Well, the first term has certainly passed us by very quickly, especially considering that it is the longest term of the year. It feels like only days ago that the boys were startign the year as senior students at the College. 11 weeks on … time has flown! On Friday morning we waved goodbye to the last group of boys who headed home either by taxi to the airport or on Country Link buses. Our large diversity of boys returned home to cities and towns overseas, interstate, in rural NSW or as close as Mary Street!

With the final exam out of the way, the boys cleaned up the dorms incredibly well and their efforts to leave things tidy is greatly appreciated. By 5:00pm on Thursday, well-over half the boys had taken off. We had around 40 boys sleeping here on the final night before their buses home, with Dubbo being the popular destination for many of them.

I really hope that the holidays are a wonderful opportunity for the boys to spend some time with their family and friends as well as a time to rest and re-energise for the start of Semester 2 in only a couple of weeks. Likewise, I hope that parents and families enjoy having the boys around home a little more!

Happy Holidays!

Photo: Matte Ager-McConnell (Mudgee) and Patrick Carrigan-Grant (Mudgee) getting ready to board their bus home.

Drugs and alcohol continue to be a major issue for young Australians with one teenager dying each weekend in Australia in drug or alcohol related incidents.

We are very conscious of this and are working to equip the boys with as much education in this area as possible in the hope that they will make wise decisions during this critical period of time in their lives. In fact it was a conversation about this that led Mr Jeremy Ticehurst and Associate Professor Michael Neil to start to organise a night for the boys to learn about the risks involved in drug and alcohol use.

On Monday 4th March we were privileged to have three very experienced men talk to the boys. Professor Gordian Fulde is the Director of Emergency at St Vincents Hospital, Associate Professor Michael Neil is a leading Australian Surgeon at St Vincent’s Hospital while Detective Senior Sargent Mark Christie has experience all over Sydney and is currently based at Surrey Hills. These men presented three very different perspectives to the boys in order to give them some insight and knowledge about the risks that young men their age face.

I couldn’t possibly pass on all the detail of the three speakers, however, as a very brief summary:

Proffessor Fulde spoke about the effects of mixing drugs, the effects of party drugs on the body and mind, prescription drugs, the drug industry and what is actually in many of the easily accessible drugs. He also spoke about the risks involved with body building drugs as well as the social effects of binge drinking – particularly what he has seen come into the emergency department at Kings Cross.

Detective Senior Sargent Christie spoke to the boys about the risks he sees, in particular the number of fights that result from alcohol and drug consumption as well as many innocent people becoming the victims of crime. Throughout his talk, Mr Christie spoke about how each of our decisions affects many other people – not just ourselves.

He went on to talk about the consequences of drug use and possession, including lifetime employment restrictions, travel restrictions, inability to be the director of a company and the difficulties in getting insurance cover. He also spoke about the many “dirty meth labs” that he has seen as well as before and after shots of those who have used particular drugs commonly consumed by young Australians.

Mr Christie also spoke about the police use of Facebook and the on-the-spot fines for the use of fake ID or another person’s ID ($600 plus extra time on your P-Plates). Finally, he reiterated what Paul Dillon had told the boys with regards to never being afraid of calling an ambulance – the police will not become involved unless there is a threat of violence or safety concerns.

Professor Neil hit the boys straight away with the case study of a very talented school boy who overdosed on LSD. He compared today to many years ago and pointed out the higher risk factors (alco-pops, all day concerts, all night venues, pre-loading due to the increased price of alcohol and the resulting binge drinking. He also addressed the grooming of young people by certain areas of the alcohol industry.

Particularly pertinent to the boys was the information that Prof Neil presented on energy drinks on their own – as well as in combination with alcohol and the major health risks involved with this.

Prof Neil’s final comments were relevant to what all the speakers said. He finished by reminding the boys that they have a unique opportunity in life, particularly at Joeys … don’t blow it!

This was a night that was full of information for the boys. It provided insight from three experts across different fields and each of the boys left the session being more equiped with knowledge about the risks that they will face.

A huge thank you to the three guests who spoke to the boys and passed on many of their first hand experiences. In particular to Prof Michael Neil and Mr Jeremy Ticehurst who put the evening together. Also to Mr Tarlinton who has shown great support to all of the personal development opportunities we have and will continue to put on for the boys.

Photo 1: Detective Senior Sargent Mark Christie, Professor Gordian Fulde and Associate Professor Michael Neil.

Photo 2: Our three guest speakers after the talk.

Photo 3: Gordian Fulde answers some questions from Robert Gazal (Maroubra) and Patrick Distapan (Drummoyne).

For well over 20 years, Joeys has run a buddy program with Year 7 and Year 11 boys. This is one of the senior boys’ first opportunities to show some genuine leadership and despite being given the opportunity to not participate, it was fantastic to see each of the boys enthusiastic about taking part in this program.

Today was the boys’ first opportunity to meet their buddy and this was done in the Resources Centre. With 206 Year 11 boys and 161 Year 7 boys I don’t know if the library staff knew what hit them! Having said that, once we had introduced each of the boys to their buddy things were amazingly settled as the boys sat with each other and had a chat about how things were going early in the year.

The main task today was for the Year 11 boys to help their buddy write a letter home to their parents. This is a great way for the boys to get to know each other as the Year 7 boys wrote about themselves and their buddy. Of course for them to do this, they had to chat about each other’s interests and commitments at Joeys. It was wonderful watching boys, with up to five years difference in age, having a casual chat with each other. Sitting back and observing them, it was great to see both the young boys and the older ones laughing with each other as they wrote the letter. Different pairs of buddies interacted with each other and there is no doubt that this was a very positive experience for all the boys involved.

Due to so many boys in Year 11 being keen to take part, we obviously had plenty of buddies and this allowed over 40 Year 7 boys to have two buddies rather than just one.

Throughout the year we will be organising some more opportunities for the boys to catch up with their buddy. The next being the Head of River where the Year 11 boys will travel to Penrith with their buddy. This will be another opportunity for the boys to get to know their buddy a little better as well as help them during their initial stages of their first whole school trip out to Penrith. Even though it seems like something simple, travelling this distance as a Year 7 boy and not really knowing where to go or what to do when you get there can be a bit daunting. Having their Year 11 buddy with them to help out will assist greatly in the boys feeling more relaxed.

With all that is organised though, it is the off-the-cuff meetings of the boys with their buddies that will prove the best experiences for both the Year 7 boys as well as the Year 11 boys. It will be catching up one afternoon, dropping by their sport one Saturday or even taking the opportunity to invite their buddy to lunch leave once or twice throughout the year that will be most memorable for all boys and we certainly encourage all boys to make the most of this important leadership and personal growth opportunity.

Photo 1: Rowan Farrell (Cabarita) with his buddy Aaron Han (Eastwood).

Photo 2: Matt Scolari (Dubbo) with his buddy Angus Carrigan (Gurley).

Photo 3: Callum Kilgariff (Narrabundah) and Sebastian Klarica (North Batemans Bay) with their buddies Antonio De Beradino (East Ryde) and Hugo Kovacs (West Pymble).