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From the Pen of the Principal 

Dear Parents and Caregivers

Last week we celebrated the Graduation of the Class of 2021. It was a wonderful Mass and Dinner on the Thursday evening and the ceremony on the Friday was just as beautiful.

Our Year 12's have been excellent role models and contributors and I thank them for the contribution they made to making Xavier Catholic College a better place.

I had two opportunities to address them I wish to give you a taste of the message I imparted on Thursday evening. I believe there is a truth in the message for all of us:

To all parents and caregivers, to the staff of the College and to our wonderful young graduates of 2021 – let me offer my own personal welcome. It is good to have the opportunity to address you tonight. Often it befalls a Principal to offer some life advice on such a special day.

What I'd like to give is a few unconventional graduation thoughts and I'm titling it, “Whatever you do - Do Not Follow Your Passions." I told you it wasn't going to be conventional.

Now, you're probably thinking, “That's a really dumb idea." Because if you poll 1,000 people who are successful they'll all say that they love what they do. And so the broad conclusion of the world is that if you do what you love, then you'll be successful. Now it might be the case that if you're successful, you love what you do. Or you just love being successful and that everybody loves you.

So which one is it?

Well, I think for people my age to figure it out, you have to go back in time. You have to back up to before you were “successful" to a moment like now when you were graduating from school. And the first tricky thing about passions are they're hard to prioritize. Which passion is it? Are you more passionate about maths or chemistry? Are you more passionate about history or literature? Are you more passionate about video games or K-pop? These are tough decisions. How do you even know? On the other hand, what are you good at? Are you better at maths or writing? That's a much easier thing to figure out.

The second thing that's tricky if you're going forward in time with this 'follow your passion' idea is that what you're passionate about at 18 is not necessarily what you're going to be passionate about at 40. Now, this is as true for boyfriends and girlfriends as well as career choices.

The third issue with following your passion is you're not necessarily good at your passion. Has anybody ever watched Australian Idol or The Voice? You know what I'm talking about. Just because you love singing doesn't mean you should be a professional singer.

Year after year, thousands of aspiring Australian Idols show up with great expectations, only to learn that they don't possess the skills they thought they did. What's really amazing though, is not their lack of talent—the world is full of people who can't sing. It's their genuine shock at being rejected—the incredible realization that their passion and their ability have nothing to do with each other.

Look, if we're talking about your hobby, by all means let your passion lead you. But when it comes to making a living, it's easy to forget the dirty truth: just because you're passionate about something doesn't mean you won't suck at it.

Finally and most importantly, following your passion is a very “me"-centred view of the world. When you go through life, what you'll find is what you take out of the world over time — be it money, cars, stuff, accolades — is much less important than what you've put into the world. So my recommendation would be, don't follow your passion, follow your contribution. Find the thing that you're great at, put that into the world, contribute to others, help the world be better and that is the thing to follow – your contribution that makes a positive difference to the lives of others.

So, congratulations, good luck. And please make for yourselves, for your sake and for ours, extraordinary lives.

God bless.

Simon Dash

Principal

Upcoming Dates

​Head of School Secondary - Mr Chris Relf

Year 12 Graduation Week

Congratulations to our graduating class of 2021. You have been an amazing group of young people and we wish you well as you embark on the next phase of your lives. A reminder that your results will be published in the QCAA Student Portal and the ATAR Portal at 9 a.m. on Friday 17th December.

Year 7 Orientation

On Friday this week our current year 6 students will be joined by a number of students from Star of the Sea and those from up to 8 different primary schools from across Queensland and even interstate for our Year 7 Orientation Day. Ms Stacy Mills and her team of Year 7 Core teachers have organised activities for students to get to know each other as well as enjoy the many wonderful facilities that we enjoy at Xavier. We look forward to welcoming our new Xavier students on this day.

End of Year

A reminder to all parents that the final day of classes for our Year 10 and 11 students is this Friday 26th November. Students in Year 7-9 will be participating in an alternate activities program next week with their last day at school on Thursday 2nd December. I would like to thank all families for your support throughout the year and wish you all a wonderful holiday period and a happy and holy Christmas.

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​Twilight Music Showcase

Here we are heading towards a big finish in the Arts for this year at Xavier. Still to come we have an outdoor, twilight music showcase of Mr Ryan White's Guitar and Drums students on the 25^th of November from 5.00 – 6.00pm. Bring a picnic blanket to sit on the lawn surrounding the outdoor stage in the Senior School area and enjoy the dynamic sounds of our enthusiastic instrumental music students. I look forward to seeing you there.​

Carols on the Green

Instrumental News

The Xavier string ensemble were pleased to place 2nd in the open age string ensemble group at the recent Maryborough Eisteddfod.  Arushi Naidu placed 2nd in the under 18 string solo. ​

Students not continuing at Xavier next year

As our academic year draws to a close, we will be finalizing our enrolment numbers for 2022.  If your family is moving out of Hervey Bay or if your children are not returning to Xavier in 2022, could you please contact our Enrolments Officer, Michelle Dougherty on 4197 1177 (select Option 3) or email enrolmentsxavier@bne.catholic.edu.au.

Preloved Uniform Sale

Pre-loved uniform sale, Friday 26/11/2021 from 8.00 – 9.00am and 2.30 – 3.30pm.  Room 48, Language Centre. All items $5.00.​

Saint Vincent de Paul Christmas Present Appeal

Please bring in new, wrapped presents labelled with the age and the gender by November 26.

Make Christmas special for every child in our community!

Uniform Fittings for 2022

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Prep Fun

Preppies and Year 6 love getting together….. having a buddy is very special. We did some craft activities this afternoon which was most enjoyable for everyone. We even found time to enjoy a story together once we had finished. 

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Maths Pathway Semester 2

This semester students have been focusing on achieving 100% accuracy.  For a student to achieve 100% accuracy they have mastered all the modules that had been assigned to them. We will still be acknowledging the students that achieve 200% + Growth Rate as this is also an excellent achievement each cycle.  Year 7 students have completed two cycles this term and Year 8-10 have only completed one, so in the Growth Rate rocket there are quite a few Year 7 students that have achieved 200% + Growth in the two cycles. Well done.

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​Vacation Care Program

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Summer Camp 2022: Big House   

Are you ready for an unforgettable summer? Ignite Summer Camp is back in 2022, with four days of huge outdoor games, amazing rallies, 200 new mates and connecting with Jesus.

Summer Camp is for those who will be in Grades 7-12 in 2022. Run by a team of experienced and emerging Catholic youth leaders, who will accompany the young people through a journey where they discover more about themselves, more about Jesus and His hope for their lives.

Registration is now open! For more information and to buy tickets head to www.igniteyouth.com/summercamp

When: 13-16 January 2021

Where: QCCC Mapleton

Cost: Earlybird (ends Dec 1) $295, Regular $320. Family discounts for two or more siblings apply, contact summercamp@igniteyouth.com for details.

Phoenix Gymnastics

The week leading up to Christmas Phoenix Gymnastics are running 3 hour Christmas Sessions morning and afternoon and they will consist of a number of activities including craft and of course gymnastics. We are putting these sessions on so if parents still have Christmas shopping or perhaps wrapping to do or just need a little time to get things organised before Christmas they could book their kids in to allow them to get this done.​

Elders Swim Centre