2022 Winter Griffin by SalesianCollegeChadstone

Winter 2022 REBUILDING ECONOMIES FEATURING PAST STUDENT AND MACRO-FINANCIAL ECONOMIST CHRIS BECKER (CLASS OF 1988)

2013109414 All correspondence and editorial content please address to: Development and Marketing Office Salesian College Chadstone 10 Bosco Chadstone,StreetVIC3148 publicrelations@salesian.vic.edu.au Editor: Suzie McErvale Content Coordinator: George Ketels Proofreader: Dr Mavis Ford Graphic Design and Printing: DMC Group Editorial Contributions: Antony TravisRhysSuzieNoelMorganMitchellMarkJakeGeorgeFrDanielChrisBenjaminGutkinDjungBeckerAmendolaJoeDinhKetelsJohnsonAshmoreWainWenasKennedyMcervaleHawkerPemberton Photographic Contributions: Chris SuzieStefaniStanGeorgeBeckerKetelsSamantzisReynoldsMcErvale ON THE COVER Featuring past student and Economics Advisor to the Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC, Chris Becker (Class of 1988). SHARE A STORY We seek out past and present students who inspire and encourage us to strengthen our Salesian community. Whether they have impacted thousands of people or just those nearby, what unites them are their foundations and values. If you have a story to share, or know someone who does, we want to hear from you. Email publicrelations@salesian.vic.edu.au CREDITS 2 GRIFFIN Winter 2022

These are the people and stories who make up our community; proudly Salesian.

In our 65th year of Salesian College Chadstone, Principal Mark Ashmore unpacks the plans in place to celebrate our achievements, share our story and remember all who have generously contributed to our community.

As we look to past students within our community who authentically connect communities, we look to Class of 1988 past student Chris Becker, who is committed to growing and rebuilding economies.

Shaping the decisions that influence global policy is Chris’ every day task and, to him, that’s where it matters, “for great satisfaction can come from discovering new things and rising to new challenges”.

IN THIS ISSUE

SALESIANCOLLEGECHADSTONECOLLEGE-CHADSTONEWWW.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/SALESIAN-@SALESIANCHADFACEBOOK.COM/SALESIANCOLLEGE

As face-to-face learning returns uninterrupted, we focus on the theme of reconnection as a guiding value. In this Winter edition of the Griffin we unpack the value of welcoming in an inclusive way, reengaging our diverse community and exploring the impact that belonging plays in learning and in life.

As our Strategic Plan provides insight into the College’s aspirations and new opportunities, it also provides clarity and assurance around a clear road map for the future. “Whilst the Strategic Plan and School Review process has enabled me to gain an understanding of our school community, it has been time with our students, parents, staff, past pupils and the Salesians that has created opportunities to build relationships and learn.”

CONTENTS Page 4 From the Principal Page 6 From the Rector Page 7 From Businessthe Manager Page 8 2021 VCE Results Page 9 2021 College Dux Travis Pemberton Page 10 Student Leader Update Page 11 - 12 Where Are They Now: Benjamin Djung (Class of 2011) Anthony Gutkin (Class of 2013) Page 13 Monash Art and Photography Competition Medalist Page 14 Rebuilding Economies Page 20 2022 Hall of Fame Page 22 1960s Athletics Flashback Page 23 Community Announcements

With charisma and clear values, Chris shares how, for him, meaning and purpose evolved out of the moments he gained perspective visiting developing countries and in the moments when the advice shared made a genuine difference to how people lived their lives, for “trade is not just reconnecting countries, but also communities within countries”.

Suzie McErvale Head of Development and Marketing CONNECT WITH US

MarkPRINCIPALAshmore

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School Review Salesian College recently completed a School Review that allowed all members of our community an opportunity to share their voices.

The review focused on improvement, with a self-assessment and reflection of performance and growth used to inform future planning. The review also ensured the minimum standards for school registration, and other State and Commonwealth requirements for Catholic schools were effectively Aimplemented.dialogueand engagement session with reviewers, Leadership Team and then staff provided great insight into commendations and recommendations to help the school continue to improve its practices. The College received positive affirmation regarding our commitment to Catholic identity through the Salesian charism, being a welcoming community with a strong sense of belonging by staff and students. It provides a well-regarded pastoral care program, and learning is Scan for informationmoreon our Strategic Plan 2022 – 2026

Mothers’ Day Breakfast and Subject Selection Information Evenings provided our community with prayer, celebration, information and social connection.

focussed and occurs in a safe, orderly and well-maintained environment for students.

FROM THE

In our 65th year of Salesian College Chadstone, the plan allows us to celebrate our achievements, share our story and remember all who have generously contributed to our community. It is an opportunity to be grateful for the success and accomplishments of all in the community, whilst continuing to draw inspiration from our Catholic faith and the gift of the Salesian charism. Our Strategic Plan provides an insight into the College’s aspirations and new opportunities, whilst ensuring a clear road map for the future. Consultation with the community has enabled us to understand people’s hopes, ambitions and priorities. The seven strategic intentions for our learning community include: • Our Purpose and Direction • Our Catholic Identity and Salesian Charism • Our Learning Focussed School • Our People and Culture • Our Learning Environments • Engaging our Families • Our Community Partnerships

WePrincipalrecently released our Strategic Plan 2022 – 2026 to inspire our current and future generations of Salesian boys and their families, past pupils and staff.

Each confirmed for me as Principal that Salesian is indeed a home that welcomes, a parish that evangelises, a school for life and a playground where friends meet.

The Leadership and staff expressing a willingness to improve, as well as the school’s positive reputation within the community, based on the development of the whole child and breadth of programs and range of pathways offered, will ensure that Salesian College’s future is bright. Our Community Reconnecting Reconnecting post-pandemic has been a focus of our community, considering who we are as a welcoming and inclusive community. The College hosted a number of events to reengage our students, staff, parents and past pupils, as well as future students and families.

I have always sought to be a person of integrity, to be respectful of others and to create belonging and joy for those with whom I meet and interact.

Visits to our parish primary schools have provided an opportunity to see the wonderful learning experiences being taught in these settings, as well as an opportunity to meet with the Principal and future Salesian students.

Whilst the Strategic Plan and School Review processes have enabled me to gain an understanding of our school community, it has been time with our students, parents, staff and the Salesians that has created opportunities to build relationships and learn.

Personal Connection to the Community Since I began as Principal at Salesian College Chadstone it is apparent that my values align with the College’s values.

Our Hall of Fame dinner was a wonderful celebration of achievements of past pupils. Many stories were shared by the inductees and past pupils on the night. A full report can be read in this Griffin Salesianedition.

I have always sought to be a person of integrity, to be respectful of others and to create belonging and joy for those with whom I meet and interact. Having completed three terms, I have enjoyed the opportunity to model and promote these values to our community.

It has been a privilege to have lunch with our Year 12 students, who have provided an insight into school life at Salesian and what boys value. It is evident that our young people have a strong connection with the College vision, mission and values. Each boy is proud of his school and wants to support his peers and teachers. I too have also been visiting classrooms to understand what is being learnt and how the curriculum is being taught. Importantly, I am witnessing a positive learning culture. Highlights also include interactions I am having with our students, be it discussing their learning, in presenting a birthday card, or watching the sport or performing arts pursuits.

