Social Justice

It was more than fitting that this year our Year 10 Community Service began on Ash Wednesday, immediately after the service that called the boys to stillness, service prayer as we get ready to celebrate Easter.

Every week, the Community Service Program sees 260 students head off to 106 venues to help others and learn more about the struggles of the people they encounter.

It sounds complicated, and the organisation is intricate, but at heart, there is a refreshing simplicity in the program. Here are just a couple of the reflections boys wrote after only their second week:

start conversations. Most of them stayed silent and did not talk, but G. and J. were talking the most. They were often hard to understand.

I mainly talked to B., whose brother was in WWII and sadly died last year. He gave us a tour of his room and we got to see photos of his children and grandchildren. L. only spoke Italian and we could only understand a little bit from him. I was very surprised to see him dancing when we arrived. We also met the old mayor of Whitehorse.

We played The Age word game. J. was on fire and got half of the words because he had been an English teacher. When kids lost focus or were talking, we directed their attention back to the two teachers. At the end, Ryan and I joined in a fun race with the kids and we let the kids win. It was a great experience.

These little stories, and there are many like them, are all about creating communication and connection with people outside our comfort zone, such as the elderly or children with special needs.

Our boys often find it difficult, for example, to converse with the elderly. But it is a richly human experience and lives long in their memories. It is an expression of the faith at the heart of the school.