9 minute read
From the Principal
Can One Person Make A Difference? DR LINDA EVANS, PRINCIPAL
As 2015 London bombing survivor, author and speaker Gillian Hicks reminds us, ‘right now someone, somewhere is feeling the effects of something you have said or done.’ Each one of us can and does make a difference. The person beside us can change our life and we can change theirs.
Yet, we tend to think that to make a difference we must undertake a large Greta Thunberg action. Whilst one small voice can have a big impact, as Greta has made evident, it can be the unrehearsed, unrewarded actions that matter most. I am mindful of this as I reflect upon the 2019 school year, one which can be measured by NAPLAN scores, OP results, sporting successes and cultural highlights … or by the cumulative effect of the little things that are imbued in the school’s culture and make this a school ‘that the Lord has blessed’. This is not to diminish the tangible achievements of 2019 that have been significant for Fairholme as a whole and for many, many individuals. Awards and rewards, attainments and accomplishments deserve acknowledgement but they do not, and cannot, take the place of the cumulative effect of small acts done with great heart, or small acts done over and over again with great determination and commitment. These acts make a difference of note.
And therein is the great paradox of presentation evenings and awards nights ̶ that reinforcement of achievement through extrinsic validation might lead us to think that this matters more than that which is done selflessly and that which is not acknowledged in a public sense. I think not. Whilst achievement of a goal that is celebrated with a wider audience provides reinforcement, so too does that which is intrinsically motivated. Recent Fairholme graduate and Olympic gold medallist, Emilee Cherry (2010) spoke at the Byron Breakfast in October. Emilee was asked to share the best moment of celebration after winning an Olympic gold medal. She replied, ‘It was going across to my family in the stands and hugging them’ – because, in her words, what mattered were those who had walked with her all the way – her parents – for her lifetime. That’s what made a difference to her. In a clichéd sense it was the journey, rather than the outcome that bore the greatest reward. This is not to deny the impact of a gold medal but what mattered most, in that moment, was the celebration of effort, tenacity and perseverance over a long period of time. It is often the tough times and the hard work that reap the greatest reward – eventually.
It is no surprise that Emilee, one of the greatest Rugby 7s players in the
world, recently ran water for, and advice to, the U15 Fairholme Rugby 7s team. Following this, it was Emilee who thanked John Sessarago for the opportunity to do so. Little things done with great humility can make the biggest difference. The acts of humility that sometimes seem so small, are often the big moments in our own lives, and in those of others. These can be the turning points, these actions make a difference.
Yet, humility wasn’t awarded a prize at our Annual Presentation Evening – wasn’t in the program, didn’t walk across the stage – because small moments such as these are far more important than that. They are big life moments and they live with us and within us, they make a difference to us, they define us and they evoke perspective.
Novelist, Jerzy Kosinski, once wrote, ‘the principles of true art are not to portray, but to evoke’. This year, Dan Elborne, 29, a Toowoomba artist, evoked in me a renewed horror of what occurred in Auschwitz, Poland, during the second world war. Despite having twice visited this monolith to man’s inhumanity, it was Dan’s work, Deathgate, that shook me to a new perspective. It took Elborne three years, four months and twentyfour days to create this ceramic representation in a direct time parallel with the mass killings that occurred at Auschwitz. Each week he fashioned 10,000 of these pieces, every one stamped individually with his thumbprint: 1.1 million pieces – one for each life lost – and another 200,000 pieces to commemorate those who survived. Yet, when asked at a forum earlier this year if one person can make a difference, Dan was slow to respond to the question: humble, almost embarrassed. His motivation for the piece came from deep within – a need to make sense of that time in history – and even at completion he felt that it was not enough, would never be enough.
Emilee Cherry pictured centre at training with Rugby7s girls
At what point did Dan’s art work ‘make a difference’? Was it his first hand-crafted piece, or the last? Would 10,000 have sufficed or did it need to be 1.3 million pieces? It doesn’t matter. Because the critical question we should ask of ourselves, is not, ‘can one person make a difference.’ It needs to be, ‘what difference do I want to make?’ Can you work in a field that makes a difference, even if your impact is not revered, celebrated or public: think of the janitor at NASA – a man with a broom in his hand who, when asked by President Kennedy what his job was, answered, ‘I’m helping put a man on the moon.’
