Recently our Head Boy and Head Girl travelled to Sydney to attend the annual JJAMM Student Leadership Conference for the first time. This is a national event for Sisters of St Joseph schools, and focuses on the leadership qualities of St Joseph, Julian Tennyson Woods and Mary MacKillop.
Students learned more about these three patrons, their stories, and about leadership in a Josephite context. They shared ideas on ways to take action on issues around social justice and display the Josephite character in their unique school environments.
“JJAMM was an experience of a lifetime, we were encouraged to step out of our comfort zones, where we found ourselves stepping into an environment full of passionate, Josephite leaders, bringing forward similar ideas and sharing similar visions. Being able to spend five days with such inspiring school leaders is an enormous privilege, learning from each other and building on our leadership skills in many structured activities and challenges. This enabled us to assist in exploring the gifts and challenges that come with being a leader.
“Upon returning from JJAMM, we are looking forward to introducing the new ideas and opportunities that we have taken from our time away and hope that it will enhance the Josephite spirit within our school community. Learning from the teachings of Joseph, Julian and Mary MacKillop and implementing them into our plans for the upcoming year.
“Being part of such a passionate group of leaders, gave us an insight into all our school communities. All of us were focused on creating initiatives towards different problem areas in regard to social justice issues: ranging from Asylum Seekers and Refugees, Care for the Environment, and Caring for the Homeless. Our aim was to find solutions to these actions and causes, and to assist those who need it, both within our own communities and beyond the gates of our school.
“We felt extremely proud to share with the leaders of other Josephite schools, Sr Jan and her team, our school values, initiatives and programs that are built on the very foundations of the Josephite spirit. We have also come away with so many amazing friendships from across Australia and NZ, and still have a group message where we keep in touch and share our initiatives and achievements.
“We cannot express enough our gratitude towards the Sisters of Saint Joseph who created this opportunity for school captains within Josephite schools, our school for providing us with the opportunity to attend JJAMM and to Mr Smith for travelling this journey with us. This incredible experience has strengthened our leadership and allowed us to collaborate on new ways in which we can further appreciate and contribute to the Josephite Charism that exists at MacKillop Catholic College.”
- Justin McClurg and Hannah Armstrong
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