Kid and Becchi Transition Morning enabled future generations of Salesian students onto our Bosco campus to experience school at Chadstone. Year 3 and 4 students from parish primary schools thoroughly enjoyed the day, whilst Year 7 students for 2023 enjoyed meeting and connecting with their peers and staff.

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Binh is Salesian College Chadstone’s new Rector. With Fr Joe’s rich history, cultural knowledge, and love for Don Bosco, Salesian College Chadstone is privileged to have him join the Catholic fabric that embraces our school.

What’s the best part about working with young people? When you are genuine with what you do, and what you are, young people can see it. They’re very quick. The best thing when I’m working with young people is to be who I am. We never really feel that we are old, because we are working with young people, with their lively spirit. We need to share with them, their suffering and challenges in life, and to be happy with them, to be ourselves, exactly like Jesus, or Don Bosco. Don Bosco said, “When I’m with you, I feel alive. When I’m with you, I feel who I am. I am happy. I am joyful, and I want you to be joyful too.”

RectorFrJoe

Join us at a Community Mass, Friday mornings at 8am during the school term.

Where did your story in Faith begin?

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My wish, for wherever I am, is to hopefully make young people to be open to Faith, so that God can enter into their lives and transform their lives.

I’m from Vietnam. When the Communists took over the North of Vietnam in 1945 after the Second World War, my family fled to the South. We knew that the Communists didn’t believe in our Catholicism. So we fled, and I was born in the South of Vietnam. I applied to the Salesian College in Vietnam, did an examination, and luckily I was accepted. I studied up to Year 11, but unfortunately, the Communists won the war. It was 1975, I was 14 years old. When the Communists took over [South] Vietnam, they took over my school. They actually came to my school and said, ‘Get out of here’. They imprisoned the Priests, Brothers, Salesians, teachers, even students, because we were Catholic. The students only stayed in prison for two weeks, but the Rector – he stayed there for five years. My father and brother worked for the old government, so they were all imprisoned as well. My family knew that we could not survive as Catholics, so my father advised us to escape. At the time I was only 17 years old. My parents organised the escape route. I was caught by the police, and I was imprisoned for a year. After that I was released, and I escaped again, and again, and again. At the time we were called ‘boat people’.

When I was on the sea for seven days and seven nights, the boundary between life and death was so close. We didn’t have water, we didn’t have food. Somehow in the boundary of life and death, I thought, ‘If I live, it means that God wants me to do something about my life.’ So that kind of thought is still in my mind, that God saved me. If I am still alive, it means that there’s something there. God wants me to do Theresomething.werealot of boat people during the 80’s. We were accepted, fortunately, by other countries like Australia. I always really appreciate this, and know that the Australian people at the time accepted us. We were always grateful for it. When we came to Australia we knew somehow that we needed to pay back that generosity, to be good. I went to study English, I went to university, but I thought to myself, ‘I want to do more than this. I want to become a Salesian.’ The only religion I knew was Salesian, Don Bosco. So I asked my Parish Priest, ‘Are there any Salesians here?’ and he said, ‘Of course!’

I knew Don Bosco before I knew who Jesus Christ was. And because I know Don Bosco, I know Jesus Christ. So, I came to God through Don Bosco, through the ideas of Don Bosco, the education of Don Bosco: To be a father, a brother, a friend to young people.

FROM THE

FrRECTORJoeDinhsdb

The College completed a tenyear business plan to guide future developments, including provision for stages of the proposed new masterplan.

Although efforts in 2021 were largely directed at the development and formation of strategies, the College believes it is well placed as we all return to more normal times.

In addition, 2021 saw the completion of our first general purpose financial report, which is available on the College’s Inwebsite.relation to Information Technology, the College upgraded its internet connection, reviewed the laptop program, digitalised its public address system and completed classroom audio-visual upgrades.

FROM THE BUSINESS MANAGERNoelKennedy Business Manager

The Board’s focus in early 2021 was on embedding new governance arrangements, including establishing Finance & Audit and Child Safety, Risk and Compliance Committees. The Board also adopted key incorporation documents and the College’s marketing for the new Board was to secure a new Principal, following the departure of Mr Robert Brennan in late 2020. The appointment of longstanding staff member Mr Neil Carter as Acting Principal provided time for a thorough process that resulted in the appointment of Mr Mark Ashmore, and his commencement in October 2021. Mr Ashmore has a strong background in boys’ education. Lockdowns and restrictions associated with the pandemic continued to have a big impact on learning and activities over 2021. Considerable attention was given to onsite, remote and hybrid teaching and learning programs that were employed and adapted over the year to optimise teaching and learning outcomes. The programs were assisted by strong cooperation between students, families and the College’s staff.

Astrategy.keytask

In addition to holding fees at 2020 levels, the College maintained its assistance programs for families whose financial circumstances were strained as a result of lockdowns and loss of employment.

Although planning continued for our next major facilities improvement, estimates from our quantity surveyors reflected high prices that have been commonplace since mid-2021. As a result, the College decided to focus on its facilities masterplan to guide future developments and await more favourable market conditions. 2021 also provided an opportunity to develop a finished schedule for external building treatments and a Building Asset Management Plan (BAMP) for maintenance and upgrade of buildings and plant. 2021 did provide opportunities for further upgrades to classrooms and, as a result, most general learning areas have been attended to since 2019.

A company limited by guarantee, formed in late 2020, took over the operations of the former unincorporated College from 1 January 2021. We remain Salesian College Chadstone and committed to our Salesian Charism, but our College is now governed by a Board of Directors.

Nicholas Dimetriou-Dickson 98.3 Commerce/Arts

Christian Heil 90.5 Science (Monash University/Clayton)

Shanelle Algama 95.55 Commerce/Biomedical Science (Monash University/Clayton)

Daniel Sapozhnykov 97.65 Biomedicine

The College congratulates 2021 College Captain Steven Tran (ATAR of 98.9). Excelling far beyond his formal student leadership Steven Tran balanced his academic responsibilities while remaining committed to supporting the student cohort through remote learning. (University Of Melbourne (The)/Parkville) Entry (Monash University/Clayton) (Monash University/Clayton) Science (Monash University/Clayton) (University Of Melbourne (The)/Parkville) (Honours) (Monash University/Peninsula) (University Of Melbourne (The)/Parkville) (Monash University/Clayton) (Honours) Scholars program/Master of Pharmacy (Monash University/Parkville)

role,

Steven Tran 98.9 Medicine - CSP Bonded School Leaver

William Iverson 92.85 Engineering (Honours)/Science (Monash University/Clayton)

James Crockett 96.6 Science/Arts

CLASS OF 2021 HIGH ACHIEVERS (ATAR of 90 or above) 50 PERFECT SCORE: Nicholas Dimetriou-Dickson, Media Studies 8 GRIFFIN Winter 2022

Daniel Sirait 90.0 Business/Banking and Finance (Monash University/Caulfield)

Thomas Valle 90.2 Human Resource Management (Psychology) (Deakin University/Burwood Campus)

Ricky Phung 95.1 Biomedicine (University Of Melbourne (The)/Parkville)

