Year 9
Every year a day is dedicated to a Reflection Day where students can come together as a community and reflect on their spirituality. This year the Year 9 Reflection Day took place last Wednesday 24th September. The Key Note presenter was Leila Gurruwiwi, The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Officer, Learning Diversity from Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS). Leila firstly presented on Australian culture and identity and where indiginious culture fits in. She facilitated lots of discussion on the topic along with videos debating the ideas of Australian identity. The second session was about Reconciliation and working towards equality for all. She also facilitated a timeline activity on reconciliation. There was lots of group work where students were able to think of scenarios of injustice and think about how reconciliation can take place and the true meaning of the word ‘sorry’. Mr Chesser ran a liturgy in Lesson 5 where members of the Year 9 cohort came together to celebrate their achievements. The final session was led by Angela from Young Mercy Links. Angela presented on how students can get involved in the Mercy community now and when students finish from Year 12. The students really contributed and felt that they were very well informed. It was a great day.
Mary De Bono, Year 9 Leader
“At the start of the year 9 Reflection Day we had Leila Gurruwiwi as our guest speak. She spoke to us about identity and what it means to our multi-cultural country, reconciliation, and historical days to indigenous people. We all found her very inspiring and took the information home to tell our families. Our Reflection Day also featured a year level liturgy, in which together we celebrated our education as Mercy Students and the people who have helped us get to where we are today. We used the time in prayer to reflect on ourselves and the sessions that were presented to us earlier in the day. As the day concluded, we had one last activity which as a guest speaker from Young Mercy Links. We really enjoyed this session and found it extremely interesting to learn about the work conducted by the organisation, especially refugee advocacy, community involvement and how we can assist them in making a difference.”
Carlota, Sophie, and Eva 9C