Mercy Messenger, Term 2 Week 4, 14 May 2021

Last Sunday, we celebrated Mother’s Day. I asked students to reflect on the love of mothers and the role of mothers. Many staff members help fulfil this role. Mother’s continually display commitment and I urge students to follow their commitment to reach their own goals. So, thank you to all the mums in our Mercy community. 

Bikeathon

This Sunday 16 May, we are holding our annual Bikeathon. The history of the Mercy Bikeathon started at Mercy in 1988. It is a major fund-raising event of the Mercy College P & F Association and is a great way for our students to be active and to help raise funds for the College community. I look forward to cheering everyone on as they make their way around the circuit. A special thank you to our P & F committee, parents/guardians who are volunteering, staff, students and sponsors. It will be an early start on Sunday for everyone, but I know it will be another fun filled event for us all. 

College Auslan Club Performance

Congratulations to all students and staff who travelled to Townsville to perform live at the Cowboys and Broncos game last week. Special mention to Sienna Renton who sang the National Anthem. You all did an amazing job and represented the College exceptionally. I would like to acknowledge and thank Mr Brett Comerford, Mrs Kylie Denning, Ms Annaliese Mauchline, Mrs Liz Falzon and Mr Damon Grimwood who supported the students.  We are so very lucky to have parents/guardians and staff in our Mercy community who support our students in exposing them to wonderful opportunities like this. 

House Mass/Day

Last week House Events & Celebrations were held.  Another great success for Mercy College as students attended the House Day Mass followed by celebrations at various venues. Thank you to Mrs Jeanette Refalo, House Coordinators and staff who organised and assisted.

Mercy College Community

This year, we again welcome many new faces to the Mercy College community:

Teaching Staff: Amy Andrews, Rachael Arlott, Alex Burrie, Petrina Coomer, Abbi Johnson, Bevan Little, Amanda Riddick and Andrew Sunderland

Support Staff:  Sharon Stewart-Harris, Kelly Cooke and Dee Trannore, Sharon Anderson

Welcome everyone to Mercy. Congratulations to Mrs Jeanette Refalo on her new position as Assistant Principal - Mission at Catherine McCauley College. Jeanette will continue to work at Mercy College until Term 4.  Congratulations to Mrs Liz Fatnowna who has been appointed to Teacher/Librarian at St Patrick's College while still teaching some classes at Mercy College.   

Mercy College APP

The Mercy College App is available for downloading from the App store. The App has been designed to provide information for students, parents/guardians and the community. I encourage all parents/guardians to download the App, as a great way to stay connected with the College and to receive timely information.

The app will allow users to:

• Keep up to date with current news and upcoming events through the Calendar, Notices and Extra Curricular icons

• Read or download the College newsletter

• View the College Map, Tuckshop Menu and Tutoring Times

• Easy links to Parent Lounge, College Website and Catholic Education Diocese of Rockhampton Website

St Patrick’s College Mackay Enrolment Processes for Year 11 2022

St Patrick’s College would like to invite all Mercy College Year 10 students to apply for enrolment at St Patrick’s College in 2022.  Mercy College students traditionally complete their senior schooling at St Patrick’s.

With the combining of the two colleges in 2023, from this year, Mercy students will still need to complete the online enrolment process, however, they will not be required to pay the $100.00 enrolment fee. When you receive the email request through the automatic process, please disregard it and do not make a payment. Staff from St Patrick’s College will be in contact with you to guide you through the online enrolment process. If at any stage you have questions, please contact the College Office on 4994 8700.

Enrolment applications for Year 11 2022 are now open and can be accessed through the Quick Links area on the Home Page of our website - http://www.stpats.qld.edu.au.

Dates in relation to the enrolment process are listed below for your information:

Gonski Institute for Education - New Report: Growing Up Digital Australia Phase 2 Results

Following is a link to an article which you may find interesting in relation to children being more distracted by digital devices. This study was completed by the Gonski Institute for Education. 

