From Br Steve Hogan fsc
On Wednesday night, 18th March, the College celebrated the end of the ISA Basketball season. It was a huge event with over 52 basketball teams of which 38 made it through the finals. I would like to take this moment to thank the coaches and managers, the majority of whom are parents and alumni. We could not register 52 teams and over 500 students without the support of parents and alumni. Basketball at Oakhill College is a significant program helping us form character and citizenship.
I would like to share the reflection by Ms Hemmings at the presentation to our First V Boys team. Coming off a loss in the Semi Final was hard, but as Ms Hemmings said “make yourself a person that handles hard well because if you have a meaningful pursuit in life, it will never be easy. So, when it is hard — don’t question it. Expect it. And more importantly — be ready for it. Because next time we are in that moment — next time it is close, next time it matters, the question won’t be: Is this easier? It will be: Have we become the team that handles hard better?” (adopted from Kara Lawson, Duke University Women’s coach).
JFK also reminds us in his famous Rice Moon speech, given at Rice University, Houston, Texas, on the 12th September 1962, “… we do things not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organise and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win”.
Next Sunday, 29th March is Palm Sunday in the Christian Church and the start of Holy Week, a season in the church that focuses on hope. Easter is a time of anticipation and hope. Easter reminds us that we learn about hope through the sadness and loss of Good Friday. The message of Easter is that through loss, in all its pain, the challenge is to be open to experience the love of God; we learn that we have to depend on others; on hope. At times hope may be all we have. We all need the gift of hope that comes from Christ’s resurrection.
We all need help through our times of loss, grief and sorrow to experience hope and to gain the resilience required to live fully human lives. For this we need each other. As a Lasallian family this is when our light ought to shine brightest through our empathy and compassion for one another; in our respect and our understanding of each other; and in our being sensitive to the needs and differences of each other - to give each other the space and the comfort as and when needed – being brothers and sisters to each other.
Br Steve Hogan fsc
Principal