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

Andrew Keo 96.55 Pharmacy

Luca Ianno 96.9 Biomedicine

Name ATAR University Destination Travis Pemberton 99.05 Biomedicine

Ben Finney Abraham 97.9 Commerce/Computer

Justin Vu 97.35 Physiotherapy

Johnny Ta 95.75 Commerce/Computer Science (Monash University/Clayton)

Bangze (Peter) Han 93.4 Commerce/Computer Science (Monash University/Clayton)

Sanish Rajbhandari 92.6 Biomedical Science (Monash University/Clayton)

Miren De Silva 91.4 Radiation Sciences (Monash University/Clayton)

2021 VCE RESULTS The Salesian College Chadstone community commends all students from the Class of 2021 on the completion of their VCE and VCAL studies and acknowledges the dedication, commitment and support that staff and families have provided to ensure students reach their potential during the unprecedented 2020 and 2021 academic years. Highlights 2020 Dux: Travis Pemberton achieved an ATAR of 99.05 ATAR exceeding 90: 16% (from 7.4%)  8.6% ATAR exceeding 80: 36% (from 29.7%)  6.3% ATAR exceeding 70: 54% (from 47.9%)  6.1% 2021 College Proxime Accessit Dux: Steven Tran, College Captain, ATAR of 98.9 VCE Completion Rate: 100% VCAL Completion Rate: 100% VCE Baccalaureate: 2 50 Perfect Score: Nicholas Dimetriou-Dickson, Media Studies

Jerine George 92.55 Engineering (Honours)/Commerce (Monash University/Clayton)

Nicolas Katsos 90.95 Accounting (Monash University/Caulfield)

Visit salesian.vic.edu.au to read Travis’ full interview.

On behalf of our community I congratulate our 2021 Dux, Travis Pemberton, who achieved an ATAR of 99.05, putting him in the top 0.95% of all Year 12 students in the State.

Travis Pemberton

Travis, your resilience these past two years and commitment to learning have been outstanding. Explain how you managed this during what have been a very challenging two years. It is no secret that the last two years have been a very difficult landscape to traverse. Going back to the beginning of 2020, my Biology teacher, Mr Chen, probably helped me personally to cope with the unpredictability of the situation by preparing us mentally to be aware of and responsive to any changes to our circumstances, even weeks before we were forced into the lockdown at the end of March. The most important thing that has helped me to at least flow with altering situations is analysing my environment and searching for tools that can help me settle into the new positions that I found myself in throughout the last two years. Whether it be schedules during the periods of remote learning that allowed me to stick to a prescribed routine, or finding breaks in classes to briefly talk to teachers during face to face learning to give me confidence and consolidate knowledge that I have been developing over the course of my schooling life, that was interrupted during the course of the pandemic.

On behalf of Salesian College Chadstone, I congratulate Travis on the commitment and perseverance he has demonstrated over the course of his time at Salesian College Chadstone and during 2021. We look forward to hearing about all his future accomplishments.

What advice for students do you have to share? I’m no expert with super philosophical advice and ideas, but some messages of motivation or advice I could give would be to focus on the process instead of the outcome. Try to find something that motivates you about your subjects. For me, I decided to do Environmental Science with Mr Shaw in Years 11 and 12 because I found that his methods of teaching were separated into learning purely directed towards the course and another stream towards interests. This appealed to me and helped to maintain both my focus and my motivation, whilst learning things that I would not have to worry about memorising for assessments.

Finally, one of the greatest continuing pieces of advice that was given to me was to live in the moment. As much as school is about the end product and what opportunities it creates for life after Salesian College, there are plenty of opportunities at Salesian to gain fulfilment from other avenues, opportunities which, if you are smart, you will take as they will enrich your life and imbue you with important attributes like comfort and courage that will only serve to help you in the future. The end result that I achieved at the conclusion of my secondary schooling life does not tell the full story of the things I’ve learnt and experienced, nor does it tell the full story for most of my classmates, and likely, it will not be the summation of your school life either. So, cherish the moments you get to spend doing everything the College has to offer and you will graduate as a better person because of it.

2021 COLLEGE DUX

What have these last two years of extraordinary adaptability prepared you for? I think that, albeit a stressful and tumultuous time to be completing VCE in, the experience has definitely improved my spontaneous decisionmaking ability and developed my confidence in my intuition. In the future, I believe that the improvement I have seen in these skills will assist me in being a better leader and role model. A quality like this is very difficult to learn artificially, as it requires immediacy in changing circumstances, something that has been experienced with the coronavirus. Therefore, I consider it a valuable attribute to have attained, and I can only view it as something advantageous to both my character and ability to confidently represent myself in the public world.

Achieving a study score of 46 in Chemistry, English, Environmental Science and a 44 in Biology in Year 11, Travis is currently studying Biomedicine at The University of Melbourne.

How have your teachers helped guide you and keep you focused during Year 12? One of the most important lessons I learnt this year was moderation. When I was under extreme pressure, my teachers helped me look at my circumstances from an external perspective. They also allowed me to relax and ultimately maintain a strong performance throughout the year through reflection and interspersing periods of rest amongst my work when the pressure began to rise.

At the commencement of 2022 we strived to achieve the goal of retaining and increasing the face-to-face connection within our community, a goal which we believe has already been achieved, highlighting the unique camaraderie associated with our College. Regarding our return to onsite learning, not only have we seen the reestablishment of a welcoming and inclusive environment, we have also seen pure happiness from our fellow students, staff and general community, a feeling that should never be overlooked, and one that is frequently displayed within our school gates. Fortunately, throughout this year, we have been able to celebrate as a community our College traditions and achievements. One noticeable event was the celebration of our 2021 high achievers at the annual Dux Assembly, where we were able to recognise the remarkable achievements of our Followingpeers.on from our extraordinary 65-year history, at Salesian College we embark on an even greater future. This year we were able to welcome the future 2023 Year 7 students into our College at Becchi Morning, where we were able to showcase the remarkable environment which we often speak so highly about, to our future community members. This year, while aiming to regain connection with our College community we, together with our College Principal and student leadership team, have also strived to escalate our connection with our wider community. Consequently, we were fortunate to be in collaboration with Avila, Mazenod and Sacred Heart College on International Women’s Day, where guest speakers Jessica Box and Helen Christensen shared their experiences and insights as leading women in their respective careers. These growing relationships with fellow schools in the community have been upheld through leadership, and we hope that in the future these connections with our wider community will be retained and developed. For the remainder of 2022, we hope that together we can maintain and elevate our enriching College environment and uphold the college values of integrity, respect, belonging, joy and dynamism amongst our peers. However, we also hope to create our own legacy in the College, and build on the extensive 65year history which we follow. We wish everyone the best in their endeavours, and hope that we are all able to strive for excellence for the remainder of 2022.

STUDENT

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2022 at Salesian College has proved to be a year like no other. Our community has shown its perseverance throughout the last 6 months which we, in our honouree positions, have been fortunate to witness.

