From Jamestown to Lillimur, parents and friends joined our student community for afternoon tea and Formal Hall. It was an opportunity for some parents to see their child’s home for the first time and experience the community spirit over a shared meal.
We thank our parents and wider community for their support of the College.
During 2018, over $450,000 in financial support will be awarded to St Mark’s new and returning students this year to enable them to live and learn within the St Mark’s College community.
At the recent Semester I Scholarship Ceremony fifty-three students shared in over $280,000 in scholarships, grants, bursaries and prizes. These awards recognised and supported a diverse range of criteria such as student achievements, contribution to the community, specific needs, talents, living circumstances and financial need.
The Master, Rose Alwyn welcomed students, parents and special guests to the ceremony including Mr Mark Penniment, Finance Director, Mr Craig Williams, President of the Old Collegians’ Association and Mr Bob and Mrs Gayle Cowan, Cowan Trustees. In her speech she said that “The cost of quality education is increasing and in speaking to prospective students and their family members it is evident that for many there is a significant financial strain yet desire to reside at a place such as St Mark’s College. At a time when many students have to work part-time to support themselves while they study, the value of scholarships cannot be overstated.”
Mr Bob Cowan of the Cowan Trustees shared his own first-hand experience of studying and managing university fees and living expenses whilst working multiple jobs. This experience created a philanthropic desire for he and his wife to provide financial assistance to students to ease the financial cost of university and enjoy a balanced lifestyle. Since then their generosity has enabled countless new and returning students to receive scholarships over the years and enjoy university whilst also experiencing St Mark’s residential college life. Bob encouraged the students to reflect on the impact of receiving a scholarship and consider their own future benefaction to support the needs of others.
St Mark’s is grateful to all the generous benefactors and friends of the College who contribute generously to keep St Mark’s accessible to students, regardless of their financial circumstance.
St Mark’s Entry Bursary
Emily Baylis, Nicola Burdett, Lukas Eggar, Lena Eversheim, Roan Gillam, Ben Joy, Dylan Moore
St Mark’s Entry Bursary – Further
Hannah Bradshaw, Lucinda Bunge, Eliza Glascott, Joo Lee
Cowan Entry Grant
Riley Arnold, Adam Burford, Drew Guegan-Brown, Josh Phillips, Liam Stevens, Olivia Watt
Cowan Grant – Further
Ryan Casey, Carson Clark, Benjamin Heaslip
Margaret and Harry Scott Scholarship
Nicola Badran, Lucy Burston, Kaitlyn Cook, Brittany Doyle, Abby Goodwin, Chloe Grosser, Samantha Hauptman, Shannon Herbert, Carmen Joubert, Victoria Martin, Tessa Megaw, Courtney Milne, Imogen Peters, Cassandra Poulton, Bonnie Seagrim, Stacey Stott, Alana Winter
Margaret and Harry Scott Scholarship – Further
Kaitlin Cook, Tegan Griffiths, Chelsea Hammond, Dayna Lawrie, Beth Leese, Laura Marafiote, Georg-jah Mitchell
St Mark’s Old Collegians’ Bursary
Hugo Lee, Emma Morgan
Julien Bickersteth – Entry Scholarship
Dylan Moore
Julien Bickersteth – Returning Scholarship
James Dukalskis
The E A Radcliff Prize
Alexander Makarowsky
The G Angas Parsons Prize
Connor Bakaj
The W F Wehrstedt Prize
Lachlan Strachan
The WA Collegians Prize
Clare Dixon
The BP Wait
Hannah Bradshaw
On Sunday night (March 4), Channel 9’s 60 Minutes program aired a story about the conduct of some students at Australian university residential colleges during O-Week.
The College has issued a statement available here.
The College is committed to the safety, welfare and wellbeing of residents, visitors and staff, adopts a zero-tolerance approach to inappropriate behaviour, and supports a culture of reporting.
In celebration of the start of the 2018 Academic Year, students, staff, Board and family gathered in St Peter’s Cathedral prior to Fresher Dinner. The Service presented an opportunity to reflect on what has brought each student to Adelaide and to College and how the trepidation prior to O’Week often dissipates as students start to make connections that will last a lifetime. The College’s Chaplain, Rev’d Grant Moore, spoke about seeking the truth and being true to self in the pursuit of a goal. The Master’s opening address followed the same theme, highlighting that students need to stay true to themselves as they navigate the social, emotional and academic challenges of university and College life. She said, “be your authentic self and try not to worry about what others think. Know your strengths because this will allow you the confidence and skills to make wise choices and good decisions. At College, potential new and enriching friendships are all around you. Put yourself out there and step outside of your comfort zone – you never know what you will learn.”
