Mission Blog: Student Ministry Team Formed
The newly formed Student Ministry team is hard at work on the College’s Strategic Plan. Several students from Years 8-12 were invited to be the student voice for all aspects of the College’s Faith pillar. The students were selected based on their past commitment or generous engagement in service or faith activities, their leadership skills as well as their parish involvement.
The Faith pillar of the Strategic Plan aims to provide students with contemporary faith opportunities that are meaningful and relevant, so that students may increase their engagement with their faith and the College Mercy values.
After formation of the Student Ministry Team, they met for an in-depth examination of the Faith pillar and discussed the role of the Ministry Team in driving and shaping the actions needed to achieve the desired results. Once aims were established, the students went away with a clear indication of what they needed to do.
The Student Ministry Team now has the responsibility of examining all faith opportunities and programs offered at the College and are currently considering the following:
- Which faith opportunities and programs are relevant and meaningful experiences for students?
- To what extent do they allow students to connect with their faith
- How to increase student participation in faith opportunities?
- How to make faith opportunities and programs more meaningful and relevant?
- How to renew the faith opportunities and programs regarding relevance?
The group is led by Liturgy Captain Chelsea White and her Year 12 executive team of Lucy Kilroe, Eireann Robertson, and Lana Komaromi. The executive team meets once a week to plan a range of workshop meetings with members where the points above are considered. The Strategic Plan is consulted at the start of each meeting, so students remain focussed and targeted in their proposed action plans.
As there is much to consider, much effort and time will be invested, and many new initiatives will be trialled as the team consult with, and receive feedback from, their peers.
One of the initiatives currently being considered is the Homeroom prayer. The team are looking at:
- How well it is received?
- Is it relevant and meaningful?
- Exploring the possibility of a student prayer book.
- Group Prayer
In addition to the above, the Student Ministry Team is also responsible for the facilitation of fundraising events each term. Thus far they have coordinated stalls at the Caritas and Outreach Days, working with other service groups to raise much-needed funds for the local agencies we support. They also support the Liturgy Captain at liturgical events by operating the projector, altar serving, reading, singing, or as Eucharistic Ministers.
We thank the students for their time and effort and wish them well for the year ahead and all the wonderful work they will do.
Santa Maria Teams Shine in Term 1 Sports
Santa Maria had a huge number of girls in the IGSSA AFL and Volleyball competition with strong results for a number of teams.
Lee-Elle’s Insights from the ‘Make it 16’ Forum
Lee-Elle Cooper is a passionate Year 12 student who advocates for youth engagement and political participation. She has recently returned from the Make It 16 Forum in Canberra.
With Laurissa Knowles From Valley Depths to Mountain Peaks (1993)
Laurissa Knowles (1993) has had an incredible career journey so far, from Santa Maria College Teacher to Celebrant and Councillor.
- Faith, Featured
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.