LEADER UPDATE

Daniel Amendola College Captain Mitchell Wain and Jake Johnston College Vice Captains

Class of Principal2011Lawyer at Rigby & Bear

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Benjamin, you’ve completed a significant amount of study – Law, Asian Studies, Hospitality, Indonesian Language and Management. Has the breadth of your study helped to open up more jobs and kept you inspired? I think it has. As you mentioned, I did a bachelor of Asian Studies with Honours, and I did a Bachelor of Arts, and those two degrees informed my law degree. My major was Indonesian Language. Being able to speak Indonesian and being able to understand the culture really helps me with a lot of my Indonesian clients who may not understand the legal system in Australia. What drove you to a career in law?

BENJAMIN DJUNG

“Do the ordinary things extraordinarily well’ has helped me in my career development. A large part of my career is doing that, helping people in the community.”

What goals are you working toward in your future? My goal at the moment is to try and grow my business. At some stage I do want to give back to the community, so I would potentially consider a role in Parliament later in life; that’s something I aspire to be.

When I was in high school, my mother had a few difficulties with the law. She was charged with a number of offences under the Migration Act. I thought that what happened to her was unfair, so that inspired a career in law. I ended up representing her in court, and then we ended up winning. That’s an amazing story. What is it about practising law that provides you with personal fulfilment?

I have a broad range practice, conveyancing, bills and so on, but the job that gives me the most satisfaction is victims of crime work. In Victoria, if you’ve been the victim of a violent crime, you can apply to the government to get financial assistance. So a lot of the work I do is helping victims of crime get the support that they need: things like medical expenses, lost earnings, a lump sum amount, things like that. Being able to get the vulnerable people in our community the support that they need really gives me a lot of satisfaction, and the sense that I’m helping others in the community.

How have the values that you learnt at Salesian influenced your life today? When I went to Salesian, there was a big emphasis on always being willing to lend a hand to other people. The motto ‘Do the ordinary things extraordinarily well’ has helped me in my career development. A large part of my career is doing that, helping people in the community.

Do you have any advice to students considering a career in law? One of the things they should ask themselves is why they want to be a lawyer. A lot of people go into law thinking that it’s the next arts degree, but unless you’ve got a real passion for the rule of law, for helping people, and making the community a better place, it may not be the best career for you. Before taking that big step, assess whether it’s the right pathway. It’s a career that’s definitely rewarding, but not for everyone.

What would you say your philosophy as an architect is? I think architecture needs to provide good for people. The intent is there to make sure that an environment within which someone exists, whether it be a home or an office, we as architects have an obligation to ensure that everyone is given an opportunity to thrive and be their best.

What did your pathway from Salesian to University and working life look like? Going through high school I always had a creative design instinct. In the early days I liked to design and draw cars and make 3D objects in computer software. In Years 11-12 I tried to be holistic, to try a bit of everything. I did Accounting, Legal Studies, Visual Communication & Design. That left me in a good space to get a little bit of information from different fields. It was clear by the end of Year 12 that I was keen to progress into the built environment. I applied for anything and everything to do with architecture, and made my way into Swinburne University. I took an undergraduate degree in Interior Architecture and then pursued a Masters of Architecture, to progress towards registration as an architect.

“Architecture needs to provide good for people. The intent is there to make sure that an environment within which someone exists, whether it be a home or an office, we as architects have an obligation to ensure that everyone is given an opportunity to thrive and be their best.”

ACADEMIC PROJECT Description: Swinburne University, Master of Architecture award winning project ‘Campus Heart’. Image is an Architectural Visualization of a reimagined University Campus building focusing on the integration of pedestrian foot traffic and access to public transport.

ANTONY GUTKIN Class of 2013 Project Leader / Architectural Documenter at SKAr Architects

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What do you think is the future in this sphere of architecture? What we focus on specifically is understanding the users: patients, staff, and even machinery. In this day and age, we need to understand every single stakeholder who’s coming in contact with the building, and that each of those people need to have their own experience met. Someone might be dropping off their relative and spending a period of time in that building between the dropoff and leaving. The feeling they get from the environment is just as important as the actual person staying overnight. We want to give people the feeling of a homeaway-from-home, a natural environment that’s as human as possible. What advice might you offer to students considering architecture?

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

First of all, it’s important to be as holistically minded as possible. Be aware that it is a long journey, and it can seem quite long to get to where you think you’d ideally like to get to in architecture, say, starting up your own company and doing your own stuff. As early as you can, educate yourself in any information you can about architecture and what architects do. The one thing that benefited me the most was going out and getting a piece of work that was relevant to the field. It didn’t matter what level I was at, it mattered that I was giving it a go.

You’re in a niche area of architecture that’s more pertinent now than ever before: health architecture. How did you get into this field of work? I always had a passion for architecture. A lot of people go into architecture because they understand that it serves the people, and it serves a big purpose in environments, communities and the way people exist. For me, it was an opportunity to understand the holistic nature of what architecture is; at the core it’s for the people, and health architecture is to care for people.

Year 10 student Morgan Wenas this year won the Monash Art and Photography Competition with his self-portrait in Thepencil.competition, open to young artists aged 12-25 with a connection to the City of Monash, offers prizes valued at up to $400 for its winners, including vouchers for art supplies, masterclasses with industry leaders, cameras, printers, programs, materials and more.

Morgan’s future as a pencil realist artist is in his themes. “I’ve started to draw more drawings with deeper meanings, rather than just portraits. I’ve started to explore drawing emotions, like feeling happy, ambient, relaxed, depressed, joyful.”

Ultimately, drawing has been the inspiration for a career path for Morgan.

For Morgan, drawing started as a hobby, but became a serious ‘obsession’ after lockdown. His subjects at Salesian: Studio Arts, Creative and Digital Media, and Visual Communication Design reflect his creative inclinations. “In VCD, they help me to draw architecturally, how to draw buildings professionally. [Studio] Art helps me explore other materials to work with, like painting and charcoal Evendrawing.”though this range of creative subjects helps Morgan to expand his practice as an artist, he firmly believes that drawing is the medium for him.

Morgan’s self-portrait comes out of the lockdown of 2020, and his passion for “Idrawing.felttrapped – the only thing I felt I could do was draw, and go to class, spend time with family. I couldn’t go to malls, do sports outdoors.”

Humble, driven and talented, Morgan Wenas is a promising artist whom we’re proud to call a student of Salesian College Chadstone. Morgan Wenas I’ve started to draw more drawings with deeper meanings, rather than just portraits. I’ve started to explore drawing emotions, like feeling happy, ambient, relaxed, depressed, joyful.

A close inspection of the portrait reveals that the drawing is ‘in progress’. The points further away from the pencil are darker and more detailed, and Morgan is filling in the missing pieces.

“I think it’s just drawing for me. I struggle with painting, and even just with colour. It’s hard to find a realistic colour to use.”

MONASH ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION MEDALIST

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“First I picked art as a subject because I like to draw. I started thinking, ‘I really want to be in a job where I can be drawing.’ I’m thinking architecture, animation, even cinematography for movies.”