Link to study - https://www.gie.unsw.edu.au/gr...

Mrs Janelle Agius

Our Mercy P&F Bikeathon is approaching on Sunday 16 May, all parents/guardians were emailed the letter last Monday, of where they will be helping out on the day and what their job entails. The final letter was emailed to parents/guardians today, after changes were finalised and uploaded to the website. The letter also includes an outline of the morning and everything students and parents/guardians will be required to bring. It is always a fun day and a great opportunity for parents/guardians and students alike to meet new faces and catch up with familiar ones. If for any reason you are now available to help out on the day, please come along and meet us in the Hall we will find you spot. 

The Bikeathon will only be cancelled if deemed unsafe by our Police Officers and will become a walkathon in the event of severe heavy rain. If you volunteered and notice your name has been left off the list, please come along and we will allocate you a job. Also, we welcome as many parents/guardians as possible who would like to ride or walk on the day and we have included their names on the letter. I spoke to all students on our Assembly and advised them that bike maintenance and helmets are essential for those students who wish to ride on the day. 

Fundraising will continue over the next week and is required for our school total to increase. Students were advised on Assembly that every little bit counts and all the funds raised are directly spent back on student facilities. Some previous projects include the covered waiting area for students at the front of the school, speakers in the Pavilion, shaded seating and tables around the ground, upgrades to the surface of the oval, water bottle filling stations, solar panels and the list goes on.

We look forward to seeing you all on Sunday 16 May riding, walking or volunteering at this school community event. We ask that you arrive at the College by 7:30am on Sunday. Please continue to encourage your child to seek sponsorship and donations online over the next week of fundraising. 

7:15am Bower Brewers Coffee Van available for purchase of drinks.

7:30am Assemble at School. Students walk bikes to the Pavilion and sign in.

7:45am Parent briefing in Hall. All course helpers to attend and collect a vest.

A huge thanks must go to our continuing major sponsors this year: Corry Cycles and Blue River Water & Ice.

Mr Chris Sorbello

In 2019, St Patrick’s College &  Mercy College were awarded the hosting rights for the 2021 Confraternity Rugby League Carnival and Queensland Independent Secondary Schools Netball Carnival. Our College participates in these events every year and St Patrick’s College is an eight time winner of the Confraternity Shield, the second most successful school in its history. St Patrick’s and Mercy are also long-time, successful competitors in the QISSN carnival.

Due to Covid the 2020 Carnival, to be hosted by Iona College in Brisbane, was cancelled and as such Iona will host the Carnival this year. The 2022 carnival will be hosted by our combined Colleges here in Mackay from June 27 to July 1 next year, the first week of the June school holidays

This is a very significant event. The Confraternity Carnival involves 60 teams, both boys and girls, from around Queensland and the QISSN event attracts up to 70 teams. This means we will be host to around 2000 students and when combined with coaches, families and supporters, Mackay could see an influx of up to 6000 visitors to our region during that week.

Other regional centres to have hosted the Carnivals have experienced a $5M - $6M boost to the local economy. We hope to exceed that and bring a sustained, economic boost to our region by hosting the best Carnival ever. The opportunities for local businesses, tourism and hospitality operators and retail stores are extremely substantial.

To do this we will be seeking the assistance of our combined College communities. The involvement of our families to bring about a successful carnival is essential and the benefits this will bring to our College communities will be long lasting. We will need assistance with event planning, sponsorship, hospitality, catering, laundering, field marshalling, car park control and fundraising. Planning is well underway and we have already gained unequivocal support from the Mackay Regional Council, Tourism Mackay and Catholic Education - Rockhampton Diocese that will be vital in putting this event together.

In coming months, we will be holding a parents/guardians forum to outline our vision for these carnivals and to garner support. We will be able to, at that time, list the roles and responsibilities that we will need support with.  I have every confidence that we will gain from you, the support we need to make Confro/QISSN Mackay 2022 the best carnival of all time, and to put our combined College and our region in the national spotlight. Please stay tuned for updates as we move closer to the date. I hope you will all join with us to be a part of this historic event.

