St Leo's College
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
St Leo's College is a residential College on the St Lucia Campus of The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Contents |
[edit] History
St Leo's was founded by Brisbane's Catholic Archbishop Sir James Duhig in 1917 and is named in honour of St Leo the Great - the first Pope Leo (440 AD to 461 AD). Steeped in rich traditions established over more than 87 years, St Leo's residents enjoy a diverse and active lifestyle which supports and combines study with religious, cultural and sporting activities, community service and a wealth of social activities.
[edit] Academic life
Academic achievement is a key priority for St Leo's College. To help residents fulfill their potential, tutorial assistance is offered in a range of subjects, as arranged in consultation with the Vice-Rector Students.
Residents also have access to a sophisticated Local Area Network with its associated laser printers and high speed link to the University Network and the Internet.
[edit] Sporting life
The College has a sporting tradition covering a wide range of sports. Through the hotly-contested Inter Collegiate Competition, College teams participate in football, cricket, tennis, squash, hockey, basketball, and other sports, while St Leo's tennis/basketball court is the scene for in-house competition and casual challenges.
In 2006, St Leo's were ICC cup champions for Open's Rugby, and for the first time in St Leo's history, Cross Country, in a very dominant display of distance running.
A gymnasium is available for residents and the College's on-campus location provides easy access to all of the University's sporting facilities.
All residents are encouraged to participate in the sport of their choice so as to become more fully involved in the College community.
[edit] Social life
St Leo's College residents enjoy an active and diverse social program within the college, with the other nine colleges on campus and amongst the wider University community. For more information, read "student club"
[edit] Cultural life
Residents are active in a full range of cultural activities, including debates, public speaking and music.
[edit] Community service
St Leo's College is conducted under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church. As such, residents are encouraged to integrate the principles of faith, spirituality and care for others into their daily life. The college encourages and supports students to assist the disadvantaged in society. Additionally, many of the students have the opportunity to donate their services to assist the local University kindergarten.
[edit] Residential Experience
Through the excellent achievement of the college and great mateship which develops within the college, residents have the arduous task of enduring one the worst administrations on offer. Led by Br. Vince Skelly, the administration seemingly has a task of getting under residents skin to make up for their own shortcomings throughout their lives. However, there still remains a few respectable members of the group who do not conform to this view. Mr. Max Mazey, the college receptionist, is always friendly and keen to help everyone out. The same can be said for Ruth, with a seemingly genuine care for college residents. On the other hand, Br. Vince Skelly and Mr. Michael Bongers do not fall into this category. Br. Skelly, at first glance, appears to be a gentle caring man, serving his faith to God. This however could not be further from the truth. He will claim that every person should respect one another, and then go on to treat every resident of the college as if they were completely insignificant when compared to himself, or guests of the college. This is especially evident in certain college events, where Br. Skelly will organise entry to the dining hall for residents, so that the 'more important' guests will not be able to associate or lay eyes on the lower class residents. Running the college like a buisness rather than a boarding house or home results in numerous breaches to Br. Skelly's own words. This practice is further evident in the use of the college chapel as a conference room, so that the college can squeeze as much revenue out of the available space as possible. According to the bible, Jesus once cleared out a chuch when he discovered a marketplace in a place of worship. Surely a brother of the Roman Catholic denomination would keep such a place holy and not use it for revenue raising. Apparently not. The money raised from conferences such as this is then wasted on pointless, ugly art around the college. With an inability to budget, too much money is spent, which is made up for by reducing the quality of meals for residents, or finding ways to charge the student club for things around the college. Michael Bongers, also known as Br. Skelly's puppet, is just as much to blame for these things listed above, talking down to residents on every occasion, and then acting like a virtous, caring man to all outsiders.
Despite all of this, Leo's remains an excellent college due to the comradeship developed between all residents.
 |
This article related to an Australian school is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