Head

of Development and Marketing Photograph: Stefani Reynolds 14 GRIFFIN Winter 2022

REBUILDINGECONOMIESSuzieMcErvale

ALUMNUS Feature Story

The difference in the school year meant that I finished year 5 in Germany, arrived in Sydney in June, moved to Melbourne in September, and effectively skipped year 6. Then I started at Salesian in the summer of 1983 in Year 7 shortly after my 12th birthday. At the time we were renting a house on Waverley Road, and the commute to school was a very short 5-minute walk – the shortest I have ever had. A lasting impression was the school uniform because, naturally, I had never had one in Europe. I would like to remind the current generation of boys at the College that the colours were different back then – solid green blazers with a green and yellow-striped tie. To be honest, I did not mind the green, but apparently it was disliked so much by all others that it was eventually changed to blue.

In terms of perspectives, I would say that the world became a very small place as soon as I moved from one end to the other. It meant that there was a very clear demonstration effect that you could move and live in different countries. While there are always scary unknowns when you do that, at the same time it is very exciting, and opens up new experiences that you would never have if you spent your whole life living in one place.

With its enormous cultural diversity, he describes Washington as a vast melting pot of ideas and policy advice, attributing the “way to influence global policies is to stir the pot and occasionally add seasoning and a side of diplomacy to convince the rest of the world of the best solution”.

YOU SHARE OPENLY ABOUT HOW YOUR ORIGINAL ECONOMICS TEACHER JOHN BERMINGHAM, WHO FOSTERED IN YOU A SENSE OF INTEREST AND PASSION IN THE SUBJECT OF ECONOMICS. HOW DID THIS EMERGE AND WHAT ARE YOUR STANDOUT MEMORIES?

It was mainly exciting, because everything was new and so very different from Europe – trees, grass, birds, cars on the wrong side of the street – just everything was strange and new. It was the first time that I had ever lived in a house, and it seemed so luxurious not to be in an apartment. And then of course there was the weather. It did not rain every day like it does in Germany, and it never got very cold. No snow and ice to shovel through in the winter. So I spent an enormous amount of time outdoors, especially at the beach. Naturally I got burnt to a crisp.

BORN IN GERMANY IN 1970 NEAR DUSSELDORF IN THE NORTH OF EUROPE, YOU MIGRATED TO AUSTRALIA IN JUNE 1982?

Culturally it was also a bit of a wake-up call. A multicultural society provides all sorts of opportunities to meet new people and experience diversity. That extends to almost all facets of daily life, from the clothes people wear to the food they eat. It also raises awareness of some of the social justice issues the world seems to be constantly dealing with. The keys to overcome these are almost certainly education and tolerance to celebrate differences rather than perpetuate suspicion and ignorance.

Class of 1988 past student Chris Becker is committed to growing and rebuilding economies.

With charisma and clear values, Chris shares how, for him, meaning and purpose evolved out of the moments he gained perspective visiting developing countries, in the moments when the advice shared made a genuine difference to how people lived their lives, for “trade is not just re-connecting countries, but also communities within countries”.

With over 25 years in central banking as a Macro-financial Economist and Advisor on Emerging Markets in Asia & the Pacific, today Chris is the Economics Advisor to the Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC. Shaping the decisions that influence global policy is Chris’ every day task, and to him, that’s where it matters, “for great satisfaction can come from discovering new things and rising to new challenges”.

EXPLAIN HOW THIS MOMENT AS A 12-YEAR-OLD INFLUENCED YOUR PERSPECTIVE OF THE WORLD, ADJUSTING TO A NEW LIFE IN AUSTRALIA.

WHEN YOU STARTED AT SALESIAN YOU HAD ONLY BEEN IN THE COUNTRY 6 MONTHS AND YOU DIDN’T SPEAK ENGLISH, BUT TEACHERS WERE KIND. Well it was a bit daunting going to school every day and not understanding what was going on. The worst was of course English class, where we were starting to do more creative writing and comprehension. I did not “comprehend” much at all, and the marks at the end of the year were obviously not the However,best.the teachers were quite patient, and made special allowances here and there to accommodate me. I think I was a little bit of a novelty to them. They also started setting up a special assistance session a few times a week. That basically comprised a teacher talking to me and giving me books to read. I will always be grateful for Mr. Bolvari for taking the time to usher me through that time. I will always be incredibly grateful to my parents for the opportunity of an education; it’s something that I appreciate more than they will ever know. In the end it was television and 1980s music that brought my language skills up to speed. Since I was just copying what I heard, I went through several phases of eclectic accents. First it was an English accent adopted from John Cleese in “Fawlty Towers”, then a black American accent from “The Cosby Show”, and several phases of sounding like either Madonna or Prince. But relatively quickly I learned how to imitate “Straylian”, and that has stuck ever since.

While we do a whole lot of complicated things that involve technical jargon and moving around a lot of money, in reality most of it has to do with common sense decisions that are directed at solving basic questions, even if it involves financial markets and government policy. I always like to say that economics is nothing more than a fancy discipline, using mathematics and graphs, to describe “stuff” people do. Being involved in shaping the decisions that influence global policy is very rewarding. For example, we are very much involved in analysing the economics of climate change and providing advice to countries on how best to mitigate the impact of global warming. For some lowlying ocean-bound countries, that might involve technical assistance on how to apply for financial assistance from the World Bank for building climate resilient infrastructure (roads and buildings), or extending loans for creating the right domestic institutions to coordinate a coherent domestic green policy. For obvious reasons, they often call it the blue economy in the Pacific region. Given that some countries are literally sinking back into the ocean, this strikes me as a relatively important set of policies.

John was always very good at explaining abstract complicated concepts and how they applied to the real world. He was able to translate textbooks into a simple language that the kids understood more easily, and then show us how it was relevant in the real world. The nightly news often made it into the classroom. Mind you, he was not always calm about it. He certainly let me know on a number of occasions that I’d better get my act together. In some strange way I actually responded quite well to that type of motivation. I guess John delivered it in just the right doses and was always so approachable, spending time with students before and after class. Interestingly he was also a math teacher, and returned to that subject after he left Salesian. He recently asked me if I could send him a journal article I had written with more math in it, which made me laugh. While there is always a fair bit of number crunching going on in the background, I always find it better to write in a more conversational style, and leave the math to a minimum to make the papers more accessible and to get across the key message.

There was a combination of things going on at the same time. One important ingredient was that Australia had just started the greatest economic reforms the country has seen. Inflation was still high, but there were policies being put in place to bring it down. The dollar was floated, labour markets were deregulated, and there was collaboration between the government, unions and employers to build the consensus required for change. So, economics was everywhere at the time, and there was a sense that economically disadvantaged people had more of a chance to make a better life for themselves and their families.

ALUMNUS Feature Story

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There is another reason, which John sensed very early on, when he said to the economics students that “You are all math refugees”, meaning that we were not necessarily the best at pure sciences. Probably better to leave real math to the engineers. When I was unable to attend the Salesian Hall of Fame award ceremony I was happy that John picked up the award on my behalf. The deal we made was that next time I go to Alice Springs I will drop by his house to pick it up. Maybe we will go for a run together, although he holds a world record, and I probably cannot keep up with him.

