Seven weeks into this school year and it feels like twenty weeks of school have passed. Not because staff and students are tired and weary. They’re not. Not because the seven weeks have been long and drawn out. They haven’t been. Not because everyone is exhausted. They aren’t. But rather because, in just seven short weeks of this school year, so much has already happened and is happening at Mueller College.
As the initial excitement of the new school year was beginning to fade, the introduction of a host of new spaces, walkways and thoroughfares, and new locations for students to meet and connect certainly breathed new energy into the Secondary School with the opening of College Square. After months of having to navigate heavily congested verandas and skirt construction fences, students are now enjoying the wide-open area akin to a university courtyard.
Students have also played a significant role in breathing new life into this school year. At any given breaktime, on any given school day, students across the Secondary School are attending, leading, participating, contributing, facilitating, assisting or serving one another. Led predominantly by both male and female Senior students, community is in full swing at Mueller College.
Life groups for all ages, lunchtime sports and games, prayer room, worship gathering, tutoring, a chess club, primary mentoring and discipleship groups, art room activities, and daily breakfast club are all flourishing. And it is a result of one important reason, student ownership. Within just seven weeks of the school year, more students than ever have decided to take ownership of their school community. After identifying the opportunity and need, they have decided to take action to make a difference and to add value, to not just their own schooling experience, but that of their peers as well.
Seven weeks ago a challenge was issued to secondary students. Life is a gift from God, what you do with it this year is your gift back to him. So what will you do with yours? The student response has been clear. Many have decided to do something this year. Something different. Something big. Something meaningful. Something significant.
Their response has translated into 120 names registered for next week’s World’s Greatest Shave event. As we roll into You Belong week, students will continue to be reminded of the opportunities they have to own and positively impact the culture and community in their school.
Ben Stiller
