Who we are and where we are going

Five key pillars

We find ourselves a quarter of the way through our new century. Let us pause for a minute to think about that. For those of us born into the 70s and 80s, are we experiencing the world we thought we would in this year. I have to be honest and say that my teenage self didn’t think much past graduating and post school life. I didn’t think about what blessings and challenges would await me as a citizen of the 21st century.

The College began a process of reviewing who we are and where we are going last year. We had initial conversations with students and staff, families and board members. We sought to capture who we are as a community and what we value, before we started to look and the ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘how’ of the future. We will be furthering this journey together this year and I urge you to be involved.

When we reviewed who we are and who we want to be, we found some common words emerged. Faith, purpose, excellence, community, pioneering, and campus which have been captured in these 5 pillars:

Throughout this Term, I look forward to exploring each of these pillars with you.

In this article, our focus is on faith and purpose.

We summarise faith and purpose as this: “Christian values are the foundation of a Cornerstone education, it’s in our name. Our Lutheran heritage calls us to help students flourish, know their calling and use their unique gifts to change the world for the better.”

For us as educators, this is what gets us out of bed in the morning and calls us to do what we do. I know from working with current and potential families, beyond wanting their children to be happy, safe and capable, parents want their kids to flourish in all areas of their life and want them to be a part of making the world better. The way I summarise this with students is ‘be a decent human being’ or DHB for short.

DHBs know that they are created in the image of God and have value to God and the community. They know they have great capability and know that they have an obligation to take what they have and put it in the service of others.

As a Lutheran learning community, we can recall the words of Martin Luther, the founder of the Lutheran church: “For if we want capable and qualified people...we really must spare no effort, time and expense in teaching and educating our children to serve God and the world.”

It is a joy to be a part of a community where we have such a strong and meaningful purpose which springs from our faith and Lutheran heritage. Thank you for being a part of it.

Blessings

Tom Brennen
Principal