FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Celebrations of a great year
It seems like only yesterday that I was writing to you about the upcoming events for the 25th year of Mary MacKillop Catholic College and now I am sharing the successes of that year as we move towards a well-earned break.
Over the course of the year we have shared many moments of celebration for a College that was started in order to give young women whose families come to us from around the world the chance to be strong and confident citizens of our great country Australia. As another group of Year 12 students launch into the world we celebrate their determination to do their best as good people and also in achieving their goals for further study and work.
BEST EVER HSC RESULTS
Congratulations to our girls who have achieved the best HSC results in the college since it started 25 years ago. All our girls have grown on their achievements over the past six years and especially in 2016 as they pulled together as a team determined to help each other achieve for their futures. Congratulations to the College dux Nancy Cece, who achieved an ATAR of 98.25. Nancy was closely followed by Vivian Pao, who achieved 97.9 and Rebekah Pospischil with 96.3.
The list of congratulations would be too long for this newsletter but a total of 16 of our students achieved ATARs of 89 and above with 23% of all Year 12 students achieving in the 80s and 90s. A total of 33 of our students were mentioned in the Merit lists and the College has doubled our Band Six results since last year. There were many more with solid ATARS that have led to them having many choices for the future.
I am especially proud of our girls who arrived in Australia from Iraq with little or no English only three years ago who have achieved outstanding results; Athena Yousif who received 90.75 and Riham Subi with an ATAR of 86.6. These and many more young women demonstrated their grit and dedication to doing their best under challenging circumstances.
Many of the students turned up to share lunch with the staff on Thursday to celebrate their results.
Mary MacKillop Catholic College has been recognized as “punching above our weight” in really growing our students who come from such diverse backgrounds.
This is what makes MMCC and the young women we work with so special to us.
Christmas Wishes
As we move towards the celebration of the birth of Christ we remember all that is good in our world that exists because Jesus sacrificed himself to show the world how to live for the good of all humanity. We pray for those suffering in our own communities and overseas. As I look at the images coming out of Aleppo over recent days, I am saddened by how evil we can be and a small part of my heart dies. Let us remember what Jesus would do and pray and work towards valuing all of humanity in this special time of our liturgical calendar.
I thank all families for making MMCC the great place it is for our girls. I look forward to working with you again in the New Year as we continue to give our girls the chance to be strong good women with the courage and intellect to change the world for the better.