YOU ARE A EMERGINGECONOMISTMACRO-FINANCIALANDADVISERONMARKETSINASIA& THE PACIFIC. TODAY, YOU ARE WORKING AT THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND ADVISING ON ECONOMICS AND FINANCIAL MARKETS AT THE OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR (ASIA AND THE PACIFIC) IN WASHINGTON DC. WHAT IMPACT DO YOU SEE YOURSELF HAVING ON THE WORLD? Washington DC is a microcosm that does not represent America, and the IMF is an international institution like no other. It’s a bit surreal, because there is more chance of working with people from all far corners of the world than with Americans, so there is an enormous amount of diversity in this bubble that surrounds me at work and in the town I live in. It is basically a huge melting pot of ideas and policy advice. The way you influence global policies is to stir the pot and occasionally add seasoning. That basically means applying experience and analysis to problem solving in a technical manner, but then using this in a diplomatic way to convince the rest of the world of the best solution. It has a marketing and political element to it. You can be the most technical and experienced person in the room, but if you cannot convince others, you will never get anything done. So, it’s a bit like a chess game, where you know what moves you want to make, but you still have to anticipate what others will do and say.

WHEN THE HEIGHT OF COVID-19 HIT, YOU WERE HEAD OF DOMESTIC PORTFOLIO AND LIQUIDITY ANALYSIS AT THE RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA. WHAT DID THIS MOMENT IN TIME ASK OF YOU IN YOUR ROLE AND WHAT WERE YOUR APPROACHES TOWARDS FOCUS AND PERSEVERANCE?

The initial response was to pump billions of dollars of cash into the economy to maintain the stability of the financial system and to prevent a much more severe recession than the one Australia eventually had. Without going into too

many boring details, the aim is to supply banks with the liquidity they need, and to shore up confidence that economic agents can continue to use the financial system to make transactions for production and trade. Staff at the RBA are all very highly trained and educated, so the team handled it quite well. Managing the transition to splitting staff across three locations was a bit tough, because we had to make sure that if one team got sick with the virus, the others would be capable of performing the essential financial market operations. So, we had five in head office, five at home and five at our disaster recovery site. In some ways, we were applying the tools and instruments that we use every day to a new set of problems, and on a much larger scale. But at the same time, we were working on developing new strategies and tools for quantitative easing. There was a lot of pressure and stress with all that money floating around, but then again, this is the sort of situation for which you work in public policy in the first place – preventing the worst-case Itscenario.wasa little bit surprising to see how easily and quickly everyone adapted to the new virtual way of working. Everything went onto Zoom. The hardest time was had by the brand-new graduates who joined in February 2020, who found themselves having to learn a new career and be inducted in a different way from the usual in-person training. Those people did a great job, but we also made extra efforts to reach out to them and make them feel comfortable in their new work environment. So when you ask about resilience and focus, I really have to admit that the hardest task that required the most effort was actually managing staff, not the policy implementation. I tried my best at that time, and they all still speak to me, so some things must have gone ok.

THE ECONOMY IS A KEY PILLAR OF HOW OUR SOCIETIES FUNCTION. WHAT STRATEGIES ARE BEING PUT IN PLACE TO REBUILD THE HEALTH OF WORLD ECONOMIES?

Initially it was to pass in high school, then to pass at university, then to get and keep a job. But eventually I wanted to do more than just what other people were directing me to do, and I started to spend more time trying to understand and solve problems. As I was doing that and taking notes, I found that I ended up with journal articles that were published. I really liked the idea of having my name on papers that other people around the world were referencing. It is always nice

The IMF has been lending to countries to finance their crisis response. The timing of access to funds is crucial for the poorest countries in the world.

There is also an extensive amount of research underway on how to address issues with supply chain disruptions to trade, unexpectedly high inflation, and how the world should approach international financial flows. Uncertainty about the future is very high, and policies have a greater degree of contingency planning. “What do we do if things do not pan out as we expect them to?”

As you know, there have been significant disruptions to world trade and supply chains of goods and services over the past two years. Australia, for example, all but stopped exporting education to the rest of the world, and the Pacific Islands lost a lot of their export earnings from tourism. The gradual resumption of travel is slowly helping to rebuild the lost income, and hopefully that recovery will Incontinue.terms of reconnecting communities, I think that a good example is that of seasonal workers who come to work on farms in Australia and New Zealand. There is now more freedom to trade in goods and services, and seasonal workers are better able to migrate to where the work is, but then also travel to go home to their families. I know of one island that typically gets only a few container ships to deliver goods, but needs to lease a tugboat from another island. The crew had to quarantine for 4 days before leaving, sailed for a week to the destination, quarantined for another 4 days, did two days’ work, quarantined again on departure, before sailing back and another round of quarantine – in total a full month of work to unload one ship, and a whole crew fully employed and isolated during that time. YOU HOLD A STRONG RESEARCH BACKGROUND, WITH KEY AREAS OF YOUR WORK CITED AND REFERRED TO ECONOMIC PUBLICATIONS. HOW HAVE YOU REMAINED COMMITTED TO LIFELONG LEARNING THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER?

Australia is lucky to have very good policy institutions that helped the country and economy to come out of the crisis as resiliently as possible. Here at the IMF I am working much more closely with poorer countries in Asia and the Pacific to make sure they get vaccines so that they can reopen their borders and restart the much-needed tourism that they depend on. Advice on how to spend the money they have in the most productive way so that there are no permanent scars from the pandemic is a tricky task. Generally, the focus is to spend most on the most vulnerable in society and to repair finances as quickly as possible. You never know when the next big shock will come along, and you want to have enough policy space to be able to respond. We saw that with the war in Ukraine, which is a tragedy that is hitting poor countries around the world hardest at a time when they have not fully recovered from the pandemic. The economics of subsidising electricity and fuel when prices are rising is quite important to those countries that are small and remote, and rely on burning diesel to generate electricity and desalinate water to have enough to drink.

FROM A GLOBAL INTERNATIONAL TRADE PERSPECTIVE, HOW DO COUNTRIES NOT ONLY REBUILD ECONOMIES BUT ALSO RECONNECT COMMUNITIES?

The IMF is also working full steam ahead on assessing the best set of policies to address the acceleration in inflation, and is coordinating discussions on debt management. Many countries are now facing a much larger level of public debt, and at some stage strategies must be put in place to make repayments in order not to pass the legacy debt onto future generations.

I sincerely hope that the developed countries can make good on their commitments to get poorer countries the vaccines they need and to stem the rate of mutations. I saw an estimate the other day that record fast development of vaccines may have prevented as many as 20 million deaths.

WHEN WE REFLECT ON THE COVID EXPERIENCE WE ARE LIVING IN, WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR MOST SIGNIFICANT LEARNINGS, BOTH PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY?

ALUMNUS Feature Story when someone from the other side of the world emails you and asks for an opinion or advice.

18 GRIFFIN Winter 2022

But being interested in learning new things and tackling real life problems meant that I changed focus much more towards, firstly, understanding the world, the problem, and what needed to be done to address it. It has become more important than ever to accept that no one knows it all, and that learning about new things is always necessary. For the current generation of high school students, this is even more poignant than it was ever before. The world is changing so quickly, and the degree of complexity is rising exponentially. If you turn your head and take your eyes off the ball you will find yourself out of date and irrelevant faster than ever before. The most important lesson is that people do not learn by themselves, and most often need others to achieve their goals. Learning early on to work with others towards a common goal and how best to compromise is critically important.

