Year 9 Encounter Day 2025

Who am I? Who do I want to become?

Year 9 students participated in their Encounter Day on Wednesday 7 May. The theme of the day was Who am I? Who do I want to become? The day started with a tour and mass at the Sacred Heart Cathedral, led by Father Jackson Saunders. Father Jackson spoke about the importance of being open to encountering the spirit and provided students with a historical tour of the Cathedral which linked to their Religious Education topic of the Australian Church.

The cohort spent the rest of the day in their core groups undertaking a range of interactive activities that focused on identity, values and Christian decision-making. Highlights of the day included writing a letter to their Year 12 self, undertaking the moral dilemmas and designing and painting a symbol that represents who they are.

The reflection below is by Year 9 students Kortez George and Sophie McDermott.

On Wednesday 7 May the Year 9s participated in their Encounter Day. The theme for the day was ‘Who am I, Who do I want to Be?’  It was amazing to see their positive responses to attending the Cathedral and willingness to engage in the activities back onsite.

On Year 9 Encounter Day, we started the day with a Year Level Mass, about the Eucharist and being thankful, at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in town, hosted by Father Jackson who was assisted by Andrew Merrett.

We then came back to school and began our Encounter Day booklet which was based around happiness and values. The booklet helped us to better understand ourselves, what we want to be viewed as and the people we surround ourselves with. Religious Education was incorporated by understanding the meaning of different bible verses, which connected to our theme. We wrote letters to our future Year 12 selves, which we’ll be given back on our Year 12 Retreat. We wrote some of our current aspirations and what we hope to achieve in the future. Then we drew symbols which best described us and painted it onto either our faces or hands. We really enjoyed this activity and came out of it knowing more about ourselves and each other than we did before.