Annie and Maya Foster a Supportive Environment for Our Boarders
We have a chat with our 2024 Head Boarder, Annie Fulwood and Deputy Boarder, Maya Nicholls about what exciting happenings are to come this year for our boarders.Â
Can you share your thoughts on why it’s important to have a vision for boarding this year, especially as leaders in the boarding community?
Having a vision provides us with a sense of direction and purpose. It gives us clarity on what we aim to achieve as a boarding community, and this year, we are specifically aiming to improve a strong sense of social cohesion throughout all the year groups.
To achieve this, we have made time to visit the younger girls during their transition into boarding, hoping to build connections and provide them with a familiar face of someone they can chat with throughout this challenging time of being away from home. We also encouraged other Year 12s to come along with the leadership team to make friendships with the younger girls.
We are aiming to build a fun and uplifting environment for the girls, hoping they feel comfortable and entertained, fostering a sense of belonging and excitement on many occasions
Events we have done included an end-of-term pool party and BBQ, end-of-year festive activities such as a Christmas lights tour, gingerbread house decorating, Christmas crafts, a movie night, and a sunset swim in the pool. We are also planning to organise many ‘Coolock Cup’ events. This is where each person is in a team with boarders from each year group and goes up against the other houses to win points in dress-up competitions and other fun activities.
As Head Boarder and Deputy Head Boarder, what aspects of boarding life are you most excited about for the upcoming year?
We are excited to continue getting to know the many girls in boarding, and we hope to keep branching out our connections with as many girls as possible and specifically trying to encourage other boarders to reach out and make new friendships too. We are also looking forward to seeing many of our ideas being implemented, which has started already, and hoping to bring many more ideas and projects to life throughout our time as leaders.
Could you elaborate on any specific boarding events or initiatives that you’re particularly looking forward to and why? Additionally, why you think it is important for boarding students to attend these events?
One boarding event our leadership team has recently run was a Boarder’s Got Talent in Term 4 last year. This event involved boarders from Years 7 to 12. It allowed them to showcase their various talents and was a great opportunity for our community to uplift and connect. We are anticipating doing another Boarder’s Got Talent later in the year, as it was such a big success.
Additionally, we are currently in the process of creating a boarding mural as a part of our Wellbeing Wednesday program for Boarding Week. We hope to display this at school to showcase the creativity and diversity within our boarding community. We are hoping this will be on display by Boarding Week early next term.
We have recently proposed a boarding veggie patch that our boarding community would be able to maintain and grow.Â
We are also in the process of organising ‘A World’s Greatest Shave’ for boarding. We are hoping to bring back the past ways when many of the girls would cut their hair shorter for a cause. And ‘Do it for Dolly’ Day where we are able to bring awareness and fundraise for mental health problems for those in the country.
We both believe it is important for boarding students to attend these events as it builds a sense of community and allows for stronger relationships to form between year groups.
Reflecting on the long weekend, were you both able to go home and visit family and if so, what were your highlights from your time away?
We both didn’t go home to our farms this long weekend, instead, we stayed at our Perth houses with our families because we had the Aquinas College Year 12 ball on, and then a few nights later we went to ‘Pink’ together with our mums.
Although we both didn’t go home, we still spent the weekend with our families, and were able to relax and get ready for the rest of the term ahead.
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- Collaboration, Featured, Stewardship
Author: Santa Maria College
Santa Maria College is a vibrant girls school with a growing local presence and reputation. Our Mission is to educate young Mercy women who act with courage and compassion to enrich our world. Santa Maria College is located in Attadale in Western Australia, 16 km from the Perth CBD. We offer a Catholic education for girls in Years 5 – 12 and have 1300 students, including 152 boarders.
