From the Principal
This week I have enjoyed joining with students, staff and parents in celebrating Easter across the School in many different ways: Secondary, Junior and Prep School Easter Services; our Redlands Community Easter Service and Reflection on Wednesday morning; and even a visit from the Easter Bunny at the Prep School this morning!
There are many different messages we can take from the Easter story such as the humility and servant leadership of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet on the night of the Last Supper or the sacrifice of his crucifixion on the cross on Good Friday. However, the message that resonates the most with me is one of hope from his resurrection on Easter Sunday – a hope for all of us both in life and death.
Growing up in the United States, Easter was synonymous with spring, a season of hope and rebirth after the doldrums of winter. For me, it also signalled the start of the baseball season, and as a diehard, passionate Baltimore Orioles fan, it also brought a renewed sense of hope and possibility for the season ahead, even if most seasons ended in disappointment.
Hope is powerful emotion which can both inspire us and give us tremendous joy, but can also lead to heartbreak. Despite the vulnerability and occasional disappointment that hope can lead to, I believe a life lived with hope is far better than one without.
The former President of Yale University, Bart Giamatti, wrote an essay about spring, baseball and hope entitled, “The Green Fields of the Mind”, which I always read this time of year to remind me of the power of hope and the possibility of the baseball season ahead.
He writes, “It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops….”
“Of course, there are those who learn after the first few times or who were born with the wisdom to know that nothing lasts. I am a simpler creature, tied to more primitive patterns and cycles. I need to think something lasts forever, and it might as well be that state of being that is a game; it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun.”
I wish all of you a restful, joyous and hopeful Easter season.
Congratulations and bravo to all of the cast and crew, students and staff involved in the outstanding production of the Secondary School Musical, Legally Blonde, last week. While every year I marvel at the talent on stage at our Secondary School musical, in many ways I am even more impressed that so many of the invisible roles that make our Musicals such a success – the orchestra, production crew or hair and makeup crew – are comprised of our students.
As we come to the conclusion of the summer season of sport, I would like to make a special mention of some outstanding results at the Australian National Rowing Championships last week, specifically, Angus McInnes and Tom Hooper who won a bronze medal in the Under 17 Boys Double and Angus McInnes, Tom Hooper, Connor Morrison, Oscar Pearce and Henry Preece who won a bronze medal in the Under 17 Boys Quad. Congratulations!
Mr Sean Corcoran
Photo Caption: Congratulations to all the students, staff and parents who were involved with the performance of three completely sold-out shows of Legally Blonde.