Phoenix - Term 4 2021

Acknowledgement of Country

The Ignatius Park College Community would like to humbly acknowledge the Wulgurukaba peoples on whose land our College is located, as well as the Bindal peoples on whose land many of us live and travel across daily. We respectfully thank the elders of this traditional land both past and present for guiding us through the journey of time to where we are today. This spiritual and cultural journey is significant in allowing the freedoms our society has today. As a community we reflect on the history of Australia and its First Nations peoples and ask all elders to guide us to a promising and enriching future. As a community we will continue to develop our minds to be respectful and learn from Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders as well as all people who make up this country of Australia.

From the Principal

Dear Alumni,

Welcome to our fourth edition of The Phoenix, our last for the year. I hope you have all enjoyed reading our quarterly newsletter providing opportunities not only to connect as Old Boys, but also to keep you updated on what is happening at Iggy Park.  Schools are about growth. They exist to grow young people, in our case young boys into men. Without the ongoing process of change, growth won’t happen. In 2021, our college theme was Stay True: Bleed Blue. This theme was developed by our 2021 Student Leadership Team and has challenged us as a College community to recontextualise ourselves as students, staff, parents, and community in this everchanging world, while at the same time staying true to our core beliefs, values and traditions.

Br. Philip Pinto once stated that: Our school exists to challenge popular beliefs and dominant cultural values, to ask the difficult question, to look at life from the standpoint of the minority, the victim, the outcast, and the stranger.

The theme Stay True: Bleed Blue reminded us that Iggy Park is not just a community of people being at the same place at the same time. Nor is it just a large group of parents sending their sons to the same school. Community means sharing a common vision and sharing a passion and interest to achieve that common vision in the best way possible. So, what is our common vision at Iggy Park? Putting it simply, the common vision must be to ensure that any student who travels through his years at Iggy Park becomes – an Iggy Brother – a young man of good character. Everything we do leads to this – our curriculum, our Co-curricular program, our camp and retreat program, our pastoral program, our immersion experiences, our cultural and arts programs and so forth. All of these are not stand-alone elements in the College, they combine to ensure that by the end of Year 12, we have young men who are good character and can enter the world with confidence, hope, love and live the spirit of Blessed Edmund Rice beyond our school gates.

Our 2021 theme calls us back to what is our point of reference, our measure of what matters, what is important? What is unchanging, what is enduring, what is the reliable compass point by which we navigate in a sea of change? What stops us drifting and what is it we want to educate boys in – to instil in them, which they will carry within themselves regardless, and that they can fall back on, in this changing world?

As a Catholic school, Ignatius Park College offers something that sits deeper. The points of reference we offer are the foundational enduring values and beliefs which distinguish us as a Catholic school because it is through the Catholic faith tradition that we find what endures when all around is change and flux, and when competing voices create confusion. I mean the solid core of Catholic values and the anchors to the scared tradition of our faith: the value and sacredness of human life, particularly that of the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick and old, the young and defenceless; the power of loving relationships; the capacity to forgive and reconcile endlessly; the virtues of faith, integrity, hope and love, the qualities of loyalty, commitment, courage, honesty, pride and perseverance. This is our consistency in our theme to “Bleed Blue”, that our boys to become men need to aspire, to accompany them through the incredible changes and challenges which life will hold in the future. As Old Boys, I hope that the College has provided you with the moral compass and values needed to circumnavigate the challenges obstacles we all face in life.

As we reflect on the year there is much to celebrate. Over 45% of our Year 12 students gained an ATAR of 80 and above with Edwin Jomon being our College Dux with an ATAR score of 97.85. In addition, we continue to experience success through our VET courses with all our Year 12 School-Based Trainees gaining employment prior to leaving the College. It was pleasing to see the majority of our ATAR students were successful in gaining entrance to tertiary courses that included Medicine, Engineering, Law, Education, Business, Fine Arts and Medical Science. In fact, some twenty students were accepted into the Bachelor of Engineering course.

