As St Patrick’s College celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2018, we felt it was a crucial time to revisit and redefine our mission to -raise fine boys to the status of great men-.
We asked ourselves, what is a great man? How do we define greatness?
To answer these challenging questions the College embarked upon a deep, 12-month community consultation process aimed at clearly identifying expectations around the words -great man-.
During this process in-depth interviews were held asking staff, Old Collegians, parents and, most importantly, current students what they thought it meant to be a great man of St Patrick’s College.
Today, at the 2018 Welcome Assembly to commence the school year, our 2018 student leaders including College Captain Sam Williams and his Vice Captains Tom Clark and Dean O’Brien launched a short film which encapsulates the results of this review.
-This video is the culmination of a student-driven process which began with meetings attended by students from Year 7 to 12,- Sam Williams said.
-It contains the concepts, the values and the standards that we, as the student body, believe are fundamental to the spirit of St Patrick’s College.-
Tom Clark said the student leaders were determined to ensure the values raised in the film are carried through to the College’s 1400 students persistently throughout the year.
-The term -‘great man’ here at St Patrick’s is not one to be used casually or sparingly, rather it shall be a term which causes us to think, to question and examine why someone could be considered as a great man,- Tom said.
-The video can be seen as a coat of arms -“ a set of standards set by the boys, set for the boys.-
Dean O’Brien said he felt an -overwhelming sense of immense pride- when he first saw the film and hoped all students would share in its messages.
-Due to the fact that the ideas central to being a -‘great man’ have come directly from us, the student body, it is important that we take ownership of these words and turn them into actions,- Dean said.
-This is the standard and level of accountability that is expected of us as Paddy Boys both inside the walls of the College, and beyond.-
The video can be seen at this link.
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