BRENDAN FERGUSON

Class of 2005 and member of staff

Stepping out of one’s comfort zone is never easy, but it often leads to the greatest growth. That is exactly what awaited me as my family traded in the comfort of Queensland’s subtropics for the frosty morning school bus rides of Canberra. I was not thrilled with the relocation, but it was for a compelling reason as my sister was attempting to qualify for the Olympics in archery and needed to be near the AIS. To add further inconvenience, my family had misjudged the dates of the ACT school year and had to organise a uniform and enrolments the day before the term started, leaving me with two choices of school. I went with St. Edmund’s simply because the other option would require me to repeat a year due to the different age cutoffs between states.

When I first arrived at St. Edmund’s College in 2004, I was feeling overwhelmed and out of my depth. I had left the comfort zone of a close-knit group of friends that I had grown up with and was rushed into a new school system in a different city. However, it did not take long for me to find my place at Eddies and for it to become a second home. Arriving as an awkward, quiet teenager who was introverted until I warmed up to people, I was adopted by my future friend group of extroverts. I was surprised by the inclusive and accepting atmosphere – the group was patient and included me until I could open up and be myself. I was grateful to have found friends who appreciated me for who I was, and I flourished under their encouragement, growing more confident the longer I spent in the Eddies community.

Another transformative moment at Eddies that is clear in my mind occurred after completing an oral presentation during English class with

Leanne Gair. Being still new to the school and a poor public speaker on a good day, I had offered to do a larger share of the written work for the script and PowerPoint presentation. However, when it was my turn to present the content, I was a nervous mess and was fittingly awarded a lower grade. Then, to my surprise, without requesting it my two classmates met with our teacher after class to plead a case for our grades to meet in the middle as they confessed that I had done a larger share of the work behind the scenes. Their request was granted, and I was full of admiration for these two students, who I barely knew by name, as they sacrificed their own achievement in the name of fairness. Yet another paving stone added to the future path Eddies had laid out for me. Without cultivating my public speaking skill by building confidence, I would never be able to stand and talk in front of an audience of students daily.

During my time at St. Edmund’s College, I also had the opportunity to work with younger students and students with diverse needs in the school as part of my charity volunteer work. This experience set the foundation for my future career as a teacher and showed me the impact that I could have on the lives of others even when I lacked confidence. St. Edmund’s College provided me with many opportunities to grow as a person and to step out of my comfort zone. Whether it was through participating in school events, taking on leadership roles, or trying new subjects, I was encouraged to challenge myself and to pursue my passions.

My journey after graduating in 2005 has seen me embrace the change a lot more freely than I used to. Despite the ups and down and further lessons along the way, the start of the positive changes can be traced back to my time here. The journey started with me studying Civil Engineering in Sydney, then coming back to Canberra where I met my wife and to spend some time working at the Queanbeyan City Council. After that position became redundant, we were soon back in Sydney with our first child and shortly after that we were relocating yet again. The ability to adapt to a change in surroundings and cultivate a close community of friends was very much appreciated during this time.

This time I was moving to seek a new career and I completed a graduate diploma to qualify as a teacher as it was the last state to phase out the oneyear study option. After being rushed to choose where I finished my high school education, I took a risk and it paid off in ways I could not anticipate. The same was true here as I rushed a career swap and am now grateful for the benefits. I spent some time at another school in Toowoomba, also wonderful for its own unique reasons, but I recently made the move from Queensland to Canberra again, but this time with a family of my own. A wife and two young sons of my own who handled the change much better than I did.

When we moved back to Canberra for family, I could not pass up the opportunity to return to the Eddies community. I am grateful for the supportive environment that St. Edmund’s College provided me with and for the lessons that I learned there inside and outside of the classroom. I am proud to say that I now teach at the same school that gave me so much and that I can give back in my own way.