This week, we congratulate and farewell the class of 2024. Wednesday’s Graduation ceremony will bring the curtain down on thirteen years of schooling at Mueller College for this year’s one hundred and thirty-four graduands. In the minds of many of them….they are finally free.
The first verse of the Madden Brothers song We are Done reads: I want you to know, it’s time to go, yeah we are done. I want you to see, that I need to be free.
While not written as a graduation song, these words do highlight the irony of how we spend our younger years yearning for the freedom that we believe comes with adulthood. Only to then find in our adulthood, we reminisce about the lack of responsibilities and the good times we had during our time at school. For our current Year twelves, those younger years and the good times in school all end in a couple of days! Soon after, the good things they got to enjoy and perhaps took for granted will become forever a memory. Some of our graduands reflected on what they would miss most once gone.
“The community – no matter where I was within the school there was always a teacher to talk to or a student to catch up with”
“Having so many opportunities at our fingertips to serve, contribute, participate and get involved!”
“Getting crazy in the chapel mosh pit every Friday morning!”
“All the Mueller food! $8 Smash burgers, Hudsons lasagna, and tuckshop Calypsos. Where will we ever find such cheap food again?”
“Getting up at 7:30am every morning. Getting home at like 3:30pm”
“Even if it was for the wrong uniform, I loved that someone cared about me enough to notice”
“Surfing before school for Rec and then going to Level 2 for free breakfast”
“Flying planes every Friday morning…..and building a legit plane”
“Wearing my Orange You Belong shirt! I loved belonging”
“Crazy and fun Monday morning assemblies – where it paid to know the policy!”
“I’ll miss that no matter where I went, there was always a friend within a one-minute walk of me”
“Uniforms. We hated them at the time, but the idea of having to sort out clothing for work so you don’t look poor or unstylish is a problem I’m not looking forward to”
“I’ll miss a completely different subject every 45 minutes. I’ll get bored doing the same thing all day, even if I enjoy whatever it is”
“I’ll miss the complete lack of responsibilities. You just got up, did some stuff, had fun, and then went to bed”
“Freddo Frog Fridays in Maths, drinking Milos in Fashion class.”
These memories align with the research around the five most common things students value from their secondary schooling experience; being known and part of a community; interacting with favourite teachers: being part of clubs, teams, or extra-curricular groups; enjoying the different areas and facilities on campus; and quality time with friends.
Mueller College acknowledges that knowing Jesus as a personal saviour has even greater significance than all the ‘stuff’ students will miss. Our mission statement will be achieved if every student graduates from Mueller knowing the good news of the gospel, which is the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. This is our prayer for this year’s graduands.
Congratulations to the class of 2024. We are proud that you have all made it, of all you have achieved, and of the contribution you made to Mueller College during your time here. We wish you all the very best as you begin the next chapter of your lives. You are officially done!
Ben Stiller
