Foundation President’s Report

SCOTT CHIRNSIDE (OGC 1970), FOUNDATION PRESIDENT

Foundation Concert

We introduced a Foundation Concert Art Competition for the student’s earlier this year with the winner’s work to be used in the Foundation Concert program and marketing material. Thank you to all of the students who entered the competition - you all put in a lot of effort which was appreciated.

Congratulations to Aisling Talbot (Year 6) for winning the inaugural Art Competition and to the runners up Jack Bull (Year 8) and Sinchan Bhaskaracharya (Year 5).

The students wowed us again this year at the 32nd Foundation Concert. Costa Hall was a buzz on Friday 9 August with a very packed Concert program which started with the 50 Years of Co-education, Stories of Change video playing on the Big screen closely followed by the Senior String Quartet playing Pure Imagination. What a wonderful way to start the Concert. Thank you to all of the students performing on the night and to the dedicated and diligent music staff, including our Director of Music, Mr Scott Templeton, who always makes sure we are thoroughly entertained.

Foundation Events

The Morongo Old Collegians Lunch has become a highlight on our annual calendar, something to look forward to each Spring. On Saturday 26 October we were thrilled to have the 2024 Morongo Award recipient, Eliza Hannagan, speak to us about her connections with Morongo through her grandmother Helen Hannagan (née Stuckey). Our guest speaker Janet Park (MOC 1970), spoke about her association with VIEW Club supporting The Smith Family, a very worthwhile cause focusing on the education and wellbeing of children experiencing disadvantage. We had over 60 attend this years’ lunch and many Morongo Old Collegians also took a tour of Belerren prior to the commencement of the lunch.

Mr Kevin Jess, Head of Design & Creative Arts, took our Morrison Society and Foundation Patrons on a tour of the VCE Arts & Design Exhibition on 29 October, and gave some insights into some of the students’ exceptional work. The courtyard in the Austin Gray Centre was the venue for a lovely lunch afterwards.

Foundation Fellowships

Our Foundation Fellows for 2024 are Kate Sculley, Rebekah McColl and Terry Coburn who will be embarking on a Neurodivergent research, exploration and collaboration Study Tour to Prague in May 2025, which will include attending the 10th annual World Congress of ADHD Conference. As neurodiversity is becoming more prevalent within our community, it is important for the school to understand this and offer support options to the impacted students, their peers, our staff and parents. We are pleased to support our 2024 Fellows in this Study Tour and look forward to hearing more on this very important subject next year.

Appointment of Ben Miller to the Board

It is my great pleasure to welcome Ben Miller (OGC 1993), a current College parent, as a member of the Foundation Board. Ben kindly agreed to join the Board to fill the vacancy left after Andrew Cameron (OGC 1978) retired at the beginning of 2024. Ben joined his first Board meeting in August and we welcome him to The Geelong College Foundation community.

May I take this opportunity to thank the members of the Board of The Geelong College Foundation, including members of the Sub-Committees, for all of their support and guidance throughout the year. These are volunteer positions and your time and dedication to the College is appreciated.

Make your mark on Belerren

The Foundation were proud to support the school with a $1 million gift toward the construction of Belerren last year, and we are now humbled to see so many members of The Geelong College community supporting Belerren through the Take Your Place campaign. The College have now sold over half of the “places” or plaques available in the courtside seating area in Belerren and there have been some wonderful stories about why and how people have decided to ‘take their place’.

One of my favourite plaques would have to be the one simply marked “A grandfather” – as this is anonymous the story behind the sentiment remains unknown and yours to wonder. Being a father and grandfather myself, I understand the desire to want to acknowledge those special people in your life, to want to reward their efforts, recognise their achievements and help them leave their mark. I wonder… could this be the story behind this plaque, made with a simple gesture?

Thank you to the numerous members of the community who have already given so thoughtfully throughout the Belerren campaign, it has been a great success because of your generosity.

Leave your mark on our new Sports and Wellbeing Centre. To take your place, please visit www.takeyourplace.tgc.vic.edu.au/ or simply call our Advancement Office on (03) 5226 3779