26th November, 2013 Reflection Prayer before a Meeting We stand before you, Holy Spirit, conscious of our sinfulness, but aware that we gather in your name. Come to us, remain with us, and enlighten our hearts. Give us light and strength to know your will, to make it our own, and to live it in our lives. Guide us by your wisdom, support us by your power, for you are God, sharing the glory of Father and Son. You desire justice for all: enable us to uphold the rights of others; do not allow us to be misled by ignorance or corrupted by fear or favour. Unite us to yourself in the bond of love and keep us faithful to all that is true. As we gather in your name may we temper justice with love, so that all our decisions may be pleasing to you, and earn the reward promised to good and faithful servants. You live and reign with the Father and the Son, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (This prayer was used before each session of Vatican II) Year 12 Graduation Dinner Last Wednesday night staff, students and parents gathered for a wonderful evening at the Ultima Reception Centre. While all enjoyed the night, the letter below really sums up what an exceptional group of Year 12 students we have. Mark Sheehan Principal Dear Mr Sheehan, I have not written a letter like this before, but I am compelled to write to you today following an event that I was photographing last night at Ultima Reception centre in East Keilor. The event was the CRC Melton Year 12 Graduation Dinner. I have worked as a professional photographer for 23 years now, and in that time I have photographed tens of thousands of people from all walks of life – from portraits of world famous celebrities around the world, through to students at school formal events – including some of the most affluent schools around Melbourne. I have also worked in tertiary education for 20 years here in Melbourne, teaching Applied Photography, so I feel I am qualified to make the following observations. I don’t believe that I have ever had a more cooperative and genuinely beautiful group of young adults to work with than I have had when photographing recent formal events for students who attend CRC Melton.
In addition to the event last night, I had also photographed a number of these students at Debutante Balls recently, and their considerate behaviour, maturity and genuine respect for others is consistently at a level that I have not experienced before. Considering my experience with photographing these events in the last 23 years, I can honestly say very few even come close to the standards set by your students, and I think it is something that you and your school should be very proud of. I understand that you can often face challenges as educators to students at this stage of their personal development - and I am not someone who is easily impressed, but even I could not let the opportunity pass to write this letter and share my positive experience with your students. Naturally, this reflects very positively on you and the excellent teaching staff at CRC Melton, but it is also a credit to the parents of these students, and most of all a credit to the students themselves. From my perspective – as someone who previously knew nothing about the school, there is really no other way to collectively describe these students from CRC Melton - except to say they are a beautiful group of young men and women who have a positive impact on all those around them. I am certain they can all look forward to a very bright future in their chosen career path and it gives me great hope that these are the young minds that will be shaping our future. Please feel free to share my thoughts with your staff and students at the college. Sincerely, Chris Hillard.