Bernie's Bulletin

Reunion Calendar Coming Soon!

In this week's Spotlight we'd like to congratulate Anthony Laughton on becoming an AFL-listed boundary umpire!

Anthony was our College Captain in 2009, and went on to graduate from Monash University with a Bachelor's degree in journalism. He has since built a strong career in the media industry, with wide experience in radio and as a media advisor to the state government. Through hard work and dedication, Anthony has been able to balance his love of umpiring with his media career - initially running the boundary in local leagues, and working up to state level in the NEAFL and VFL (including two VFL grand finals!). Now he has been duly rewarded with an AFL spot.

Anthony was kind enough to come in for a chat about his umpiring journey - stay tuned for the next issue of The Strand where he shares his insights into umpiring at the game's top levels. Once he recovers from an injury, look out for him to debut in the first half of the 2025 season!

Anyone interested in taking up umpiring or learning more about the job can go here for more information: Become an Umpire - Play AFL

We love to highlight the success of our old collegians - so if you or someone you know has done some exciting things since their time at St Bernard's, please write in and let us know!

We invite you to nominate yourself or a deserving individual under 40—whether it's yourself, your son, brother, husband, or uncle—for the St Bernard's College Foundations' inaugural SBC Rising Star Award. This award recognises exceptional talent and leadership potential, across all industries, professions and walks of life. 

To submit a nomination, please provide a CV or LinkedIn profile along with a few paragraphs detailing why the nominee is a deserving recipient to emepham@sbc.vic.edu.au. 

Submissions close 5 March 2025.

An important reminder that Alumnly is still available to sign up. An account can be made by following the below steps:

How to Sign Up:

1. Click on this link: https://sbc.alumnly.com/alumnilogin 

2. Click 'Sign In or Register' at the top right of the page.

3. This will open a login window. Click 'Register' at the top of this window and choose how you'd like to register.

4. You'll then be logged in and able to update your profile and settings.

5. Once you've made an account, you can log back in through the same link, but select 'Sign In' instead of 'Register'.

For any assistance with logins, please don't hesitate to contact us by emailing alumni@sbc.vic.edu.au.

The Old Collegians Association has invested significantly in the building of this wonderful database, but it will only be effective if as many alumni as possible sign up. We'd strongly encourage you to join, as the bigger the network is, the greater the reward is for everyone involved. Thank you to all who have signed up so far, let's use this network and lift each other up!

As we enter 2025, Alumnly will be packed with all the classic Old Collegian events as well as reunions, job postings, networking opportunities, and more in the pipeline, so stay tuned!

Are you a passionate member of the St Bernard’s College community eager to share your voice and drive positive change? We’re looking for skilled individuals with expertise in areas such as law, risk & governance, finance & investment, property, and cyber security to join our School Advisory Council.

This Council plays a crucial role in shaping the future of our community by providing valuable insights and strategic advice. We seek applicants who can bring their professional skills and experience to make a meaningful impact.

Interested? Email principal@sbc.vic.edu.au to get an application form. Applications are open until Friday, 7 March 2025.

Discover more about the School Advisory Council and learn about our current members by visiting https://www.sbc.vic.edu.au/about-us/leadership.

Looking to buy a new car? St Bernard's are excited to announce our partnership with Essendon BMW, who have an exclusive offer for old collegians and current families!

The offer includes an exclusive discount on any BMW vehicle, as well as a complimentary 5 year/80,000km service package - for further information please contact emepham@sbc.vic.edu.au.

The SBOCA Bowls Day for 2025 has been rescheduled, and will now be held on Sunday the 13th of April. The event remains at Aberfeldie Community Bowls Club and all other details remain the same.

Get your team of 3 together or come as a pair or individual, and you'll have the chance to win cash from a $3000 prize pool! There will also be lunch and refreshments provided - so whether you want to bowl for glory or simply kick back in the summer sun, this is the day for you.

We invite all from the St Bernard's family - Old Collegians, current students, staff, family members and friends - to participate. Bookings are $50 per person and can be made at this link: https://www.trybooking.com/CXMJM or through the QR code above.

For inquiries or any further information please contact:

Gerard Mahoney (Community Bank Keilor East)   Mobile: 0412 165 912    Email: rollston@optusnet.com.au 

or Ben Lamaro (St Bernard's)    Phone: 03 9289 1106    Email: blamaro@sbc.vic.edu.au

St Bernard's is looking for recent graduates to join our Facilities and Maintenance team on a casual basis with flexible hours (should average 15 hours per week). Ideally, candidates will have graduated in the last two years, have some work experience and a strong work ethic. Most of the work will be outdoor manual labour, working to the instruction of the Facilities and Grounds employees of St Bernard's. We are looking for two casual staff and will be happy to work around university schedules or other part-time work you may already have.

If this is of interest to you, please email HR@sbc.vic.edu.au with a brief CV / one-pager expressing your interest and why you'd like casual work with St Bernard's.

This Flashback Friday we're honouring our loveable St Bernard mascots, starting with the original Bernie!

Bernie is one of the stars of our archives room at the College. This reproduced article from 1981 records his official appointment as school mascot when he was just a puppy.

Bernie was succeeded by Bernie Jr, and more recent students might remember Iggy (named after Edmund Ignatius Rice).

And we'll cap off this issue of Bernie's Bulletin with a shout-out to Charles Barrett, who set a new record at the ACC athletics carnival yesterday. He ran an impressive time of 8:22.21 in the U19 3000m race, breaking a record that had stood unchallenged since 1987!