The 2023 school year has just about come to an end! At the beginning of this year, I established ‘engagement’ as my primary Special Character goal over my term as Deputy Head Girl of Special Character, in 3 main aspects: ‘Mass, Saints and Service’! Over the course of the past 3 terms, my Special Character Committee (‘God Squad’) and I have been nothing but honoured to be able to carry out a plethora of activities filling up these three engagement areas. Here’s how we ended the year:

Mass: Although we haven’t been able to celebrate school masses as frequently as planned this year, on top of our Inaugural Mass at the start of Term 1, and our O’Shea Mass at the start of Term 2, a few of our students were also able to attend the VINNIES Mass which occurred in Week 5 of this Term. Hosted by Sacred Heart College, we were able to gather together with the other Wellington schools to celebrate service, and enjoy a bit of kai. To end the year off, we are gladly anticipating our Mercy and Wisdom Mass which is set to occur next Tuesday, on our St Mary’s College Mercy Day. We’re thrilled to have so many students keen in participating in the Mass service, including the Tu Tagata group who will be taking up the Word, as well as students who attended the Altar Serving and Eucharistic Ministry Training Programmes which took place last term. Not long after this, we will celebrate our final Thanksgiving Mass for 2023 in Term 4, where we will send off the Year 13s into the next chapter of their lives!

Saints: The main pursuit to celebrate the saints this year was through my created initiative, “The 2023 House Saints Celebration Programme.” We concluded the programme with the celebration of the last two house saints in Weeks 7 and 8 of this term: St Anne and St Therese. These final celebrations included the usual slideshows, and some entertaining videos to inform the students on the saints’ lives, with a few surprise appearances from the teachers! With all 6 saints finally covered throughout the year, I am pleased to say that every student at the college has learned a little more about the lives of the saint role models, and hopefully had a bit of fun while doing so. These slideshows will be shared with the staff to be continued as a religious resource into the future. Furthermore, we took the chance to make a big deal out of celebrating our school saint’s Feast Day this year on September 8, through St Mary’s ‘Birthday Party’. This included giving out free ice blocks at interval, Mr Whippy ice-cream truck and a BBQ at lunch, and engaging questions about St Mary both in real life, and on social media, with sticker prizes! The students loved participating in the exciting day.

Service: Throughout the year, we had the biggest amount of engagement in service through our inter-school youth gathering: YAFA (Youth Aloud, Faith Aloud). Within the 5 YAFA sessions, two occurred this term - this being the YAFA combined concert, hosted by Sacred Heart College in Week 3, and the YAFA games tournament, hosted by St Patrick's College Town in Week 8. We had over 40 attendees from St Mary’s attend both sessions combined, with a ton of engagement in the activities, games and school spirit of the evenings. Furthermore, another great opportunity for service this year was through our school liturgies, including Ash Wednesday Liturgy, Holy Thursday Liturgy, and most recently in Week 5 of this term, Assumption Liturgy. In all of these liturgies, students from my committee have stepped up to act in skits, lead prayers, read readings and conduct reflections. The commitment to service has been truly heartwarming to witness, and I hope this passion towards celebrating important feast days will continue!


That’s officially a wrap for me, Maria John, as Deputy Head Girl of Special Character for 2023! It has been a pleasure, and I hope the effects of our efforts will ripple into the future of St Mary’s College. God bless!