Student Life at Prince Alfred College

As the year unfolds it has become increasingly obvious that Student Life is a most vibrant and varied portfolio. From charity appeals to cricket appeals, from drama performances to performances of leadership, our students are truly engaged in a most wonderful array of activities.

Over the last fortnight I have been delighted to witness the remarkable community response to our Bushfire Appeal. After a terrific cash drive we are now collectimg items of hardware to send to the fire ravaged district. As a final stage, we are presently in close communication with the Uniting Church in Shepparton, organising to sending a working party to assist with reconstruction in the first week of the holidays.

Last week also saw the launch of our PACCCC (Care and Concern Committee) who are focussed on fundraising for the Sunrise Orphanage in Cambodia as their major support focus. Those boys will also play a significant role in packaging goods for the Bushfire Appeal and the organisation of the Middle School socials later in the year.

House Swimming Carnival

Last Friday the School participated in the House Swimming Carnival. Our vision is that the energy, creativity, spirit and leadership for these days will come from the student body rather than be staff driven.

The response of the students was remarkable with outstanding attendance and most importantly participation levels. The boys were vocal, colourful and obviously enjoyed the day revelling in the first opportunity to be part of the House competition.

Significantly, we also included a House Spirit trophy awarded for positive support across the day. Congratulations to Captain, Jordan Walsh and the Cotton House for being the inaugural winners in this category and also to Captain, Luke Tapscott and the Taylor House for winning the House Swimming Cup.

Thankyou to all the staff and parents who supported the day and particularly to Gary Jenkinson, Director of Sports, for his professionalism and energy as the day’s Coordinator.

Stephen Clohesy
Director of Student Life

Careers & VET

VET courses are well and truly underway for Semester One with a record number of boys enrolled. Careers programs have also begun for boys in Year 10 with careers testing as part of the PLP and Year 11 boys starting to organise their work experience placements.

Boys in Year 12 should start to look out for information about Tertiary pathways, gap year programs, scholarships and job opportunities. As always, boys are more than welcome to book a time to see me in the careers room, or just pop in if they would like to read any of the information available.

Tabitha Noble
Careers & Vet Cooordinator

International Students

The Welcome Reception for the International students on Monday, 2nd of February was relatively relaxed. The Headmaster, teaching staff and extended family members enjoyed the refreshments and the chance to catch up.

There are more than ten new International students enrolled in PAC.

Sung Park
Captain of International Students

Educational Psychologist

Resilience is the Capacity to Recover......

I was recently reflecting on the School motto, "Fac fortia et patere". The translation of this motto from Latin to English is, Do brave deeds and endure. I would like to focus on the second part of this exhortation, "... and endure". What does this second part of our motto mean?

The dictionary definition of endurance is, "the power to withstand hardship or stress". To me, the motto means more than this. When I think of endurance, I think of not only of being strong and lasting the distance, but of resilience. Resilience implies an additional quality. The dictionary definition of resilience refers to the qualities of materials, "the physical property of a material that can return to its original shape or position after deformation that does not exceed its elastic limit".

In human terms, resilience is the capacity to recover following a situation that produces great stress. For me, the ability to bounce back in the face of adversity epitomises resilience. The well known American cyclist, Lance Armstrong, won the Tour de France on seven consecutive occasions. This is an amazing feat in itself, but what makes it more amazing is that he won the Tour de France after he won his own battle with cancer.

It is interesting that even in Lance Armstong's own words, prior to his fight with cancer, he was a brash, self-centered athlete who was focused on winning at all costs. The chemotherapy he needed to endure to fight the cancer within him has made him more humble. For our students, the notion of resilience is critical because as a student, lasting the distance and bouncing back from disappointments is most important.

Resilience is important for another reason, approximately 5 percent of adolescents suffer from depression. Additionally, many youth suffer from significant impairment, but don't meet the criteria for a diagnosis of major depression. Resilience is seen by many researchers as a “protective factor” against depression, by this we mean that if an individual has the type of personality that allows him to bounce back in the face of adversity, then he is less likely to experience depression.

Allan Lloyd-Jones
Educational Psychologist

Chaplaincy

The Fourth Commandment

What a wonderful thing it is to get five minutes to sit down and just appreciate the world. As the year has already ramped up to really busy, I wonder if you have had the experience of having your mobile phone beep, ring or play an awful tune to tell you that your five minutes will not even make three minutes.

We have lost the separation of work and rest/play that was once so important in setting rhythms of life in which the importance of family was affirmed. With more Australians taking work home or being contacted at home about work (particularly with many mobile “phones” now bringing your email to you immediately), work has become much more a 24/7 reality, or at least a 16/7 reality.

We need rhythms of work and rest to function well. We need to have time to rest and recharge, time to run and laugh and be childlike as we play with our children. The biblical pattern is to work hard on six days and then do nothing on the seventh except worship God and rest. Worship is seen as broader than mere attendance at a communal church service as it also includes appreciating the beauty of creation, and celebrating the provision of God in our families and homes.

The Sabbath commandment is included in the commandments because greed and anxiety both drive us to keep going and to be available at all times for our work, in order to maximize output (and, therefore, income), but also to minimize mistakes. Therefore, this needed to be a command, because, left to our own decisions we would overlook this basic human need.

In our society there is no command to keep the Sabbath holy as there was until quite recently, and now we dismiss those who opposed Sunday Trading. As a result of having a seven day a week work regime, the pressure on us rises, and as it does so do afflictions such as depression and divorce, burnout and alcoholism, and the even more scary quiet despair of those who long to have more “quality” time with their family.

Since it is clear that we are very unlikely to have the Sabbath proclaimed as a day of rest again, it is up to us to build a Sabbath into our lives, a day where we at least minimise outside involvements and spend the day completely separated from our work. So have 2 phones, one for friends and one for work, or set up your phone so work numbers won’t ring on your Sabbath and spend the day with your family, or appreciating the clouds in the sky, or go fishing, or just have a barbecue with friends.

Get the rhythm back and appreciate both work and rest all the more.

Trevor Klar
Chaplain

Outdoor Education

Prince Alfred College is offering an outdoor education expedition to New Zealand. The expedition has been scheduled from the Friday 11th December to the Tuesday 22nd December 2009. The specific aim of the program is to give students an international perspective of the outdoors and environmental issues. The adventure activities are designed to empower and extend the students with participants hopefully gaining skills and attitudes that stay with them well into their adult life.

Phil Noble
Coordinator Outdoor Education

Rowing

Click on the MORE INFO link for Rowing results.

Daren Potts
Director of Rowing