Salesian Captains Conference
On 26-28 November, we attended the Salesian Colleges Captains Conference for 2018.
Attending were the 2018 school captains from all eight Salesian schools across Australia: Salesian College Chadstone, Salesian College Sunbury, St Joseph’s College & Nagle College (VIC), St John Bosco College Engadine (NSW), St Mark’s College and Xavier College (SA). Each year a different college hosts the conference, and this year the host was Nagle College in Bairnsdale. The first day we all met at Melbourne Airport before embarking on a coach for a four hour drive to Bairnsdale.
Our first session was a ‘get to know you’. We played games and had a lot of fun. We went to the local parish, St Mary’s Church, to have Mass. St Mary’s had an amazing painted mural on its roof, and is one of the tourist attractions at Bairnsdale.
On Monday we went to Nagle College and had a school tour, before travelling to Lakes Entrance and spending the rest of the day there. We first went on a boat cruise around Lakes Entrance before having some free time to look around the town.
The group then went to the Surf Lifesaving club for some sessions on leadership. After learning about the history and importance of the Surf Club, we did an activity talking about what we wanted to do as leaders.
A common recurring thing was that we all wanted to leave a legacy and a positive impact and make differences in our schools.
We headed over to a mini-golf course and had a fantastic time.
After dinner that night we were given a presentation by a man named Tim. Tim is a regional manager for Gippsland and works with businesses around innovation and technology. Because of his role in the Victorian Government, he has undergone significant leadership training. He has also completed the ironman – a gruelling physical event: 3.8 km ocean swim, 180km bike ride and finally a 42 km run. His presentation was great, he taught us about the fundamentals of leadership, both professionally and personally.
Some of the fundamentals he talked about were to create meaning when you do things; listen, say little, but back up what you say, show up to meetings and events and to choose your attitude when you have a meeting or when you are with your team.
The next morning we went back to Nagle College to give a presentation at their school assembly about Dominic, before hopping back on the bus to go back to the airport.
Overall this trip was an amazing experience; it was wonderful meeting all the tremendous people and we wish we could’ve stayed longer. We would like to thank Nagle College for hosting us.
Maggie Baker and Will Parkinson - 2018 College Captains
A Catholic School in the Salesian Tradition
