Seeing Kolbe students speaking to national and international audiences this week filled me with pride at how they demonstrated courage and excellence.
The Australasian Learning Environments Conference in the city saw hundreds of designers, fabricators, policymakers and architects from all over Australia, and even as far as Canada, come together to hear about innovation in the built environment and community building. Three Kolbe projects were featured with displays and students answering questions from groups of delegates. Each project demonstrated student agency and community engagement.
I’ve been lucky enough to tour many schools this week to collect ideas that could be adapted to the Kolbe context, taking national and international learnings to ensure our College remains future-focused.
However, the main takeaway from the conference hasn’t been an innovative piece of architecture, but rather the message of hope. There are so many stories of young people looking at the challenges facing our world and responding with action and determination rather than despair.
In places of conflict such as Iran, underground universities are springing up in basements and living rooms. Where ecological damage is occurring, young people are regenerating habitats and taking part in citizen science programs. WA is reaching into space with new space centres designed to inspire teenagers and push the frontiers of science and technology. Back at Kolbe, our Capabilities for Life curriculum, certificate courses and micro-credentials across pathways are linking the real world to educational outcomes. Hope is real and tangible, not just in exploring issues, but in allowing Kolbe students to make a wider impact.
We will continue to support our students to understand that problems are complex and that, in order to fully understand any issue, all parts of the system need to be invited to participate, so that students become inspired by Jesus to transform the world.
“Hope... is not the same as joy that things are going well... but, rather, an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. The more difficult the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper that hope is.”
