Director of Co-curricular, Mr Steve O'Donnell
Edmund Rice Day
This week, we celebrated Edmund Rice Day at both the Senior and Junior Schools. The senior school students attended an impressive assembly where we looked at and thanked some of our partners who are doing amazing charitable works in the community, including Edmund Rice Camps, Pantry 4 The People and CaringKids.
We were blessed to have some guest speakers from these groups, including Old Boy, Jake Smith. The Touchtones of Gospel Spirituality and Justice and Solidarity as part of our Edmund Rice Charism were highlighted, as as part of the wonderful work by our Social Justice groups.
You can follow the charities we heard from below:
- Edmund Rice Camps – https://www.edmundricecamps.org/
- Pantry 4 the People – Instagram – pantry4thepeople_sydney
- CaringKids Charity – https://caringkids.org.au/
Having an Inclusive Community is also one of the strengths of Waverley College. The diversity of our community is what makes Waverley so special. I was lucky enough on Wednesday evening to attend the celebrations for the anniversary of Israel’s 75 years of independence. This wonderful event people from all around NSW and Australia, as well as a number of other countries, come together in solidarity to celebrate as one.
Israel gained independence three years after the conclusion of World War II, where 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Despite this and over 2,000 years of exile and persecution, they were able to maintain their identity, and despite many challenges, are a nation that is continuing to thrive. Australia and Israel have always had strong relationships, however, the amount of anti-Semitism in the world and in Australia over the past few years has, unfortunately, increased.
Waverley College will never accept any form of discrimination against another person. Regardless of race, religion, gender or any other difference, we need to be celebrating the differences that make us unique.