I spent the first year of COVID in Australia, and so I was spared all the horrible experiences that some of my colleagues were subjected to in places like New York. I honestly cannot imagine some of the younger people being locked down in their apartments in NYC, only to pass mobile morgues in the street when they ventured out on their weekly shopping trip to the supermarkets. My experience in Australia was relatively benign. Masks in the workplace were not even a thing in 2020, and we had a special exemption to travel to our disaster recovery site for essential services reasons. So we got out and about when restaurants and pubs were closed and people were not generally moving around freely. When we got to the United States in January 2021 it was a very different story. Vaccines were still not freely available for another few months, and there was a real concern about getting infected. The area where I live is very sensible, and so there was 100 per cent compliance with health and safety advice. That created a certain sense of comfort, but we were certainly on edge in 2021 as we were getting vaccinated. Despite all the caution, the virus caught up with us in April 2022, and that was not much fun. No hospital or medication were required, but we endured plenty of coughing and headaches for more than 6 weeks.

Over the years the lifetime learning aspect has become much clearer to me. When I was 17 and passed the VCE, I was convinced that I knew it all. Surprisingly, that was actually not true! If you go back to speak to my mates in the class of 1988, I am sure that it will not be too difficult to find people who will describe me as insufferably arrogant. Sorry about that!

Let me begin by answering that in a flippant way. I did not realise that I was no longer a teenager. I feel like high school finished yesterday. I am still planning the next gig with the band so that I can finally be a guitar hero. I still waterski to try to impress onlookers like I did in the 1980s, but with less success. But more seriously, things always evolve and shift. I did not think I would pass VCE, let alone get into a university. When I did, I was scared of not being able to succeed and get a job. When I got a job I was apprehensive about tackling appointments like working in a dealing room, lecturing in foreign countries, and writing books. But in time what happens is that the very things that scare you as an inexperienced person become very rewarding and exciting. It is delving into unknown territory when you are sure you have the right tools to learn and rise to the occasion that gives you the most satisfaction. The great thing about education is of course that you can experience so many things the world has to offer and be a part of a great journey. I have done many jobs, from delivering pizzas, to being an office clerk, working in a factory, and driving a delivery van. I would not want to do any job all my life. Real satisfaction, at least for me, comes from discovering new things and rising to new What’schallenges.shifted?

The other realisation has been how resilient the world actually is. There was a major global disaster, and countries and international organisations addressed it in a manner that, while it was horrible and costly, nonetheless meant there was not a complete meltdown as you would see in a B-grade movie. Would we have preferred not to go through this experience? Yes. Was it as bad as it could have been without any policy response? No. There was an unprecedented amount of country-to-country and multilateral international cooperation. One common phrase we use when addressing the issues related to the pandemic is that “none of us is safe until we are all safe”.

The initial focus is “self”, and is often driven by material objectives. When first starting out in the world you get into the race to make yourself financially

Professionally I still think about and work on pandemic-related issues. I did pandemic disaster training for many years, but always discounted it as something unthinkable that was in the realm of Armageddon movies. That was another thing that I seem to have been wrong about. It is interesting that the island countries were able to insulate themselves from the virus much more effectively than other countries. The benefit seems to have been that the vaccines were administered before people contracted the disease, and hence the cumulative death rates appear to have been much lower than in countries where the virus ran rampant from day one.

FROM THE ASPIRATIONS YOU HELD AS A TEENAGER FINISHING SCHOOL TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW, HOW ARE YOU LIVING OUT YOUR INTENDED LIFE GOALS? AND HOW HAVE THEY MOVED AND SHIFTED?

To me role models can be a doubleedged sword. While environment matters, young people should also have the opportunity to take an unprescribed path. It helps to get certain values, but they should decide themselves on how to apply them. That means that they should have a framework and a good compass to help them steer back on track if they stray. I had discussions at Salesian with priests about Don Bosco and values related to social issues like abortion. They were immensely important, most of all because they did not impose a right and wrong approach on any issue. I think that the best role models are your friends, family and trusted advisors, not cricket stars or football players (unless you want to play cricket or football). Get some core values and decide what you want to believe in and what you want to do and move forward. The rest will take care of Butitself. at the same time, you should be generous with sharing your own knowledge and, most of all, how not to repeat the mistakes that we all make. I like coming back to school to talk to students about economics and the current economic conditions. I think it builds an important bridge. Teachers always do their best to explain syllabus in textbooks and to apply it, but at the end of the day they are teachers, and students like to also see what the end product might be like when they study a subject.

• You will experience disappointments and setbacks that are unfair and undeserved. How you deal with these and bounce back stronger and wiser is the important thing.

• Work to the best of your abilities, with focus on what you want to achieve, but don’t feel guilty if you do not know what you want to do with your life. Goals and aspirations will change in ways that you cannot imagine. It is not a simple race from A to B.

I cannot resist putting in a quote from the 1998 Sunscreen Song, “Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth”. So in no particular order here are some ideas:

I lost my way a bit when I was working in investment banking. For me it was a bit of a self-serving money-making exercise, with little purpose. I got tired of that relatively quickly. But it was exciting and new for the two years that I was doing it.

YOU ARE GENEROUS WITH YOUR TIME, WILLING TO GIVE BACK TO STUDENTS WHERE YOU CAN. HOW IMPORTANT ARE ROLE MODELS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE?

secure, but there needs to come a time when what you have is enough and you can be satisfied. Constantly reaching for another house, another car and more money is exhausting, and probably means you are not doing the things that you care about the most. I have started doing things that I find interesting that will not necessarily enhance my career further or make me rich, but they are more satisfying. It took me a while to realise that I can actually drive only one car at a time.

IF YOU HAD THREE PIECES OF ADVICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?

But back to the gold letters in a more serious way. The real meaning and purpose for me came from policy work at the Reserve Bank and international institutions I worked in. I cannot describe what it is like when you go to a poor developing country and you know that your advice will make a huge difference to how people live. Even in Australia I can say that things are better because of little things that I contributed to the policy machine. It is only ever very marginal and modest, but you do what you can, and I am lucky to have always had good family support for my little excursions and trips.

• Instagram is lying to you. Nobody has +100,000 friends. Work on relationships in your family and your closest friends. Make them enduring, because you will need them.

WHAT DOES MEANING AND PURPOSE LOOK LIKE TO YOU IN YOUR CAREER?

GREAT ADVICE. CHRIS, THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME, IT HAS BEEN A PLEASURE HEARING YOUR STORY.

That’s a tough question. On a day-to-day basis you just do not think along those lines. In the foyer of the RBA, in big gold letters, there is a reference to the central bank mandate and something along the lines of maintenance of prosperity and welfare of all Australians. Now I admit that I have walked past this for 25 years and cannot remember ever falling on my knees to pay homage. When I was teaching at Monash University I was very focused on giving students the best start possible and instilling some of the ideas and values that John Bermingham gave me as a teacher. I am not sure how many people became economists over the three years that I taught them, or what they remember about what I said in the lecture theatre. That’s one of the reasons that I like to tell John that he mattered.

