Learning Communities at Catholic College

History was made at Catholic College in 2010 with the naming of six new Learning Communities after great and inspirational leaders in history.

Since it opened 32 years ago, there have been four "houses" at the College. They were disbanded at the end of 2009, being replaced in 2010 by six new Learning Communities, each comprising 183 students. Each Community is broken into seven Learning Mentor Groups, ensuring that each student belongs to a small community, knows themselves as a learner and has a special teacher who knows them as a learner, who supports and monitors their academic and personal progress through the College.

An intense period of broad consultation, research, discernment and discussion took place over many months to select appropriate names for the Communities:

Red Community will be known as CHISHOLM after Caroline Chisholm: accept the challenge;

Blue Community will be known as DA VINCI after Leonardo da Vinci: knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. 

Orange Community will be known as GANDHI after Mahatma Gandhi: be the change you wish to see in the world; 

Yellow Community will be known as HOLLOWS after Fred Hollows: to help others;

Purple Community will be known as MacKILLOP after Mary MacKillop: be calm and full of hope;

Green Community will be known as MALONE after Lisa Malone: a Catholic College student in the 1990s: ordinary person doing extra ordinary things; 

Wodonga's Parish Priest, Fr Dennis Crameri, blessed the new Communities: "All role models were inspirational in their lives, were courageous and prepared to "have a go".  They were often faced with impossible, and in others' eyes, futile, tasks and remained undeterred in their endeavours", said Fr Dennis.  The selection criteria was based on basic tenets of the College's mission statement: faith, service, community, justice, honesty, integrity, compassion and learning.

The College Community was honoured to have Pauline and Des Malone in the audience for the historic announcement.  Their daughter, Lisa, was devoted to helping people in need within Australia and overseas. Her humanitarian work took her to Alice Springs where she worked with handicapped, aboriginal children and also to El Salvador, Southern Mexico and Guatemala. Lisa was working with the United Nations as part of an aid team providing education programs for Mayan people when she and seven others died tragically in a helicopter crash in 1998.

Pauline and Des said that Lisa would have been humbled at the being remembered by the College community in this way.