Mr Scott McSherry

The Easter holidays already seems just a distant memory. With so much happening at the College it was difficult to select a focus for this reflection: the Ascension, faith in Action through the increased demand for the Brekky Van or maybe the feast of Mary Help of Christians (24 May). All very worthy topics.  However, I decided on our recent House Day. You may ask what is the significance of this day? House Day is celebrated annually in Term 2, involving students and staff taking the opportunity to leave the ordinariness of the school day to celebrate the gift of each other within their House. 

House Day celebrations this year commenced with Father Don leading the College community in mass. I would like to share with you Fr Don’s homily (Gospel - John 21:1-14) 

We are still presently in the Church’s Easter season. For us, Easter did not end on Easter Sunday but instead continues on for another 50 days – such is the importance of the Resurrection of Christ. We have just heard one account of the Risen Lord appearing to his disciples.  These episodes recalled at the end of three of the Gospels are extraordinary for a number of reasons.  Yet one of the strange things about them is just how ordinary some of their elements are.  Consider the ordinary things we have just heard;
Peter says, “I’m going fishing” – something he must have said almost every day of his life on the shores of the Lake.
The other six disciples reply, “We’ll come with you,” which is just as routine.

They catch nothing all night – something familiar to anyone who’s gone fishing. The man on the shore asks whether they’ve caught anything and they say no – nothing remarkable about that exchange.

But then things begin to turn extraordinary when the man on the shore tells them to throw their nets “out to starboard”.  And as a result there are fish everywhere.  Then comes the moment of recognition – the vision of the extraordinary at the heart of the ordinary: “It is the Lord!”  They see the Risen Jesus “It is the Lord!”  Peter can’t wait once he really sees: into the water he goes.  He leaves it to the others to do the routine thing of bringing the catch to shore.  He’s more interested in the Lord than the fish.

But then we see Jesus doing something as ordinary as barbecuing fish on the beach.  He calls them to have breakfast – nothing extraordinary about that.  He offers them food as ordinary as bread and fish – something they must have eaten time and time again.  Yet the bread and the fish speak of the gift of himself, appearing out of nowhere in the midst of all this ordinariness, the disciples encountered, we’re the wondrous mystery of the Lord’s presence – exactly what we celebrate here on the altar….It is the Lord.

Much of what we do in life is ordinary; our classes, our interests, our homework, our phone calls, driving and walking, even our conversations and all the things we do for one another. It all takes place in the routine of our daily lives. Yet one of the simplest and best bits of advice I was given before I was ordained priest was this: “See the Lord in the daily routine” and let each day resound anew in your heart, by seeing the Lord.

It is good advice when the year becomes pressured, or we find ourselves discouraged. For at the heart of each new day, there is the Lord, ready to walk with us into another new day. 

Pope Francis in EV – tells us that to see the Lord is our best to move beyond discouragement and to experience the joy of the Gospel, the joy that comes from nowhere, as the apostles found that night when they went fishing – it is a joy that comes to those who have caught nothing all night but then fill their nets and have breakfast on the beach with the Risen Christ. Even in the darkest times and in the darkest places he is there – and the Church’s Easter faith is that his Risen presence can turn the darkness to light. 

Father Don White (Parish Priest - Southern Cluster)

Student Formation Program

The Retreat and Reflection program at Mercy College will be held during Week 8 with all students expected to participate.  

The program offers students the opportunity to engage in a reflective experience in a communal setting to gain deeper understanding into self-knowledge, sensitivity to others, and God. The Year 7, 8, 9 Retreats, along with the Year 10 Reflection Days are designed to provide time for students to share their insights, personal beliefs and attitudes in a Christian context.  

The Retreat programs are designed to integrate the affective aspect of a student’s spiritual development that cannot easily be addressed within a one period classroom environment.

