Creating the conditions for success

Creating the conditions for success

For 29 years, Howard Stack has led the Brisbane Grammar School Board of Trustees with distinction. His legacy as Chairman is defined by his desire for constant advancement and his passion for the School and its students.

After leading BGS as School Captain in 1962, Mr Stack has continued to advocate for the institution for more than half a century.

With the support of fellow Board members and the School’s leadership team, the list of accomplishments under his direction is extensive. They include capital works, community building, financial stability and a steadfast commitment to giving victims of abuse a voice.

Reflecting on the School’s first 150 years, Mr Stack said he was proud to be part of such an engaged school community. “We can take pride in the successes of the Brisbane Grammar School community,” he said.

“BGS has been a pioneer and leader in providing an outstanding education, nurturing generations of young men to become thoughtful and confident leaders. Our Old Boys have given their lives in war for their country, led their chosen fields, and become global citizens who give back to their communities.”

“As with life in general, there have been difficult times in the School’s history. There have been failures. We are a better place for the courage of abuse victims in coming forward. We cannot erase their hurt, but we will continue to support them.”

Mr Stack drove many infrastructure projects: from the Middle School, the Indoor Sports Centre and development of the Northgate Playing Fields, to The Lilley Centre and renovated Tennis Centre. He was also instrumental in acquiring new land for the Outdoor Education program at Moogerah.

The transformative STEAM precinct, a project he has described as the School’s most ambitious, will be the most significant visual representation of his time as Chairman. “The sciences and mathematics have always been at the core of what we provide at BGS,” Mr Stack said.

“This critical project will bring the teaching of sciences and mathematics to the forefront of best practice. It will blend the sciences and mathematics with the teaching of design, technology and art, break down silos and foster creativity.”

Providing financial assistance for students through the School’s Bursary Fund has been another significant priority for Mr Stack. “The 2020 Campaign to increase the School’s Bursary Fund to $20 million by 2020 is a vital campaign to increase access to BGS in line with the aspirations of the School’s founding fathers,” he said. “The income from the Bursary Fund currently supports 43 students and we want to support 10% of the student body.”

Mr Stack has led the Year Group Bursary campaign and extended it to focus on every Old Boy year group. So far a number of the previous year groups, dating back to the Class of 1936, have contributed to the campaign.

In 2016, new graduates established a Year Group Bursary. Each cohort since then has encouraged their year group to pay it forward – to pass on the privilege and opportunity to someone else.

Mr Stack reserved his greatest praise for teachers at BGS, past and present, for the roles they have played in preparing boys for the future. “The quality of our educational outcomes at BGS is not accidental,” he said.

“The professionalism and commitment of our teachers in readying our boys for life are outstanding. In a digital world, the ways boys learn and the ways we teach them are changing significantly, and our dedicated teachers are engaged at the centre of this change.”

Headmaster Anthony Micallef, who counts Mr Stack as a mentor and friend, said his greatest contribution to Brisbane Grammar School was refusing to allow the School to rest on its laurels.

“Mr Stack has been the most passionate and generous of BGS Old Boys,” Headmaster Micallef said. “It is my view that his greatest contribution is that he has not allowed our school to be idle. Schools that are seriously committed to becoming great schools need to do more than simply replicate solid performances.”

“He has created a high-performance culture, fostered the leadership to perpetuate it, re-engineered structures and systems and directed the efforts of its faculty into learning and teaching that fundamentally addresses the requirements of each generation of BGS students. I believe that creating the conditions for success has and will be Mr Stack’s legacy.”