Graduation Week
Every year we are blessed with the privilege to walk alongside the Year 12 Graduating Class through their graduation from secondary school. It is a time of joy and pride for many students and parents, but also bitter-sweet for some as they leave the community and move on to new beginnings and challenges.
The 2024 cohort of talented and committed young women, have come through a lot of challenges in their time at Brigidine. In 2020, while in Year 8, they were faced with the global pandemic and the many restrictions it placed on learning and connection with others. Through Years 8-9 the pandemic continued to impact them with whole terms of school conducted online and limited contact with other students in their year group and the College community. By Year 10 things were clearer for them, and they enjoyed a very positive school Retreat and Camp together in Term 4 in Wollongong. Many girls have said this event brought them together after the disruption of COVID-19. In Year 11 their Street Retreat brought them a deeper awareness of the challenges facing people in the wider world. This year they enjoyed a three day Retreat in Galston to reflect on their journey so far and to move forward through the HSC year with a sense of purpose, balance and hope.
We celebrate the Graduating Class with a Graduation Mass followed by a Graduation Dinner with students, their families and staff. This event is a time for sharing and connection for families that acknowledges and celebrates the girls’ journey and their Brigidine education. Graduation week is filled with excitement and activities which include a Year 12 student-led Assembly, Year 12 Breakfast and Graduation Assembly. Each special event has its own focus and energy, ensuring all students are recognised and celebrated for reaching this important milestone. The week wraps up with the girls Year 12 Formal allowing them the time for celebration and fun before their final HSC examinations in Term 4.
As our Class of 2024 finish their time at Brigidine, we give thanks to the parents who have supported these young women throughout their school journey. We also appreciate and give thanks to the many staff who guided and supported the students in their learning, faith, wellbeing and cocurricular experiences.
For each of us life is a journey. It is a journey that takes us from youth to age; from innocence to awareness; from ignorance to knowledge; from weakness to strength and often back again. From offence to forgiveness; from loneliness to friendship; from pain to compassion; from fear to faith; from defeat to victory; and from victory to defeat. Until looking either backward or ahead we see that victory or success does not lie at some high point along the way, but in having made the journey, stage by stage, moment by moment.
This reflection highlights to us that life is a journey; our students’ time at Brigidine is but one part of their journey. We wish our 2024 Graduating students all the very best as they move into their next stage and look forward to welcoming them back as part of our Alumni community.
Brian Loughland
Deputy Principal Faith and Mission