We don’t have to dedicate years of our life to the pursuit of an art work … although some will. We don’t have confront world leaders … although some will. But each of us makes a difference, daily. A simple act of kindness, words of appreciation, and choosing the humble path or modelling tenacity, perseverance and commitment ̶ these are actions of character, and they can and do make a difference. These repeated actions, the mindset that says, ‘I choose to do this because it’s hard, not because it’s easy’ propels the Fairholme
Pictures supplied by Dan Elborne
culture and provides the intrinsic motivation to make a difference. Whilst there is no unified theoretical opinion about the quantifiable effects of intrinsic motivation (Sullivan, 2009, p. 271), there is no doubt that it can be linked to high achievement when students are deeply engaged in the learning process and find success through mastery, challenge and perseverance – whatever the field. Similarly, acts of service where no acknowledgement is sought out, bear their own rewards. In gentle ways, ways that may or may not be visible to others, we can elicit change within ourselves and others and, in so doing, we can shake the world.
After a year of outstanding, tangible and quantifiable achievements within our community it is important to remember the intangibles too, and, that as just one person, you can and do make a difference. Right now someone, somewhere, is feeling the effects of something you have said or done. What is the difference that you want to make? In a gentle way – you [too] can shake the world.
REFERENCE Sullivan, L. (2009). ‘Intrinsic motivation’. In The SAGE glossary of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (p. 271). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412972024.n1366
Christian Education
MS CATH BUTLER, HEAD OF MINISTRY AND MISSION
During 2019, I had the opportunity to attend a two-day conference for Chaplains, Principals and Board Members of Presbyterian Church Schools in New Zealand. The Theme was ‘Keeping our Faith’ – a particularly relevant theme in our increasingly secular society. According to what was presented at the conference, about 33% of New Zealanders claim to follow the Christian Faith compared to our 52% in Australia (Abs.gov.au, 2019). I came away from the conference with three questions.
Firstly, what does it mean for Fairholme to be a ‘school of the Presbyterian Church’?
Hamish Galloway, a Presbyterian minister in New Zealand offers some ideas about what it means to retain authentic faith within our fabric as Presbyterian schools. He maintains that our Scottish Presbyterian Heritage offers the school and the students a story that we can be proud of and find ourselves within. It’s a story that has lived and upholds (1) a strong work ethic, (2) a participatory organisational structure, (3) the Word of God as central to a rigorous, intelligent, robust faith that we can hold firm, and (4) that faith in Christ is good and provides a foundation to experiencing deep purpose and meaning in life. It’s these things that, though not exhaustive, are part of the Presbyterian-ism that we can be proud of and do strive to model and promote through all that we do at Fairholme.
And so, the second question I came away from the conference with was: How do we as an organisation express commitment to the [Presbyterian] Christian Faith?
We are committed to the expression of authentic faith and we have done this throughout 2019 relationally and in a variety of formal ways.
The Year 12 Committee for Student Ministry and Prefect for Student Ministry upheld the Christian faith to their peers and used the verbs Thankful, Hopeful, Resilient, Inspired, Valued and Empowered as themes in the Chapel Services that they led in Terms 2 and 3.
Jenny Sutton continued to run the Boarder Bible Studies all year. Additionally, either Jenny or I conducted Boarder Chapels and Devotions most Sundays in the term. Family Worship Services were run three times throughout the year with Community Carols in Term 4. Additionally, we continued to engage in the teaching of Christian Education across P-12 and promoted a variety of service opportunities. These are the main ways we explicitly engaged girls with our authentic commitment to growing and expressing faith.
Lastly, how do we promote Christian faith and engage students with the beauty of the Gospel in a world that views Christian Faith as outdated, irrelevant, and intolerant? Throughout 2019, we sought to create a culture of curiosity, interest in, and perhaps even affection for, the Gospel.
In Christian Education, the Year 12 students enjoyed learning through the Apha Youth Series. Year 11 investigated the reliability of the Bible, the historicity of Jesus, and considered the different attributes or characteristics of God as described in the Bible. Year 10 students surveyed a variety of world religions throughout the year. Year 9 considered the basic teachings of the Bible through a unit called ‘This is the Gospel’. Year 8 students learned about the life of Jesus and Year 7 engaged in a comprehensive survey of the consistent story of the Bible. As in previous years, the Junior School