The purpose of this important College formation program is to journey with students as they recognise the importance of their holistic development and to provide them further understanding of the ‘fullness of life’. Age appropriate activities are designed to expose students to their spiritual dimension as well as nurturing a sense of community and a deeper awareness of their own giftedness and that of others.  Further details on the specific Year level program are provided in a letter being sent to parents/guardians.

Mrs Jeanette Refalo

Congratulations to the following students who achieved outstanding results at the MDSS Cross Country trial held at Rowallan Park on Monday:

Under 12 Boys  -  Riley Meigan – 5th

Under 12 Girls  -  Mackenzie Neilson – 1st

Under 13 Boys  -  Lucas Boshoff – 1st

Under 13 Girls  -  Jayda Earl – 1st

Under 15 Boys  -  Will Radke – 5th

Do you have footy boots (or any sport shoes) that no longer fit or are no longer used? Mercy College Indigenous Committee and Justice@Mercy are working together to provide an opportunity for students and staff to donate football boots that are either new or no longer needed.  They can be dropped off into a box either outside Student Reception or the House Coordinators’ office. 

The boots will assist both youth and adults in the remote community of Lockhart River in owning a pair of football boots, which will contribute to their health and well-being.  Please bring your boots in and ‘Boot it Up’ to help others. 

Mrs Melissa Russell

The Mercy College Auslan Club travelled to Townsville on the 8 and 9 May to perform the Australian National Anthem for the Cowboys v Broncos NRL game at the Queensland Country Bank Stadium.

41 students went onto the field to sign the National Anthem and Sienna Renton, Year 10 sang the Anthem. 

The group was accompanied by Mr Brett Comerford (Auslan Club coordinator), Mrs Kyle Denning teacher assistant (Education Interpreter), Mr Damon Grimwood - teacher assistant, Miss Annaliese Mauchline - teacher and Mrs Elizabeth Falzon - teacher assistant.

The Mayor of Townsville, Jenny Hill came to meet our group and was very impressed by the signing performance and the voice of our singer, Sienna Renton.

This was a valuable experience for the students in building their confidence while being in front of a large audience. It was also a great opportunity to promote Auslan to the wider community.

Mr Brett Comerford

Mercy College continued their strong performance at the Whitsunday Futsal Titles on Friday 29 April. The Boys U15 side grew in confidence as they progressed through the event, having some close scoring games against the top teams. Many of the games involved the lead changing several times as both teams fought for dominance. The U16 Boys team also played against evenly matched opponents and were able to get in the finals against Mirani State High School. The Grand Final saw Mercy start off slow, however, they finished the game strongly and scored several goals. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to overtake their opposition and the boys were runners up for the 2021 competition. Well done to the following players:

16 Year Old Boys

 Max Morrison, Cody Kirkpatrick, Julien Mezeires , Angus Lynch, Brendan McHutchon

15 year Old Boys

Flynn Cureton, Luke Dowdon,  Joshua Williamson, Ryan Van Der Berg, William Radke,  Patrick Radunz,

Mr Glen Cureton

On Wednesday 5 May, Mercy College Boys Soccer Team participated in the knockout round of the Bill Turner Cup at Magpies Crusaders home ground. The first game saw our team put in a strong performance against Northern Beaches State High School, with a win of 13-0. Mercy then continued its winning streak with wins over North State High School 7-1 and St Catherine's 7-0. This outcome allows Mercy to compete against Mackay State High School on Wednesday 19 May, for the opportunity to represent Mackay in the next level of the Bill Turner Cup later this year. Big thank you to Mr Palise who refereed two games during a hot day. Mr Cureton and Mr Palise would like to congratulate the following players on their dedication, skill and sportsmanship during the event:

Joshua Williamson, Toby Hackney, William Radke, Luke Dowden, Daniel Harris, Henry Cahill, Flynn Cureton, David Dogao, Julien Mezieres, Ryan van der Berg, Max Morrison, Xavier Zamparutti, Hunter Searle

Mr Glen Cureton

Last Friday evening some of our Mercy College students were engaged in a Slow Shutter Workshop in our Hall.

