We began the last fortnight at Resurrection House with a Year Level Assembly, where we heard from students that experienced Santa Monica and Urban Engagement in the first four weeks.

Five students spoke about Santa Monica, with Jhonathan Andres reflecting that he "gained independence, respect and the charisma of a young adult and a young man”. Jhonathan shared that by completing the activities at Santa Monica, he learnt to “embrace and shape it into your own satisfaction, ultimately, to become resilient" to get the most out of it. Finally, he spoke about the importance of "being patient with others as it was essential to ensure everyone’s enjoyment lasted four weeks."

Josh Bell also spoke well about the Urban Engagement program, where he summarised the program, but also reflected:

“Urban Engagement highlighted the importance of teamwork. When we were in charge of everything, it became crucial that everybody in your group did their bit, otherwise it would be a tough task. It was a place where we were exposed to a new type of work ethic and was something we had to very quickly adapt to”.

These personal reflections provided great insight to the rest of the Year 9 students, and added to the excitement of everyone who will take part later in the Year.

This week, Mr Cox initiated the inaugural Resurrection House Run Club. Around 30 students turned up to school at 7am for a running session down near the Maribyrnong River. This is a great way to start the day and will be running each Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Students need to contact Mr Cox to register interest.

Also, Homework Help is really building up, with about 20 students also attending these sessions regularly. Ms Navarro is leading this and has been impressed with the work ethic and dedication to this and I encourage more to attend. This is also on Tuesday and Thursdays from 7:45-8:30am

This week we have conducted the inaugural Rice House Week. We celebrated our first Community Mass in the Marian Shrine, with the service led by Old Collegian, Fr Joe Giacobbe. The boys really liked how Fr Joe was able to connect with them and make the messages of Lent relevant to their lives. He talked about the importance of Lent as a time of renewal and emphasised giving of yourselves to others. 13 boys were directly involved in the Mass, by reading, bringing forward the Offertory and Altar Serving. It was also great to see all students singing and responding in the Mass.
Finally, we finished the fortnight with the Staff v Student Netball Match and a BBQ to conclude Rice Week. It was a great way to continue to promote community connectedness, staff and student relationships and inclusion.

In the next few weeks, NAPLAN will be in full swing, and I am excited to see how the boys go with this academic challenge. Wishing everyone a great long weekend and I look forward to seeing the students back on Tuesday, refreshed and ready to learn.