You can read the Master’s full address here: Opening Address 2018 Master.
The Chaplain’s Sermon can be read here: Commencement Sermon
All the best to our students for the 2018 academic year!
“Our Old Collegians and friends of St Mark’s continue to contribute to the College in many different and valuable ways which is providing our young men and women with opportunities to reach their potential and enrich the world. To you as donors to St Mark’s, I thank for your wonderful contribution. We sincerely and deeply appreciate it.” James Price, President St Mark’s College Foundation
It is with great appreciation that we thank our Old Collegians and friends of St Mark’s College who gave so generously to the College during 2017.
A large number of donors recently met in the Master’s Garden to hear how their generosity will continue to make a difference to our students and the future of the College.
President of the St Mark’s College Foundation, James Price emphasised that the “Foundation will continue to support the College in providing students with the opportunities to maximise their potential through scholarships, tutoring, mentoring, networking, personal development, work readiness, work experience, and more. It is largely through the generosity of our Old Collegians and friends of St Mark’s who give their time, expertise and donations to the College that we are able to finance and support these activities.”
James said that “Last year I asked a colleague of mine why he continued to be so generous to the College. He replied that he is the son of a Murray Bridge butcher and the only one of his entire family who has ever been to university – but without the support of St Mark’s he never would have made it.”
The Master, Rose Alwyn also thanked donors for their generous contributions and shared that the 2017 donations had enabled the creation of three new scholarships, increased funding for current scholarships and also supported other key College initiatives. She also spoke about current College life and future initiatives that will continue to enable students from all walks of life to experience St Mark’s and be a member of a College community that will prepare and inspire them to make a positive contribution in the world.
We were delighted to once again hold the “Sundowner” after a few years’ hiatus.
This special celebration – this year marking three years of service of the East Wing – was held in the late afternoon of 30 November 2017, in the Ian & Pamela Wall Academic Centre.
Officially opened in March 2015, the East Wing houses the Ian & Pamela Wall Academic Centre, the Simpson Tutorial Rooms and the Allister McLeod Gymnasium, along with 32 student rooms and a 98-space multi-level car park.
Construction of the East Wing was made possible by many very generous donors, many of whom joined us at the Sundowner. We thank them all for their outstanding contributions to St Mark’s – not simply to the infrastructure, but to the quality of the students’ lives.
The Sundowner also launched the Adopt a Rare Book program – an innovation to help restore and preserve the College’s outstanding collection of rare and valuable books. Special guest Cheryl Hoskins, Rare Book Librarian at the University of Adelaide’s Barr-Smith Library, provided a fascinating keynote to launch the project. Cheryl’s talk highlighted the great value of the stories these old and rare books tell us – not only in the printed text, but in the histories of the people who have owned the books and of the passage of the books down the generations to us.
We thank those who adopted a book on the night, with further information about the restoration of these books available here.
We look forward to “Sundowner 2018” and again welcoming many Old Collegians, donors, distinguished guests and great friends of the College!
We were delighted to have so many Old Collegians and their partners attend the recent 50 Year Luncheon to celebrate the first 41 years of the College from 1925-1966.
Whilst welcoming guests the Master, Rose Alwyn shared a quote from Ewert Smith who was the College Club President in 1951 and whose words still ring true today, “You will get out of St Mark’s as you put into it. You will be the future leaders – not only of St Marks but of various sections of the world. To you, I throw out the torch of St Mark’s blazing with the spirit of comradeship. Through your efforts, St Mark’s will flourish and give to society a steady stream of capable individuals who know how to live and let live”.
The Master then welcomed Rev’d Bill Goodes (1954-57) to say grace and soon after Robin Watts (1955-58) toasted the College with an insightful and humorous history of College life and the student population and how they have changed over the years.
To further mark the occasion, Michael Shearer AM (1961-62) generously presented his College Colours blazer to the Master which was awarded to him for rowing in both College and Intervarsity. Bill Burton (1951-55) also kindly presented the Master with his colours pocket and both items will be displayed at the College along with other items donated to the College over the years.
Adding to the nostalgic ambiance were photo displays of the College, North Adelaide and students from 1925-1966 along with the annual year group photos. Rare books from the extensive St Mark’s collection were also displayed, some dating back to the 1700s which have been so generously donated to the College.
