Mercy News

Justice@Mercy has been fortunate enough to again participate in the massive Christmas project for the many seafarers that cannot, unfortunately, spend Christmas with their loved ones. We have teamed up with Stella Maris to create shoe boxes filled with various gifts that would remind our brave workers of a hopeful Christmas. Throughout the year, on various Wednesday afternoons, we handmade over 100 Christmas cards to go in the shoeboxes with the gifts. We made as many as we could and made sure that each card had a heart-warming message.

Two weeks prior to finishing the project, students went to Canelands to shop around for items such as toiletries, souvenirs, travel amenities, crafts and puzzles etc. to go into the hundreds of shoeboxes. Mercy College’s Student Representative Council kindly donated $1000 to make this possible.

Students in all the percussion ensembles and music classes were invited to attend a workshop with Sydney based touring group Junkyard Beats. Students experimented with creating rhythms using body percussion, trash bins and everything else all the way through to the kitchen sink. Over two one hour slots, they experienced the energy and passion whilsto creating pieces with Theo and Braeden. It was a fantastic way to work together and develop their ability to listen to others and blend rhythms. Everyone had a fantastic time and walked away tapping the many different beats.

On Friday 2 November the Mercy College Cheer Squad accompanied by Mr Ford, Miss Gillespie and Mrs Porter, travelled 4 hours south where we competed in the School and Senior categories of the Aussie Gold Summer Festival Cheer Competition. After competing through-out a full day in four categories, we were very fortunate to be awarded 2nd in the scholastic cheer and 1st in Senior Pom, Senior Contemporary and Senior Hip Hop. The squad was also awarded highest point scorers for Pom and Contemporary for the whole competition and awarded Grand Champion Dance. Without our amazing teachers, we would never be able to have these wonderful opportunities. On behalf of the travelling squad we would like to say a huge thank you to Mr Ford for driving us, Mrs Porter for our awesome choreography and Miss Gillespie who works incredibly hard and puts in so much effort and amazes us with the high standard of opportunities we receive.

Last Tuesday was an exciting day for the College, but in particular for myself. I reached out to Jack Wilson from Australian Ninja Warrior, the TV show back in August, to let him know what an inspiration he has been to me and so many others at Mercy College. Being the deadly fella he is, he replied saying he hoped that one day we could meet. I did what needed to be done, and with the help of Mrs Melissa Russell, our Indigenous Liaison Officer, my dream came true, and the rest they say is history!

Jack spoke to the whole school at Assembly about being proud of who you are and where you come from. His message of culture, positivity and good vibes was contagious. A buzz spread through the place. After Assembly, he ran a training session with the Indigenous students and also answered questions they had, about competing in Ninja Warrior and the Rob de Castella run held in New York City. Jack is inspirational, down to earth and proud of his culture.

Lawson Allen, Year 10 Student