Foundation Report _______________________________Page

from Virtus Yearbook 2014

Brennan Houghton ____________________________Page

2014 Was another big year for the St Joseph’s College Foundation. The student population has grown to well over 1500, and our association, together with the other voluntary groups of the College, support over 1300 families around the City of Greater Geelong. Our Upstart Entrepreneurial Challenge, has been so successful that many schools wanted to be part of the competition.The last challenge saw an additional 5 schools included, with $20k pledged from the State Government.

The schools that joined the challenge this year were:

Sacred Heart College The Geelong College Northern Bay College Western Heights College

Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College

St Joseph’s student, Braydon Thomson, was the winner, with the People’s Choice award going again to St Joseph’s College students, Nicholas Van Meel, and Xavier Dowd. Congratulations to those boys for their places in our challenge. So it’s now very much a regional competition. However the Foundation remains a proud major sponsor…. And I can’t speak highly enough of our Development sub committee who came up with the original idea, and now get to watch it grow into such a great educational community initiative. Our Development Manager, David Formosa, resigned in Term 3, as he took up a similar position at Sacred Heart College Bentleigh. We lost a great asset in David and his wife Deb, but we have been equally fortunate in replacing him with Mr Kristen Gleeson. Kristen, and his wife Lauren, have 2 daughters. He came to us from CUB,where for the past 5 years he was employed as a business development executive; so we see his position at St Joseph’s as a perfect fit. And we wish him well in his new appointment. Currently our investment and finance sub committee is conducting a feasibility study in further developing our Myers Street property to maximise its potential return. The St Joseph’s College Foundation celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2015. I joined the management committee from its inception. It’s been an exciting and rewarding time, personally, watching it develop into an extremely strong association, which is laying the “foundations” for the long term future of our college and its cohort. Sincere thanks to Principal, Paul Tobias, and his management team; to the other voluntary college organisations; and to Lauren, Natasha, and Susan! To all within our st.Joseph’s community, best wishes for the future.