BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2011 ADDRESS 2011: A year like no other. A year of uncertainty, of endurance, of sadness.  A year during which the College reached out to the homeless.  A year in which staff, students and family were called on repeatedly to accept disruption, cancellation, change.  It has been a year in which our limits have been tested sorely: at school, home, at work, at play. But there is symmetry to this year and the College's beginnings in 1961.  That was a beginning I imagine also filled with uncertainty and a need for forbearance.  That was a beginning where staff, students and families had to work together in trying circumstances.  It was a year in which Principal Brother McClintock probably prayed for an easier life.    Our College's history began with the Christian brothers 50 years ago.  We thank and honour those Brothers for their lives of "love and service" to this community; for the willingness with which they accepted Bishop Joyce's invitation to establish a new Catholic College in Christchurch; and for the legacy they have left us.  St Thomas' Integration Agreement with the Crown is an Agreement designed to preserve and safeguard the special character of the education provided here.  That special character is the delivery of education witnessed within the parameters of a Catholic faith.  The Brothers are gone now from St Thomas'.  Their mission here was fulfilled some time ago and they looked beyond the classroom in New Zealand to see how best they could "open [their] hearts to Christ present in those oppressed by poverty and injustice".  But their legacy remains.  In part, it is the life of the College we celebrate tonight: the reward of hard work, the achievement of success.   But the legacy of the Christian Brothers in this school is also the example of a life dedicated to Christ: a life of "faith and generosity"...

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(The photo at the top of the page is of Mrs O'Brien and Mr Henley the Principal of Cathedral College and his presentation to St Thomas' for hosting their school after the Feb 22nd earthquake)

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If you asked someone from overseas to think of the typical Kiwi male, what would they think of? Would black singlets, stubbies and gumboots come to mind? Would they think of a farming bloke, who takes pride in his tractor and cattle? Would they think of a man whose first word, first sport, and first love was rugby? Or would they think of a man who was four feet tall, with hairy feet and lives in the Shire with Bilbo Baggins? I can tell you, with a fair amount of certainty that stubbies don't agree with my legs, I've never driven a tractor, rugby has never been my love, and I'm certainly not four feet tall.  Just because I don't fit into what instantly comes to mind when you think of a New Zealander, that doesn't mean I'm not one.

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Good evening everyone; esteemed guests, St Thomas' teachers and members of staff, old boys, parents, caregivers and friends of the college and of course my fellow students.

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Wow, what a year; intense to say the least.

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Hi, my name is Roy Ju and I'm the international leader for 2011.

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This has been a hard year, 2011, but I think that we've done well to get through it.

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Tenei au, ko te Hokai nuku ko te Hokai rangi, ko te Hokai nui a toku tipuna I a tane.

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The year began with a lot of promise, who would have known what was to come.

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Talofa lava, O lou igoa o Mathew Naoupu Elia.

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