999 of building staff cohesion. As Williams noted: “staff who had worked in the child care facility as well as the primary and secondary schools, were coming to grips with the fact they were now part of one large college.” This was no small task, but Williams was greatly assisted by the construction of the new Student Centre. Designed by architect Mr Allan Young and built by Mr David Bannister, this $2.3 million project included a gymnasium, classrooms, kitchen, music studios, teacher offices and storage areas. It was funded by a $1 million Commonwealth grant and the rest through a bank loan. The opening of the Student Centre fulfilled a long-held dream, but more importantly, it formed a bridge between the Mansfield and Wishart sections of the College as it catered for the entire student population. Williams described this facility as “an excellent educational asset.” Alas, this educational asset did not include a swimming pool!

The Student Centre was opened by the local Federal member and later Australia’s Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd. Beginning in 1999, Rudd often called at the school to chat with the Principal and to mix with the students. He particularly enjoyed conversing in Mandarin and interacting with overseas students from Taiwan. In that BAC offered Japanese as a foreign language, Mr Rudd instituted an annual award for the best foreign language student. He seemed to have a genuine interest in BAC.

Under Williams both BAC’s primary and secondary departments expanded their participation in inter-school competitive sports. Of particular satisfaction for Williams— he was the team coach—was the level of skills achieved and success enjoyed by the girls’ senior volleyball team. He was particularly proud of the fact that in five of the six years he coached the team they made the Metropolitan Championship finals. The girls travelled to and from their venues in the school Toyota troopy, otherwise known as ‘The Beast’. Williams recalled that often, after another victory, ‘The Beast would find itself parked outside a food store where the girls were ‘shouted’ a pick-me-up snack as a reward for their sportsmanship and their victory. While representing BAC built school pride and bonding within the teams, emphasis was also placed on academic success. The Federal Government introduced the NAPLAN key skills testing for Years Five and Seven and Williams and his staff took pride in the fact that “in all skill areas our average student scores were well above those for the State.” Furthermore, with commensurate emphasis on literacy and numeracy, the NAPLAN scores showed continual improvement. During his time at BAC Williams supported a number of ‘big’ events. Students and staff produced two challenging musicals, namely ‘Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat’ and ‘The King and I’. These two musicals involved students from both the primary and secondary departments. It also involved considerable staff and parent involvement. Williams recalled that “All adults involved in these productions were simply outstanding and I continue to be stunned that we could pull off such a feat.” Two highly talented teachers led the production team: Mrs Kym Hassen, choreography, and Mrs Sylvia Cody the musical component. It was, however, the “amazingly talented students” who ensured the success of the two productions. Williams also instituted what became known as ‘Community Fairs’. On the primary campus and under the trees that run along Broadwater Road, members of the local community were invited to visit BAC, listen to student musical and other presentations, and generally have a good time. Williams estimated that over 2000 locals participated. He saw this as “a great way to showcase our College and the talents of the students.” Williams concluded his principalship at BAC at the end of 2005 when, as still a relatively young man, he went west to be principal at Carmel College in Western Australia. In reflecting upon the six years he spent at BAC, Williams gave particular credit to the work of the BAC Board chairman, Mr Alan Windus. In addition to the skills he showed in chairing board meetings, Williams valued his vision and passion for BAC and for the business management skills he brought to his role. Asked to sum up his years at BAC, Williams wrote: “I thoroughly enjoyed my time at BAC. . . I believe we made significant progress in building a happy and united place where both students and staff felt valued . . , happy students make the best learners and this was a definite goal during my time.” Williams concluded with these words: “I was blessed to have some excellent staff members and campus leaders to ensure that the targets we had set for BAC could be reached.” There was no nepotism involved when Williams was replaced by Mr Jack Ryan. Ryan also came from principalship of the Auckland Adventist High School, and where previously he had been Williams’ deputy. The appointment of Ryan was in fact the responsibility of the

Construction of the Student Centre in 2003 and its completed state.

recently establish South Queensland Conference Board of Education which had legislative and legal responsibility for the Conference schools. Although Ryan spent three years as an Applied Arts teacher at Lilydale Adventist Academy, his educational perspectives and administrative experience were largely nurtured in New Zealand. Fortunately, Ryan proved highly adaptable and a fast learner. He quickly noted that a major task was to continue the integration of all departments into the ‘one-school’ model.