Our co-curricular continues to play a vital part in the life of all Iggy Park students. Basketball legend Michael Jordan spoke wisely when he said “Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.” In 2021, we have had over 700 opportunities to represent Ignatius Park College across a variety of sports. Also, a record 97 students have represented Northern Region at Queensland Championship for various sports in 2021. Our successes include:

• Both Rory Hawkes and Luca Yates were selected by the ASI in basketball and have moved to Canberra
• Three students representing Queensland at a National level - Jacob Fowler (Water Polo), who was also appointed as the Queensland representative for the Australian Youth Advisory Committee, Brayden Lewis (Hockey) and Tyler Boyce (Soccer)
• Thomas Duffy and Luke Jack (Rugby League) were selected in the Australian Merit Team. Thomas Duffy also won the Michael Morgan medal.
• Eight students who were selected in the North Queensland Athletics Merit Team
• College finished 1^st place in the TSSS Sports Carnival for Swimming, Cross Country and Athletics in the A Grade Division.
• Rugby League won all three games in the Confraternity before it was cancelled due to Covid.
• Touch teams got into the Quarter Final and Grand Final at the Queensland All Schools Touch Competition
• Our cricket team came runners up in Queensland T20 State Grand Final.
• The College came top four in Queensland in the Bill Turner Cup (U15)
• Rowing had a magnificent season coming second in the Townsville Head of the River and winning two gold and five bronze medals at the Queensland State Rowing Regatta in Rockhampton.

In 2021, the College has embarked on a significant building development which is the construction of our new Learning Resource Centre. This construction will double the size of our current library over two levels and will have flexible spaces that supports students in their learning, to encourage their curiosity, problem-solving skills and build a sense of innovation with meeting rooms, media and communication room, tiered lecture area, a café and outside working area on a deck underneath an already established rainforest. The car park will also be extended near the pool with some 37 spaces for students to be dropped off and picked up in a safe location. We hope to have this first phase of our Master Plan completed by mid-2022.

Recently, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, celebrated his 90th Birthday, sadly before he departed this earth. His articulation of the ideal of Ubuntu provides a timely reflection for our world today:

"A person is a person through other persons. A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished when others are tortured or oppressed, or treated as if they were less than who they are.”

As alumni, you all leave an important legacy to our College. As I watched our Year 12’s graduate, I was touched by the way they have grown from boys to become fine young men – members of a “Brotherhood” that will always be connected. These young men now become our newest Old Boys. I believe Iggy Park is not just about education, it is about how we help young men find purpose in their life, to discover their giftedness and to live the spirit of Blessed Edmund Rice in the world beyond school. Our Senior theme Stay True: Bleed Blue reminds us not to forget our past and how Iggy Park has formed us to be the men we are today.

Shaun Clarke | Principal 

Phoenix Flyers

Former Principal, Mr Michael Conn

I was fortunate enough to have a number “tours of duty” at Iggy Park. I took over as Principal of the College from my brother (Paul) in 2003. There is no truth in the rumour that the only reason I got the job was that Mum rang the Brothers and said it was my turn! Like Paul, I have very fond memories of the College as a student, young Phys / Ed Maths teacher, Yr. 10 Form Master and Assistant Principal.

My memories of my time as a student at the College involve people who would have a profound effect on who I would aspire to become as a teacher and ultimately educational leader. People like Paddy Carew (who showed it was alright to have a bit of larrikin in you and fierce loyalty to the College), Ben Bonomini (relentless pursuit of academic excellence) and John Alloway (if you work hard enough, dreams can come true) helped me form the profile to which I believed “Iggy Boys” should aspire.

In my last tour of duty, I was fortunate enough to stand on the shoulders of the giants who came before me. I am probably remembering my 15 years a Principal through rose coloured glasses, but my memory is that of a golden era for the College. No person or institution succeeds in a vacuum, and I understood one is too small a number to achieve greatness and the success the College enjoyed came about because of a wonderfully committed and caring community who put the welfare and educational journey of the young men in our care at the centre of all that was done.

A strong and committed Pastoral Team took the recently introduced House System to new levels as the boys encountered good strong male role models at a time in their lives when such exposure was so important, and this formed the nucleus for relationships based on mutual trust and respect that would become a cornerstone for the sometimes-challenging times that comes with dealing with adolescent boys. Br Jon Hansen, the “Soul” of the College was a vital cog in this machine and his efforts and contributions ensured Edmund Rice was at the centre of all that was achieved. This was balanced by some truly outstanding female senior and middle leaders and teachers who helped develop a paradigm of gender justice where the boys were presented with differing world views.