The Queen’s Theatre played host to the recent Zambrero’s Plate 4 Plate meal packing day in the fight against world hunger. St Mark’s students joined others from Aquinas College and Lincoln to support this great initiative in partnership with Rise Against Hunger. The mission was to pack thousands of meals to be sent to those in need in Madagascar and East Timor, largely through school feeding programs. It has since been reported that a total of 398,952 meals were packed on the day at locations across the country with Adelaide contributing over 57,000 of these.
The St Mark’s Charitable Foundation did a fantastic job at coordinating this project and in creating opportunities for our students to be involved in service and fundraising activities throughout the year.
The semester II scholarship ceremony was to recognise and reward the contributions and successes of our students also saw the presentation of two new scholarships. A total of $103,000 was awarded to 39 students in the third scholarship round of the year, with a total of 45% of all College students receiving a scholarship or prize in 2017 to support their studies and accommodation costs.
The Harron Scholarship was endowed by Mr Trent Harron (St Mark’s alumnus 2005 – 2007) who was particularly active in the arts and debating during his time at College, and College Club Treasurer in 2006. Trent is supporting St Mark’s students who render service in the Australian Defence Force whilst studying at University. The recipient is Ms Holly Crothers who is in her second year studying a Bachelor of International Studies at the University of Adelaide and is an Officer Cadet in the ADF.
The second inaugural scholarship, awarded to Ms Chervil Lee in her first year of a Bachelor of Architectural Studies at the University of South Australia, is the Grocke Industry Research and Design Grant. Endowed by Mr Craig Grocke (St Mark’s alumnus 1989 – 1991), the Grant provides financial assistance to a St Mark’s student to support the cost of design materials, research or study tour as part of their course of study or academic research in Architecture, Urban Design, Urban and Regional Planning, Interior Design, Industrial Design or Landscape Architecture. On presentation of the Grant, the Master said, “this scholarship was set up to inspire and enable students to seize opportunities to stretch themselves further by providing financial assistance”.
The 2017 Lewis Scholarship recipients were Ms Jessica Robinson, Ms Mary Seagrim and Mr Ben Massey, all of whom have contributed significantly to the College. In presenting the awards, the Master said, “it is particularly fitting that the scholarship that Bob and Betty Lewis endowed continues beyond their physical influence in the College, which extends to three generations of South Australia’s leaders.” Mary has been the 2017 President of the College Club and maintained strong academic results whilst leading her Committee through a successful year. She will soon hand over the reins to Ben Massey as incoming President. Ben has performed at state level for hockey and was the 2016 Sports Secretary and 2017 General Committee (Sponsorships Officer). Jess has demonstrated the hallmarks of a leader, supporting all students and activities and holding the position of 2017 Lion Editor and Marksenfeast Art Show Curator.
On behalf of the recipients, the Master thanked donors, some of whom were able to attend on the night, for their generosity and ongoing support of St Mark’s students. Scholarships can change lives and Mr Harron’s reflection was testament to this. Our students are grateful for the opportunities to attend College and involve themselves in the academic, sporting, cultural and social aspects of a St Mark’s education.
Congratulations to all students who were awarded scholarships and prizes in 2017.
|
AWARD |
AWARDED TO |
| Alumni Scholarships | Cassandra Glover Mary Williams Baillie Trenwith Hana Learihan Riley Densley Mitch Olive Duncan Cameron Bella Oberer Kade Lonergan Lachlan Kelly Kate Jenkins Alex Kay Niamh Rees Sophie Carles Patrick Glynn |
| The Margaret Beith Scholarship | Erin Widdison Chad Lennon Callum Kain |
| The Margaret Tothill Scholarship | Sarah Hayman |
| The Harold Fisher Scholarship | Ryan Morrow |
| The Lewis Scholarship | Mary Seagrim Jessica Robinson Ben Massey |
| The Don Laidlaw Prize | Brayden Jenke Ally Kenny |
| The Jeremy and Timothy Pascoe Scholarship | Alex Makarowsky |
| The Lendon Scholarship | Alasdair Leslie |
| The LeMessurier Scholarship | Hamish Storey |
| The Programmed Scholarship | Fraser White |
| The Gavin Walkley Scholarship | Lachlan McLeod |
| The Sir Ronald Fisher Medal | Ryan Burley |
| J M Boully Scholarship | Claire McClintock |
| DL & ME Pank Scholarship |
Kardinia Caputo |
| The Women of St Mark’s Scholarship | Romina Gilardi |
| The Sholto Douglas Memorial Scholarship | Carmelo Macri |
| The P & B Greenland Scholarship | Ryan Casey |
| The Harron Scholarship | Holly Crothers |
| The Grocke Industry Research and Design Grant | Chang Lee |
| Sir Keith Angas Essay Prize | Alex Makarowsky |
At the 2017 University of Adelaide Open Day the Master, Ms Rose Alwyn, spoke about the benefits of college life and how it can be a transformational experience rather than just a place to live.
