This week I enrolled the first student for the Year 7 2028 cohort as well as farewelling the Year 12s at their Graduation. It’s a reminder of the journey the most important people in our community make across their time at Kolbe. From the nervous interview with a Principal at a big school, through to starting, learning, growing, and eventually leaving.
When our children are born and growing up, parents and carers look at their child and know they are perfect.
Ms. Smallman said to me earlier this year, God has made all people add up to 100%, but we all add up to 100% differently. We’re all a jigsaw of different parts that makes a complete picture. For the Year 12s I want them to know that you are enough, that you are a complete picture. The joy in life is in discovering all the pieces that make us special.
To know that there’s always another piece to add to the puzzle. Sometimes we find that part of us, a passion, a hobby, a new part of our identity. Sometimes others help us see what makes us unique.
Our parents and carers of the Year 12s have helped them grow. Sharing laughter, and childhood sorrows; wondering with them of the mysteries of what was ahead. Holding their hand explaining why the sky is blue or why the Eagles are at the bottom of the AFL ladder.
We could see that our young people are made of wonder, of great and ordinary joys, of small invisible worlds, of a need to call out and connect.
Connection is a word that I heard again and again as many of the 12s shared their time at Kolbe. How so many valued the connection with each other – especially when meeting and speaking with different people at retreats. Many felt barriers between groups and past tensions fade away into insignificance. One graduate mentioned that maybe they had to go through that younger year group drama to become who they are now. To gain perspective.
Gaining perspective and values reminded me of the western frontiers of America. People were moving out west across the American continent into new areas where wood was plentiful, but metal was not. Each time people moved further across the frontier, they would build a new log cabin. And when they needed to move to a new area, burn down the old cabin and take from the ashes the metal nails. The metal nails were valuable. They would be needed to make the next log cabin in the next area. As The Year 12s leave behind Kolbe I hope they can pick up their nails. Take with them the values and learnings that will help them move to the next space and place in their life. Our graduates move into lots of new areas in the future. Hopefully some of the nails from Kolbe stay with them through each move.
Those nails, those values were hard earned. There were times when the 12s felt pressured at home or at school. To get an assignment completed or amend a uniform. We pushed and challenged the graduates because we care. We demand of them because we love and believe in them. We know that to find and develop the different talents and gifts each person has, takes effort. Each person has small and great blossoming inside. Hopefully those demands have helped them develop.
St Therese has another way of saying we all add up to 100% in different ways. St Therese said:
“Jesus has been gracious enough to teach me a lesson about the mystery of the differences in souls, simply by holding up to my eyes, the book of nature. I understood how all the flowers God created are beautiful- how the splendour of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not take away from the perfume of the violet or the simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty, and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wildflower.”
I don’t know how the final picture of each graduate will turn out. I know they’re complete but not sure of all the pieces. Some were figured out here at Kolbe. Most pieces won’t be until long into the future. I hope they keep discovering more of their magnificent self all the way across your life.
All we as teachers, parents, family or mentors ask of the graduates now, is to share with us. For your parents or family, hold their hands again, ask for advice, and let them see all the pieces of their child come together over their bright future. To see the wholeness and goodness of each person’s 100%.
To the Graduates of Kolbe Catholic College 2025, go forward with our blessings. Continue to be inspiring to those around you. Change the world.