Wonderful staff morale and low staff turnover (at one stage two teachers left the College in a three-year period) enabled quality co-curricular programs to be established and maintained over a long period of time. State and National titles in several sports and outstanding College Productions form many great memories for Old Boys of the time.

Also, a rapid increase in applications for enrolments produced big waiting lists (enrolments at the College peaked at about 1130 boys) and this meant that the College became the school of first choice in Townsville for boys which resulted in the College enjoying the support of some of Townsville finest families. The patience and support of these families and the staff provide some of my happiest memories as Principal of the College.

The support of these families and the dedication of the staff meant that we “had the cattle” to achieve outstanding academic results and provide pathways to a great variety of boys. Indeed, the ability to “have a dig” and value the truth provided the platform for the boys to succeed in life.

It is always dangerous to mention people who have made significant contributions to the time for fear of missing people out but there are a couple of people who made such significant contributions they must be mentioned. Every present and future student at the College should be so grateful to our Business Manager of the time. Paul Fanning’s financial stewardship and vision of what is a truly liberating Edmund Rice Education has left a foundation that will enable the College to thrive for generations to come. Also, the College matriarch, Mrs Kath Allen touched the lives of so many and kept everyone (including the Principal) on their toes and was a wonderful example of the power of right relationships in an Edmund Rice community. John Alloway’s passion and commitment to excellence enabled the College to develop a national profile in a number of sports and made sure the dreams of some of our students actually came true.

I am indeed privileged to be both an Old Boy and former Principal of such a unique and wonderful College and I am so very grateful to the parents and students who have carried on our wonderful traditions and refuse to let the true Iggy spirit disappear to guarantee that there are many more golden eras for the College in the future.

Mr Michael Conn | Principal from 2003-2017 

Sons of Old Boys

This year, the College took a photograph of students at Ignatius Park College who are sons of Old Boys. We hope to continue this tradition over the years! 

Jakeb Vailalo (2021)

Congratulations to Jakeb Vailalo who has signed a two-year development contract with the Penrith Panthers.

He will join his older brother Isaiah in Sydney next year. Isaiah lined up with the South Sydney Rabbitohs on a similar contract in 2020.

Nathan Young (2009)

Congratulations to Old Boy Nathan Young (2009), who has just published his first children’s book called What Trumby Loves.Nathan was a VET student in Reid that graduated to being a carpenter and is now running his own carpentry business.He did a short 10 min interview on ABC Radio, have a listen - click here. 

If you would like to purchase a copy - click here: https://trumbyandfriends.co/

Bryce Kenyon (2019)

Congratulations to Bryce Kenyon (Iggy Old Boy 2019) who received the St Leo’s 2021 Public Speaking Award and 2022 Residential Assistant position. The Award was presented by Liam Duffy (another Iggy Old Boy - 2018).

Benjamin Ryan (2006)

Congratulations to Old Boy, Benjamin Ryan, who released his debut book Beckoning of the Gate in October.

Benjamin started writing the book whilst at school, with the book starting out its life as a short story. Mr John Deer, who is still at the College, was Benjamin's English teacher at the time and encouraged the development of the book through feedback and constructive critique of the first drafts. The book was still considered a hobby while he finished his Physiotherapy degree and commenced working, but he kept writing and re-writing, editing and then found a publisher. 

In October 2021, Benjamin launched his book at the Drill Hall Studio. 

Well done on the publication of the book - Click here to purchase a copy of the book. 

Corey Talbot (2019)

Congratulations to 2019 IPC Old Boy, Corey Talbot, who represented Queensland in the WorldSkills National Competition in cookery. We are so thrilled for Corey and happy we could help ignite his passion for cooking in Hospitality classes here at the College. Check out some of his amazing dishes, they are absolute masterpieces!

Paul and Brent Goriss

Well done to IPC Old Boys Paul and Brent Goriss, who were both on the Opals coaching staff at the Tokyo Olympics.

Vale

The College passes their deepest condolences to the family and friends of the following Old Boys and any other member of our College who has passed away. 

• David Siegfried  Topovsek sadly passed away in 2021.
• Vale Keith Brady who sadly passed away June 2021 (Former IPC teacher)

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