Community and school spirit, and a love for the Eucharist: things these are a common denominator among recipients of this year’s Archbishop of Sydney Awards for Student Excellence.
Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP presented the 51 winners with their awards in a ceremony at St Mary’s Cathedral College hall on 26 August.
They included leaders of school prayers, youth groups and Bible studies, Eucharistic ministers and adoration organisers, lectors and cantors.
Social justice advocacy is also important to the students, who received their awards for outstanding contribution to their communities and commitment to the Catholic faith.
Volunteering with St Vincent de Paul’s winter appeals and spending time with the elderly in aged care homes were on the citations of dozens of recipients.
Sydney Catholic Schools (SCS) Director of Mission and Identity Dr Anthony Cleary said the awards were “one of the highlights of the school year.”
“It brings together our secondary schools and representatives who have contributed a great deal, of course, to their parishes as well as their school communities,” he said.
Enriching a school community culture through acts of Christian service, is a mission for these award winners, with some telling The Catholic Weekly it is their favourite thing about their outreach efforts.
Evangeline El-Azzi, a leader of ministries at All Saints Catholic College in Liverpool, said she enjoyed promoting Catholicism through different initiatives, such as Lenten programs, at her school.
Bradley Simler from De La Salle College, Revesby Heights, also had positive experiences engaging younger students and acting as a positive role model.
“We run youth groups at school and participate in sporting events to help them, we’re on the playground talking to them, just building relationships through sport,” he said.
“It helps me be a better person because I know that I’m helping them and I’m putting others before myself, so I feel that for me helping them, it’s a good initiative.”
SCS Executive Director Danielle Cronin also acknowledged the hard work the students had put in both at school and in their personal lives.
“Today we have celebrated your achievements, but more than that, we have recognised the witness of your lives, the way you live your faith with courage, integrity, and generosity,” she said.
“You remind us all that the future of the church and our society is in very good hands.”
In his homily, given after the awards ceremony, Archbishop Fisher spoke about the virtues of doing good its own sake.“Good deeds will often be public, sometimes that’s unavoidable, sometimes that’s actually helpful,” he said.
“You’ve shared your talents and energies in ways we can rightly call light for the world.”
The Archbishop of Sydney Awards for Student Excellence was established in 1999 and is an annual recognition of Catholic students who live their faith and serve their local and school communities.
Students receive a medallion emblazoned with the archbishop’s coat of arms and motto ‘Vertiatem facientes in caritate’ which translates to ‘speaking the truth in love.’
