It was such a pleasure to celebrate with Old Collegians who were at College over 50 years ago at the annual 50 Year Club Luncheon. Old Collegians had the opportunity to meet up with peers and reminisce about their time at College and share their experiences since leaving.
The Rev’d William Goodes (alum 1954-57) said grace before the meal and soon after Mr Colin Palm (alum 1962-63) proposed a toast to the College and spoke about his time at St Mark’s. Colin said that having access to tutors and visiting academics for academic support, social events and sporting activities to create relationships and engage with others in the College community, and living and socialising with students from all over the world who had different ideas, backgrounds and interests to gain a broader world view, were some of the unique and invaluable experiences of College life. He posed the question to guests of “Where else does a university student get such a rich living and learning and experience to complement their university years?” and then referred to an excerpt from the President’s Report of 1962, “… the true value of a college such as ours [is that] we learn to tolerate and to live with other people, often of other races, with other factions … and with other ideas. And what is far more important, we learn to live with ourselves.”
The Master, Ms Rose Alwyn then reflected upon the College year and the continuous growth and transformation planned for the College in future years as the expectations of society change along with the needs of our student community. She stated that it’s important for the College community to embrace change to stay relevant, without losing the perspective that St Mark’s gains from its history. In 2018 over $500,000 in financial support was provided to our students through scholarships, grants and bursaries. Improvements and enhancements to our programs and policies promoted positive cultural change and have assisted in the well-being of our students. Our students participated in a number of visual, dramatic and performing arts events and demonstrated their athletic ability by winning the High Table Cup. Academic results were strong and fourth year student Alex Makarowsky was awarded St Mark’s Honorary Scholar, the 7th recipient in the College’s history, after receiving 26 High Distinctions and 1 Distinction during his four year Engineering degree, and was also awarded a Sir John Monash scholarship to attend Cambridge University .
New Chair, Ms Linda Matthews stated”What a fantastic and proud history St Mark’s has had. [working here] is such a positive experience, we are working with the most wonderful young people … what a life changing experience it has been to so many. What a wonderful and rewarding time to be at St Mark’s.“ Linda shared that St Mark’s has a proud history of positively influencing young people and she thanked guests for their support of St Mark’s over the years.
