Discovering Purpose – Year 9’s Reason for Being
For Year 9 students at Santa Maria College, discovering who they are and what matters to them is a big part of growing up. Our Reason for Being program, a translation of the French expression ‘Raison d’être’, gives students time and space to reflect, connect, and explore their values before stepping into the senior years.
Finding Purpose and Direction
Year 9 is a time of transition. It sees students take on new responsibilities, considering subject choices, possible pathways and questions about the future. This program invites students to explore three key ideas:
- Who am I?
- Who am I with others?
- Who am I in the world?
Over the course of three days, students participated in creative and reflective activities that helped them understand their strengths, passions, and purpose.
Facilitator Rebecca Kinsella explains, “We want students to think about who they want to be, not just what they want to do. Finding your purpose or reason for being isn’t simple; it’s a journey with many twists and turns. We don’t expect them to have all the answers now, but there’s much to gain simply by asking: Who do I want to be? What legacy do I wish to leave? What is my life’s purpose? Beginning this process with peers creates valuable opportunities to share ideas and perspectives, revealing how differently we each think, feel and react.”
Building Connection and Belonging
Belonging is at the heart of the program. Activities like Pairs and Repairs, developed by former College psychologist, Majella Dennis from Encompass Psychology & Education, encourages students to see ‘the unseen side’ of others’ stories and to repair relationships through empathy and understanding. These experiences help students strengthen their year group culture and foster a genuine sense of community.
Day 1
- Session 1 – The View From Here: Students reflected on their current feelings, values, and group culture through discussions that highlighted inclusivity, support, and hopes for the future.
- Session 2 – The Time You Have: Students explored the question “What is my reason for being?” by identifying and ranking their core values and considering how to live in line with them.
- Session 3 – Know Your Heart: After meditation, students created hearts symbolising the personal values they wish to remain true to.
Day 2
- Session 4 – What It’s Like: Students explored empathy, bias, and perspective through moral dilemmas and discussions about how we treat one another.
- Session 5 – Perspectacles (Seeing the Unseen): Students examined how unseen experiences influence behaviour and learnt peaceful ways to mend relationships through understanding.
- Session 6 – Wholehearted: Students reflected on the qualities of true friendship, expressed gratitude, and celebrated the important people in their lives.
Day 3
- Session 7 – Change: Students were inspired to be the change they want to see, promoting inclusion and the idea that everyone deserves a seat at the table.
- Session 8 – Circles: Students examined their circles of influence and applied design justice principles in the Future City project.
- Session 9 – The Reason: The program concluded with reflection, a final liturgy, and a collective prayer expressing hopes and commitments for the year ahead.
Values in Action
Through challenges like The Moral Dilemma and Perspectacles Melodrama, students explore Santa Maria’s values of Hospitality, Compassion, Justice, Service, and Excellence in action. They learned that inclusion means looking after everyone and not just a majority.
In the Future City Project, students designed inclusive community spaces using recycled materials, combining creativity, teamwork, and social awareness, a hands-on reminder that everyone has the power to shape a better world.
Growing with Purpose
By the end of the program, students walk away with a stronger sense of who they are, connected to one another and grounded in the values that will guide their future decisions.
As Rebecca says, “It’s about thinking about the bigger picture, and helping them start the process of finding their reason for being, not just for school but for life.”
What did our Students Think of the Program?
“I loved this program as it didn’t just explore who we are, but also who we are with others and the world. We did so many fun activities to help explore these ideas such as meditation, salsa, plays, dancing, creating buildings and pretending we were in a refugee camp. I learnt some very important lessons during Reason For Being, which include what are my values and how should I change myself so I better align with them; different people have different views on the world which are shaped by experiences; you don’t have much time and you should spend It doing the things you love; you will never know someone’s full story; how to repair friendships and how to be more inclusive in the bigger picture. This program has made me understand myself, others and the world through a different perspective and I think these lessons will make me a better person.” Madeleine
“One thing that really stood out to me about the Reason for Being program was the activity where we, as a cohort, came together to build a completely inclusive city. It was such an inspiring experience where we learnt to put ourselves in others’ shoes and think about the struggles people face daily that we don’t realise.” Marli
“Something from Reason for Being that stood out to me is that we have so much time to make a difference in the world, and we can choose how we use it. We should prioritise our big commitments first but always make sure there’s time to do the things we love.” Abby
Reason for Being continues next week for the second half of the Year 9 cohort while this group heads off to camp.
- CatholicEducationValues, EmpathyandInclusion, Featured, HolisticStudentGrowth, MercyValuesinAction, PurposeandValuesEducation, SantaMariaCollegePrograms, Year9StudentDevelopment
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.
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