2022 YOUNG

The 2022 ‘Reconnection’ Hall of Fame explored the theme of Reconnection; a key focus post returning to life as a community and specifically how personal community connections enrich our lives. ACHIEVER

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Adrian’s sister, Francesca Li Donni, accepted the award on his behalf, and was accompanied by their parents, Angelo and Evelyn, on the night.

Adrian Li Donni is a Green Room Award Winning actor and soloist. Graduating from Salesian in 2003, Adrian furthered his study at Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York. He later specialised in Opera singing at the Wales International Academy of Voice, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, graduating with a Master of Arts in Advanced Vocal Studies.

MR ADRIAN LI DONNI (CLASS OF 2003) PERFORMING ARTS

Adrian has spent the last two years studying German and Italian, and recently became engaged to his fiancée, Blake Horton.

Adrian’s career has seen him touring globally as a member of the Ten Tenors, as Lun Tha in ‘The King and I’, as part of the creation and performance of ‘Muriel’s Wedding - The Musical’ and, most recently, in CG animated movie musical ‘Castle Gillian’ (releasing 2023).

2022 HALL OF FAME

As a College we congratulated Ten Tenors artist and vocalist Adrian Li Donni (2022 Young Achiever), Senior Specialist in Nuclear Medicine and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Dr Salvatore Berlangieri and Former Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton and St Kilda in the VFL/AFL, Dean Rice. A special mention must also go to our Master of Ceremonies, Sasha Lawrence, who connected each inductee’s story to their time at the College, as well as facilitating an authentic current student focus. Sasha was the Young Achiever Award recipient of 2021. He is currently Associate Director (Deals – Value Creation, People in Deals) and National Co-Chair (Symmetry@PwC – PwC’s gender diversity network) at PricewaterhouseCoopers Australia, and recently became partner of PwC.

Dean began his career with Carlton after the team’s Grand Final defeat by Essendon. After an injury in his very first game, Rice suffered another injury on his reconstructed knee. However, Rice remained a part of the team, strong in Carlton’s prime in time for the Grand Final win in 1995 against Geelong. During the second quarter, Rice kicked the goal that secured Carlton’s win.

The first half of his career (1986-1993) was spent with the St. Kilda Football Club, with which he played 118 games. During the 1992 pre-season, Rice suffered a ruptured ACL in his left knee. After a reconstruction, he played a further 11 games in 1993, when he damaged his right knee. These injuries unfortunately meant the end of his career with St Kilda.

MR DEAN RICE (CLASS OF 1985) SPORT

Dean worked in Football Development for the AFL from 2006-2020, and now focusses his efforts on his own business, Rice Property Services.

In 1994

Football has always been Dean Rice’s passion. After his time at Salesian, Dean Rice began a degree in Sports Administration at Victoria University, after which he began his 16-year career in AFL.

While 2001 marked the end of Dean’s career with Carlton, he continued to play footy with Scoresby in the Eastern Football League, and coached country clubs Wonthaggi, Berwick and Longwarry.

Dean is father to Bailey, Mitchell and Xavier and partner to Melissa.

DR SALVATORE BERLANGIERI (CLASS OF 1976) MEDICINE Dr Salvatore ‘Sam’ Berlangieri is the Head of the Clinical PET Program and Staff Specialist Physician, Department of Molecular Imaging and Therapy at Austin Health. Sam graduated from Salesian College in 1976, having been energised to choose a career that would be challenging and stimulating. The next year, he studied Medicine at Monash University. He graduated with Honours in the top 10 of Monash School of Medicine in 1982. Sam specialised in General Medicine and Nuclear Medicine in 1990, and cemented his expertise with a Fellowship at Duke University, North Carolina. Sam has been instrumental in the introduction of the Clinical PET (Positron Emission Tomography) in Australia. The first PET scan in Australia was performed on July 9th, 1992. Its 30-year anniversary is this July 2022. PET is an essential component of the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Sam has since trained over 50 Medical Specialists in PET, and resided as President of the Australasian Association of Nuclear Medicine Specialists 20162018. In his personal life, Sam is a qualified Junior Soccer Coach, and Team Manager of Under 12s Soccer at Veneto Football Club. He is also a member of the Astronomical Society of Victoria. Sam is married to Elizabeth and has two children, Emily and Jack.

2022 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE2022 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE 21

Thank you to Michael Kennedy for sharing this slice of history with the Salesian community. If you have a story for a future Griffin magazine, please email pastpupils@salesian.vic.edu.au

SASHA LAWRENCE UPDATE ATHLETICS CARNIVAL 1962

Michael himself brought home prizes for the 100 and 220 yard sprints on the day, and his younger brother Damian won the under 12s 75 yard sprint.

Sasha Lawrence, 2021 Young Achiever Award recipient, has recently been made partner in the Deals team of PwC Australia. With the Deals and People and Culture specialists at PwC, Sasha will support dealmakers to unlock the value and potential of their workforce across the merger & acquisition lifecycle.

Congratulations to Sasha on his continuing career success!

Past Student Michael Kennedy (graduated 1964) has shared this photo and newspaper article with us from 1962. 60 years ago, Salesian College Chadstone won the interschool Athletics competition against Abbotsford, Clifton Hill, Hawthorn, Middle Park, South Melbourne and Yarraville at Olympic Park.

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4. Congratulations to Dean of Students - Middle School, Byron Chen and wife Surekha who welcomed the birth of their second child Mackenzie into their family.

3. Congratulations to Learning Support Officer Kat Kelson and husband Sean who welcomed their first child Riley Cecillia Kelson into their family on 12 May.

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS 1 2 3 4 5 76 JASON OM UPDATE

Last year we updated you on Jason Om (Class of 1998 and 2019 Young Achiever Award recipient)’s memoir ‘All Mixed Up’. We’re now proud to announce that his book is launched and available at all good bookstores.

6. We are saddened to report that Fr. Bernard Fernandes, Principal of Don Bosco High School Matunga, Mumbai passed away recently.

1. Congratulations to teacher Georgina Dow, who became engaged to her partner Cameron Hunter on the 29th of June this year.

2. Congratulations to teachers Ash and Dan Campisano, who have welcomed their second child Archie into their family.

Candid and heartfelt, All Mixed Up is a compelling true story about trauma, identity and acceptance. It’s also an uplifting celebration of authenticity, difference, resilience, hope and love by an exciting new Australian voice.

Born 19 October 1946, Mike was one of three siblings who attended the College at Chadstone between 1959 – 1962. Mike was inducted into the College Hall of Fame in 2016. Mike was inducted as a Life Member of the AFL Umpires Association, Life Member of the Salesian Old Boys Cricket Club, Life Member of Team of the 60s Decade and Life Member of Springvale South Tennis Club. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mike’s wife Pauline and family during this difficult time.

7. Congratulations to LOTE Teacher Alvin Zhang and wife Wendy who welcomed their first child Xiaozhong (Peter) Zhang into their family on 3 May.

Congratulations to Jason on his extraordinary achievement.

5. The Salesian College Chadstone community is saddened to report that Mike Henry passed away on Sunday 3 July after a long illness with a series of brain tumours.

10 Bosco Street ChadstoneAustraliaVictoria3148 T +61 3 9807 2644 ABN 74 645 109 208 www.salesian.vic.edu.au