In 2008 BAC entered into a re-branding process. This involved reformulating the College’s purpose statements and the creation of ‘The BAC Way’, that is, an articulation of the desired culture of the College. Ryan took this process further. Perhaps reflecting his artistic insights, he had all school buildings repainted in one colour scheme; in his words, “to visually unify our campus.” BAC has taken this further, and from 2011 there is a new Prep12 uniform which will contribute its part to the unifying and branding of the College.

Toward the end of Williams’ tenure, discussions were entered into between BAC and the Mt. Gravatt Seventh-day Adventist Church. This latter congregation has sold their church and needed to relocate. Both groups perceived the benefits of working together symbiotically. The Church constituency would save the costs of purchasing land; BAC would acquire the use of a chapel for its religious exercises. Under Ryan these negotiations proceeded successfully: a location was decided upon, protocols for dual use were agreed to, the church design was finalised, and building commenced. The outcome is a beautiful structure that serves as a community church and the College Chapel. A strong influence in this process was Mr Stuart Hemsley, a long-term supporter of BAC and with extensive experience in building. A new chapel was not the only building project of recent years. Since its inception, the PreSchool department had operated in limited accommodation under Block B of the Primary Department. Under Ryan’s guidance a new purpose-built Pre-School was constructed. Other projects included the refurbishment of the Primary Learning Resource Centre, Primary Block A classrooms, and two Secondary Science Laboratories. Very aware that the learning process is in the digital age, Ryan reports that “21st Century learning tools [have been placed] in the hands of our students, including interactive whiteboards for Prep to Year 2, increased access to computer labs for Years 3 and 4, 50% shared access to Netbooks for Years 5 and 6, and [with] a 1:1 laptop program for Years 7 to 12 commencing in 2011.” Ryan takes pleasure from his students’ continuing involvement and success in academic, sporting, cultural and community activities. As noted previously, not every student is interested in sporting activities and have opted during the sports periods to engage in small community service projects such as weeding gardens, mowing lawns, cleaning houses, and simply talking with elderly citizens.

A Modern Parable - 2

Was Mrs L. lucky? Or was she lucky! To her horror, one day she discovered that the central diamond in her engagement ring was missing. When and where did it disappear? It could be anywhere: home, school, shopping centre, church, anywhere she had been in recent times. Its recovery seemed an impossible task and searches reinforced this belief. Despite prayer, the diamond was gone for good. God, however, works to His own timetable. Remarkably, or was it Providence, one day a sharp-eyed student spied the missing gem in the playground, recognised its significance, and happily presented it to Mrs L. That student received the most appreciative hug that Mrs L. could give.

Of particular pleasure is student involvement in larger projects such as ‘Sonship’ trips to the Solomon Islands and ‘StormCo’ trips to outback Queensland. The last StormCo project for the year takes place during the annual Schoolies week. Instead of carousing with the crowds on the Gold Coast, BAC students choose to contribute to the benefit of society by bringing social activities to the children of an outback town, and by improving the local amenity by clearing rubbish, painting community buildings, and planting trees and shrubs.

BAC students on various StormCo trips.

Ryan notes that students can make a difference when their “focus shifts from themselves to what they can do in their country and in their community.” That is indeed consistent with the values of a Christian education.

When the unified BAC was formed in 1999, the administration of the school was established in a refurbished house adjacent to the primary campus. This was seen as a temporary measure until a designed administration block could be built. To the credit of the several administrations since 1999, an administrative centre has remained secondary to the needs of the other BAC departments. Twelve years on, and with most of those other needs having been met, Ryan sees the construction of the administrative centre as one of the next building projects. While men (and women) plan and dream, however, Ryan concludes: “I daily pray that God will set the future course for our College.” To that we can all say ‘Amen’.