Light Painting Photography is the Art Form of using handheld lights to paint and/or draw in a scene, while the shutter of a camera is left open during a long exposure photograph.

By shooting in a dark location and using the photographic technique of LONG exposure photography, the flashes, streaks, colors, textures and trails of light created by light painting tools and modifiers (glow sticks and saber light swords) can be captured in photographs without the use of any post-production.

The students had a blast!. . . swishing and swirling to the beat of tunes. The workshop gave them an appreciation of shooting in manual mode to explore more creative aspects of photography.

Mr Rolf Muller

Year 10

BEEF TERIYAKI
INGREDIENTS
½ cup beef stock
⅓ cup soy sauce
⅓ cup honey
2 teaspoon crushed ginger
1 tablespoon crushed garlic
1½ tablespoons rice wine
300g rump steak
sea salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ capsicum
1 carrots-julienned
¼ head broccoli
1 cup fragrant rice
pepper
METHOD
1. Wash rice then put to cook in a rice cooker with 1½ cups of water. 
2. In a saucepan, combine the beef stock, soy sauce, honey, rice wine, ginger and garlic. Boil and then reduce to a simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside.
3. Slice the beef crosswise into strips, then season with salt and pepper.
4. In a large frypan, place 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the beef, turn until brown. Transfer to a plate.
5. Prepare the vegetables: cut capsicum into strips, julienne carrots and cut broccoli into florets.
6. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and stir fry vegetables for 2 minutes, stir in the beef then add the soy sauce mixture.
7. Cook over low heat for 3 - 5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Serve with rice. 

Year 9

Tuscan Meatballs Sub

INGREDIENTS
250 g beef mince
1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
¼ cup chives-finely chopped  
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 egg
salt and pepper to taste
2 lettuce leaves shredded
2 tablespoons plain flour
½ cup grated cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon extra
2 hotdog buns

SAUCE
¼ teaspoon crushed garlic
200g diced tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste 
1 teaspoon sugar

METHOD

1. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the flour and oil. Season to taste.
2. Mix very well and form into small meatballs by using a teaspoon.
3. Roll the meatballs in the plain flour.
4. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the meatballs for 6 minutes, turning a few times.
5. Drain on a plate layered with a paper towel.
6. Sauté garlic with 1 teaspoon olive oil, add diced tomatoes and season with salt and add sugar. Simmer gently until sauce thickens. Add meatballs to the sauce. 
7. Shred lettuce, prepare hotdog buns. Assemble with meatballs, lettuce and grated cheese.

Year 8

Mini Bacon & Egg Pies
INGREDIENTS
1½ short crust pastry sheets
2 rashers bacon-chopped
canola spray
2 teaspoon fresh parsley-chopped
2 teaspoon chives-chopped
¾ teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon parmesan-grated
½ cup milk (125ml)
2 eggs-lightly beaten
Pepper and salt

METHOD
1. Preheat oven 180c and spray muffin pans.
2. Using pastry cutter or a knife cut out 12 muffins shapes. Line muffins pans with shortcrust pastry.
3. Microwave the bacon in a microwave safe jug for 2 minutes.
4. Combine parsley, chives, mustard powder and cheese in bowl and add cooled bacon. Place half the mixture on base of the pastry cases.
5. Combine beaten eggs, milk and pepper in a measuring jug and place into each pastry case. Sprinkle with remaining bacon mixture.
6. Cook for 20 minutes or until cooked. 
7. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pans. 

Roadworks will be undertaken at the intersection of Goldsmith, McKenny and Scott Streets. These roadworks require the replacement of a culvert under Goldsmith Street. During this work a full road closure will be implemented from the 27 May 2021 until 6 August 2021.

Signage will be installed during the works advising of alternate routes around this intersection.