There are so many reasons why you should consider living at a college in the first few years of your transition from school to university and as you develop key skills that will strengthen your career readiness.
Young people today face increasing pressure during their university years, to perform well and then find a graduate position. As we move further into a highly globalised and technological world we know that it is those people that can work as part of a team, communicate well, problem solve and be highly adaptive who are likely to succeed.
The types of skills that you need to ensure this success are further developed through the experiences that you gain when living in a university residential College. Recently one of our third year engineering students said he had an interview for his summer work placement with a local engineering firm and in providing responses to questions about his problem solving abilities, working in a team, leadership skills, all of the real life examples emanated from real life experiences from College life. Where else can you gain these experiences when you are a university student?
We know that all of the accommodation options provide the basics – bed, desk, wardrobe, internet access, a gym, to name a few. However, not all accommodation options provide an all-round education, library and dining facilities and a genuine community esprit de corps.
That is what a college does.
But a college does so much more and it is not often quantifiable or easily captured and marketed because you have to experience it for yourself!
I like to focus on the six key areas that are unique to a university residential college: academic, pastoral, fully catered, co-curricular and sport, community/friendship and financial support.
All colleges have academic tuition and support both through formal tutorials and the peer to peer tutoring that you get when you live literally next door to someone. Because we are a true and lively community with shared facilities you actually get to know all of the people you are living with, the courses they’re studying – you don’t just disappear into your room, and are forgotten!
Colleges cater to the uniqueness of individuals –we recognise that each student living in our community is an individual – there is no one size fits all approach to student living. Our relationship with students is transformational, not transactional.
Students face problems that you may not have even thought of and our student-centered pastoral care model ensures that a student gets help before it is too late.
You may think that you have your heart set on your degree, but the reality is that up to 30% of students change their degree in their first year of university. This is where colleges provide assistance and support, both formally and informally through mentoring and the opportunity to connect with a variety of students from different disciplines.
The last thing that you need to think about is cooking for yourself – sure you might like to cook a meal from time to time and you can do that at College too. However, the time and energy that goes into shopping, prepping, cooking, and cleaning up is huge – or you end up on an unhealthy diet of two minute noodles or expensive UberEats or take away. Not to mention the fact that you will most likely eat it on your lap in front of the television. At College you dine with your friends – you talk about ‘life, the universe and everything in between’ – we all know the great conversations we have over a meal at home and that is something that College does so well.
College has a vibrant social life – there are events put on by other students for your enjoyment and when you come back to College after your first year you too can organise events and develop your leadership and teamwork skills.
We all know that a healthy body means a healthy mind and whilst colleges have students from all over the world we also have a large number of students from rural areas where sport has played an important role in building and sustaining a community of young people. Sport galvanises the College community because everyone can participate by supporting their peers in a range of sports that cater for a range of athletic abilities.
If music, art and drama are your strength, you will find friends with similar interests or if you yearn to pick up the guitar you can try your hand at that too. Volunteer work and community service provide opportunities for students to think outwards and support the needs of disadvantaged and marginalised people.
Many Colleges also have a spiritual dimension regardless of religious affiliation.
University can be so overwhelming and due to the formal mentoring and staff support, colleges are uniquely placed to ensure the transition to university is seamless.
Not to be overlooked are the lifelong friends that you make at College and these become part of your alumni network, much like the university. We also find that because of the high level of engagement our students have within the College, they contribute back to the community and become valued alumni. Our collegians are proud to have a life-long connection with the College.
All colleges provide financial support in the form of scholarships and bursaries and as not for profit organisations any financial surplus does not go back to shareholders, it is always directed towards the benefit of students current and future.
College life is deeply personal and deeply fulfilling…. and it even goes down to the language we use;
• We have students – not residents
• We know all of our students by name
• Our staff live on site and are available at any time
• We don’t talk about the number of beds in our residence, we talk about the number of student places we have in our college. This is the difference between a place you call your home – a place where you live – not a place you stay at.
A college is a place where you belong – it is a place where you belong for life!
